Monster of the Week: The Kentucky Goblins
The little glowing men who left a Kentucky family scarred for life
August 21st, 1955, had started as a day like any other for the Sutton family on their small rural farm in Kelly, Kentucky. The Suttons lived in a tiny three-room farmhouse without a telephone or even running water. At least eight people lived in the home, including Lucky Sutton, his mother and brothers, along with several children. Visiting the Suttons in classic “wrong place at the wrong time” fashion was family friend Billy Ray Taylor and his wife. That evening, while fetching water from an outdoor well, Taylor spotted a bright object passing through the sky before it dropped into a field separated from the house by a wood line. Some accounts state that Taylor recalled seeing a cylinder-shaped object, but according to a primary news report, Taylor described the object as a flying saucer that made a hissing sound before impact. He ran into the house in a panic, but Lucky brushed off the encounter as nothing more than Taylor’s imagination. What followed around one hour later would prove that wasn’t the case, at least not for the Suttons.
The Siege of The Little Men
Lucky and Taylor were soon alerted to the sound of dogs barking behind the house. As they stepped outside and peered into the woods, they saw a distant glow enveloping a small humanoid creature. The being started to float toward them without touching the ground with its rounded feet. The figure would be described as having a large round head, clawed hands at the end of long arms that almost reached the ground, metallic bodies with large pointed ears, and huge glowing eyes. The men immediately went for their weapons — a 20-gauge shotgun and a .22 rifle — and began firing at the creature as it approached the house. They recounted that after firing at the “little man” it flipped backward away from the house and retreated toward the woods.
The men ran back into the house and for four long hours, they would engage in what would be described as a battle between themselves and the silvery invaders. The little men swarmed the outside of the home, peeking through windows and taking a particular interest in the children of the home. After taking a shot at one of the creatures through a window in the back room where the children were hiding, Taylor stepped outside to check that he’d hit his target when a hand reached down from the low-hanging roof and grabbed at his hair. Frightened as they were, the men continued out of the house and saw one little man in a tree and one on the roof. Despite hitting their targets, the men noted that the creatures did not appear to be injured at all as they retreated into the darkness to recuperate.
The Suttons finally found a moment of reprieve around 11 pm. Slipping through the darkness outside, they piled into two trucks and made their way to the Hopkinsville Police Department. The sheriff’s deputies suddenly found themselves faced with a huge family of about twelve people, all genuinely terrified and desperate for help. The Suttons were known in the community as trustworthy people who didn’t typically consume alcohol or even curse in the home thanks to their stern matriarch, Lucky’s mother. With this in mind, officers agreed to go take a look. The family refused to return to the house until police had thoroughly searched the property and declared it safe — which didn’t take too long. According to newspaper reports, the officers didn’t find any evidence of “little men” that they would expect to find such as footprints or bloodstains from gunshot wounds. It was clear, however, that something had happened that night. The windows and doors of the home were blasted with bullet holes and the house was in disarray. After officers had left and the family settled back in as best as they could, the little men returned and continued to harass the home’s occupants from around 3 am until the sun began to rise.
The Aftermath
In the days following the incident, radio stations, newspapers, and curious neighbors swarmed on the house. It was nothing but a second unwanted siege for the Suttons, whose “no trespassing” signs had proven useless. When their warning signs had failed, the family decided to charge anywhere from $0.50 to $10 for those who wanted a glimpse or even a photograph of the home in hopes of deterring trespassers. However, this only made matters worse as townsfolk and skeptics accused the family of staging an elaborate hoax for money. It took only ten days for the family to up and leave, abandoning the home they loved so much to avoid further ridicule. It was in the midst of local and even international media frenzy that a simple yet pivotal mistake would be made, wherein one report referred to the creatures as “little green men” despite the Suttons claiming that they were grey and metallic in color.
There have been many attempts to debunk the Suttons’ experience that hot night in 1955. As in most close encounter cases, many people were quick to point out that the “little men” were probably nothing more than a pair of great horned owls which are native to the area. I found myself wondering, though, if the rural family wouldn’t have been able to identify the birds? After all, living in such a secluded, forested area must have made them familiar with most of the local wildlife including any owls that frequented the area, right? Other skeptics have even pulled out an old and unfounded rumor that a circus had stopped outside of town to exercise the horses and camels when their troupe of monkeys escaped and found their way to the farm. But, if that were the case, wouldn’t there have been some tracks left behind or blood from gunshot wounds? These claims — along with witness testimony such as that Billy Ray Taylor seemed to enjoy the attention and was the only one in the family whose physical description of the creatures was suspiciously different — have left many curious cats, myself included, wondering what really went down on the Sutton farm that night.
What Do You Think?
An interesting fact about this case is that Lucky and Billy Ray Taylor met through work — they had both been carnies with a traveling circus. Knowing that there was a circus rumored to be nearby, I wonder if maybe the whole event was nothing more than a prank that went to far. Had the visiting Billy Ray put some fellow carnies up to the task, giving them metal plates to protect them from gunfire? Were they given time to cover their tracks before police showed up to investigate? Or were there really goblins from outer space tormenting the family that night?
It’s worth noting that this instance of a “goblin sighting” wasn’t the first or last in Kentucky. It’s alleged that goblins and other creatures lurk in the Mammoth Cave System that runs below Kentucky, resulting in reports of similar sightings all across the state.
So, what do you think?
