The Kelly-Sutton Encounter

"I turned my head three different times because I thought maybe my eyes were fooling me. But every time I turned my head back, there he was." – Glennie Lankford, Matriarch of the Sutton Farmhouse

Growing up in the area near Hopkinsville, this was always a UFO encounter that stuck with me. And, due to the long duration of the encounter and it ending in a supposed gun battle with whatever these things were, it was always one of the more interesting cases in ufology to me. What transpired that night in Kentucky may well be one of the first modern recorded incidents of an actual battle between humans and aliens.

The lifestyle of a typical Kentucky rural family has been kept intact for many decades, and the Sutton family fit this tradition to a tee. "Lucky" Sutton, as he was known to friends and neighbors, was the "patriarch" of this bluegrass clan. Visiting Lucky and his family was a man from Pennsylvania named Billy Ray Taylor. Billy left the Sutton house to go for some water from the family well. There was no inside plumbing at the Sutton farm house. At the well, he saw an immense, shining object land in a small gully about a quarter of a mile away. Running back to the house, he excitedly reported his sighting to others in the house. Billy was laughed at; no one believed his "crazy" tale.

After a short period of time, the family dog began to raise a ruckus outside. As was the custom in those parts, Lucky and Billy grabbed their guns and headed outside, planning to shoot first, and ask questions later. Only a short distance from the front door, both men were stopped dead in their tracks by the sight of a 3-4 foot tall creature, who was walking towards them with hands up, as if to surrender. This most bizarre creature would be described as having "large eyes, a long thin mouth, large ears, thin short legs, and hands ending in claws." Frightened by the small greenish entity, Billy Ray fired a shot with his .22, and Lucky unloaded with his shotgun. Both men later admitted that there was no way they missed the creature at close range, but the little being just did a back flip, and ran into the woods in fright.

No sooner had the two men reentered the house before the creature, or another like it, appeared at a window. They took a shot at him, leaving a blast hole through the screen. They ran back outside to see if the creature was dead, but found no trace of it. Standing at the front of the house, the men were terrified by a clawed hand reaching down from the roof in an attempt to touch them. Again, they shot, but the being simply floated to the ground, and scurried into the cover of the woods. The two men sought the protection of the house again, only to find themselves under siege from these little men. For a time, the entities seemed to tease the family, appearing from one window to another. Taking pot shots through the windows and walls, their weapons seemed totally ineffective against the invading creatures.

After several hours of fear, the Sutton family decided to make a break from the house, and get help at the Police station at Hopkinsville. Family members took two vehicles to the Police Station in Hopkinsville, and reported their strange tale to Sheriff Russell Greenwell. Finally persuading the policemen that they were not joking, the authorities agreed to visit the Sutton house. Arriving at the farm, police found no trace of the creatures, but did find numerous bullet and rifle holes in the windows and walls. Greenwell was in charge of the twenty plus officers at the scene, and reported that the Suttons seemed sober, and were genuinely frightened by something. After a canvas of the neighbors, reports were entered of the "hearing of shots being fired," and the observation of "lights in the sky." Exhausting all efforts to find the origin of this strange report, the police left the Sutton place at about 2:15 am. As soon as they did, the creatures made their return. They began again peeking in the windows, seemingly out of curiosity. More gunfire took place, but again without effect. Several more hours of antics followed, finally stopping just before daybreak. The police were finally persuaded to call in Air Force personnel the next morning, but a new search brought no results. After the beings had left, Billy Ray and Lucky had gone into Evansville, Indiana to take care of some business. The other five family members were questioned by Air Force and Police.

What gets me is that the aliens look really different than what modern people report. They are almost the little green men of old. These drawings are from the descriptions by the Sutton family..



Now, I can attest to there being many weird things in this area. If you've read any of my UFO threads you can start to get an idea. I've had a giant triangle fly directly over me, and in high school one of our favorite things to do was to go to a local spot, set out some blankets, and watch the orange orbs dance around each other in the sky. I only say that because of what I'm going to say next. I have a little "inside" information on this case, and it's up to you whether you want to believe it or not. On the day of my 18th birthday I moved out of my parents house and into this crazy trailer in the middle of nowhere with a friend of mine and his girlfriend. I've always been interested in UFO's, so eventually the conversation turned to that. In our conversation, I come to find out my roommates girlfriend is actually the granddaughter of one of the people involved in the incident that night, and the others were her great uncles.

So, of course I ask her about it. And my hopes of this being an actual alien encounter took a blow with what she told me. She said everyone in the family knew it wasn't real, and the "incident" was just a product of her grandfather and uncles predilection for a certain kind of made-out-in-the-woods corn whiskey.

Now, she could be 100% right. And this could all be just a fantasy some drunk country boys came up with one night. Or, maybe this is just the family trying to sweep this crazy incident under the carpet and forget about it. I'm not really sure which one I believe. My own experiences have shown me there are things around that area, so I can't completely write this off as a hoax, even with what she told me.

Here's the actual newspaper article from 1955.

So, what do you think? It's definitely one of the more dramatic cases in UFO lore, that's for sure.

Sources:
www.astonishinglegends.com...
ufocasebook.com...

Oh I love this case Kentucky Space Goblins.

a reply to: SolAquarius

It's definitely one of the weirder ones. It used to scare me as a kid.

originally posted by: underwerks
a reply to: SolAquarius

It used to scare me as a kid.

Same here. I had a illustrated book about ufo's when I was a child and this was one of the stories featured.

a reply to: underwerks

I've looked at this case in regard to some of my cryptozoological interests in the past.

Looking at the biology ... I'm wonder if the creatures weren't from "inside" the Earth (with the caves and mine networks nearby.)

Also, take a look at this medieval woodcut referring to goblins from "the mouth of hell" which was a common motif throughout the period



Source

In my later years this case has had a more John Keel/ Jacque Vallee feel to it

right up there with all the cases of space beings making pancakes for farmers.

It has less of a space being vibe and more of a cosmic trickster vibe to it for me.

I prefer my aliens not to look like your typical grays. Out of all the possible things an alien could evolve from and into, them evolving into a scrawny version of a human would be sadly disappointing.

a reply to: underwerks

I know its been in many tv ufo shows. More than a few. Even a film depiction with actors...was pretty interesting

a reply to: Gryphon66

That may be possible as well. Something I've always thought about in relation to the weirdness around there is the extensive limestone caves that swiss cheese the whole area.

Also, the worlds longest known cave system is about a 30 minute drive away:

Mammoth Cave National Park preserves the cave system and a part of the Green River valley and hilly country of south central Kentucky. This is the world's longest known cave system, with more than 400 miles explored.

www.nps.gov...

So these creatures and a lot of the other weirdness may have something to do with that.

a reply to: underwerks

I was amazed to find out how many of the various cryptid sightings take place in and around cave systems/mines/etc.

originally posted by: SolAquarius
In my later years this case has had a more John Keel/ Jacque Vallee feel to it

right up there with all the cases of space beings making pancakes for farmers.

It has less of a space being vibe and more of a cosmic trickster vibe to it for me.

I never thought of that, but it does. I guess when you hear a story like this for so long it's sometimes hard to think of it as something else. It does have that kind of vibe though.

I'd love to hear about aliens making some pancakes for farmers if you can find a link. It's strange to me just how weird a lot of these older accounts of alien contact are.

a reply to: underwerks

Apparently the Mammoth cave inspired H.P. Lovecraft to Write the short story The Beast in The Cave.

a reply to: underwerks

Pancakes from the Stars

a reply to: underwerks

Simonton quickly obliged. As a “thank-you” the aliens gave Simonton a hot plate of what appeared to be small pancakes, fresh off of ET’s grill.

PANCAKES FROM THE STARS

i was thinking as i got to the end of the story that these aliens took shot gun blasts- yet the witness drawings showed them to be naked. i thought they might have ultra space suits on to survive shot gun blasts (but likely still feel a force from it to push them) but seeing them naked, i dont really think skin could evolve to be like that to survive shotgun blasts.

and when i got to the part of the insider information, i thought it was going to prove me wrong and say that it was a real event. i almost felt like i could be optimistic again about aliens that there is more than just grays here. but then it confirmed what i already thought. that it was fake.

a reply to: underwerks

Just because of the way my mind works, I must mention that the matter has been investigated by "professional skeptics" who believed that the events were explained away by a) a meteor striking nearby and b) a pair of mated Great Horned Owls defending a nearby nest.

And of course, the remainder was explained away by intoxication.

Source

a reply to: Gryphon66

That's so weird. What's also weird is the Air Forces response. That he was in some type of "dream like state", instead of just labeling him crazy and letting it be.

Hmmmm..

originally posted by: makalit
i was thinking as i got to the end of the story that these aliens took shot gun blasts- yet the witness drawings showed them to be naked. i thought they might have ultra space suits on to survive shot gun blasts (but likely still feel a force from it to push them) but seeing them naked, i dont really think skin could evolve to be like that to survive shotgun blasts.

The way they describe the bullets not doing anything to the creatures reminds of the encounters the Gorman family claimed

to have with giant bulletproof wolves on skinwalker ranch.

originally posted by: [post=22665806]SolAquarius
The way they describe the bullets not doing anything to the creatures reminds of the encounters the Gorman family claimed to have with giant bulletproof wolves on skinwalker ranch.

we'd have to keep in mind these 'goblins' had advanced enough of tech to travel a star or so
to me it would seem unlikely to possess such behaviour if they were truly advanced. advanced meaning they have knowledge of atomic structures

originally posted by: Gryphon66
a reply to: underwerks

Just because of the way my mind works, I must mention that the matter has been investigated by "professional skeptics" who believed that the events were explained away by a) a meteor striking nearby and b) a pair of mated Great Horned Owls defending a nearby nest.

And of course, the remainder was explained away by intoxication.

Source

I'm not sure if I buy the owl explanation. Owls are pretty common around there, and even three sheets to the wind it would be hard to misidentify one as an alien.

If it wasn't some strange creatures and it's a hoax, I'd think it's probably just a story they made up for fame/money etc and not a misidentification.

But then again, the things I've seen around there make me question the hoax angle. Even being told what I was told about it.