ELEVEN WITNESSES REPORT SILVER CREATURES SURROUNDING FARMHOUSE FOR THREE HOURS
Family fires weapons repeatedly with no apparent effect -- local police and state troopers respond at midnight -- physical evidence found at scene
KELLY, KY. -- August 21--22, 1955 -- First reported: August 22, 1955
Date
August 21--22, 1955 -- approximately 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Location
Sutton family farm, Kelly, Christian County, Kentucky
Witnesses
11 adults and children -- Sutton family and houseguests; subsequently four police officers and state troopers who investigated the scene
Evidence Types
PHYSICAL, DOCUMENTARY
Official Explanation
Mass hysteria or misidentification of great horned owls (proposed by subsequent investigators -- not an official Air Force determination)
Current Status
Never officially explained by any government agency; case remains in active discussion
The evening of August 21, 1955, begins ordinarily at the Sutton farmstead near Kelly, Kentucky. The Sutton family has company -- Billy Ray Taylor, his wife, and others are visiting. It is a warm summer evening, and the group is relaxing on the farm.
Billy Ray Taylor goes to the property's water pump around 7:00 p.m. and sees something he cannot explain: a silvery, elliptical object descend in the direction of a nearby gully. He reports this to the family. They dismiss it.
About 30 minutes later, the family dog begins barking wildly, then runs under the house and refuses to come out. Lucky Sutton and Billy Ray Taylor go outside to investigate. A small, luminous figure approaches the house from the dark -- roughly three and a half feet tall, with an oversized head, large glowing eyes, and long arms with claw-like hands. The two men grab a .22 rifle and a 20-gauge shotgun.
They shoot the figure at close range. It somersaults backward, apparently unhurt, and disappears into the dark. Another figure appears at a window. They shoot again. The creatures are not killed, not apparently injured, and do not retreat. For the next three hours, the family is besieged. Figures appear at windows, on the roof, in the trees. Each time one is shot, it makes a metallic sound, rights itself, and continues.
At approximately 11:00 p.m., the family -- eleven people including children -- pile into their cars and drive to the Hopkinsville Police Department. Police Chief Russell Greenwell, accompanied by officers and state troopers, drives out to the farm. They find an agitated, terrified group of people and physical disturbances at the scene, but no creatures. Several officers return before dawn and observe lights in the sky. The creatures reportedly return briefly after police depart.
First-Hand Accounts
“I shot one of those things right off the roof. It hit the ground and got right up. I shot it again. Same thing. They weren't hurt. There were at least two of them, maybe more. We shot at them for hours. My wife and the kids were screaming inside. We couldn't get them to stop coming.”
Elmer "Lucky" Sutton
Owner of the Sutton farm; primary witness to the encounter
Location: Sutton farm exterior and interior, Kelly, KY
Date: August 21--22, 1955
Source: Sutton, E. (1955). Interview with Police Chief Russell Greenwell. August 22, 1955. Also: Ledger, J. & Lore, G. (1966). Strange Effects from UFOs. NICAP.
“One of them put its hands -- or claws, they looked like claws -- on the window screen right outside where I was sitting. I looked right at it. It was silver-colored and had eyes that reflected light. It wasn't a person and it wasn't an animal I have ever seen. I have lived on this farm for years. I know what a great horned owl looks like.”
Mrs. Glennie Lankford
Sutton family matriarch; present throughout the encounter
Location: Inside Sutton farmhouse, Kelly, KY
Date: August 21--22, 1955
Source: Lankford, G. (1955). Interview with NICAP investigators. 1956.
“I have been a police officer for a long time. When that family came into the station, they were genuinely terrified -- not performing. We went to the farm immediately. Something had been going on out there. The family had fired their weapons many times. We didn't find the creatures, but we found plenty of evidence of a struggle.”
Police Chief Russell Greenwell
Chief of Police, Hopkinsville, KY
Location: Sutton farm (investigation); Hopkinsville Police Department
Date: August 22, 1955 (response); interview given to investigators
Source: Greenwell, R. (1955). Witness statement. Hopkinsville New Era, August 22, 1955.
“I spent considerable time with the Sutton family. There is no clinical evidence of psychosis, group hysteria, or deliberate fabrication. The family had no history of mental illness and no apparent motive to fabricate an event that brought them unwanted attention and ridicule for decades. The internal consistency of the accounts across eleven separate individuals is remarkable.”
Dr. Berthold E. Schwarz
Psychiatrist; UFO researcher; interviewed the family in detail
Location: Clinical interviews conducted after the event
Date: 1970s (retrospective investigation)
Source: Schwarz, B.E. (1983). UFO Dynamics. Rainbow Books.
“The great horned owl is an extremely plausible explanation. These owls are nocturnal, territorial, and aggressive -- they have attacked humans who approached their territory. At night, caught in a flashlight or porch light beam, their large yellow eyes are striking. If the family saw owls in the trees and shot at them, the owls' ability to absorb shotgun pellets at distance and fly away would be consistent with the "not hurt by bullets" accounts.”
Joe Nickell
Investigator, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
Location: Field investigation, Kelly, KY (2006)
Date: 2006 revisit
Source: Nickell, J. (2006). Siege of "Little Green Men": The 1955 Kelly, Kentucky, Incident. Skeptical Inquirer, 30(6).
The Evidence Record
Bullet impact evidence and disturbed vegetation
Police who responded to the scene found multiple spent shell casings around the farm perimeter consistent with the family's account of sustained gunfire. Window screens bore marks consistent with contact described by witnesses. Investigators found no blood or animal remains -- but the family claimed their shots struck the creatures without killing them.
Chain of Custody
Observed and documented by Hopkinsville Police Department and Kentucky State Police officers on the night of August 22, 1955. No formal forensic processing.
Hopkinsville Police Department incident report (August 22, 1955)
The formal police incident report filed by Chief Greenwell and accompanying officers following their investigation of the Sutton farm. The report describes an agitated family group, evidence of extended firearms discharge, and reports from officers who remained in the area and observed unusual lights in the sky before dawn.
Chain of Custody
Hopkinsville PD files -> Christian County archives -> partially reproduced in NICAP and subsequent research publications
Luminous patch reportedly visible after event
Officers who investigated the farm near dawn reported seeing a luminous patch on the ground in the area where the initial craft landing was reported. The luminosity was described as fading as it was observed. No sample was collected.
Chain of Custody
Officer verbal report to Chief Greenwell -> Hopkinsville New Era, August 22, 1955 -> NICAP investigation files
Government & Military Actions
The U.S. Air Force conducted no formal investigation of the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter. The event occurred at a time of heightened UFO activity nationally, but the entity aspect of the case -- as opposed to aerial phenomena -- fell outside the Air Force's defined scope. The Hopkinsville Police Department and Kentucky State Police responded to the Sutton family's report and documented the scene. Chief Greenwell later stated the family's fear appeared genuine. The case was investigated by NICAP and subsequently by multiple independent researchers. No government agency has offered an official explanation.
Official Timeline
August 21, 1955 -- 7:00 p.m.
Billy Ray Taylor observes object land in gully near the Sutton farm.
Source: Taylor witness statement. NICAP files.
August 21, 1955 -- 7:30 p.m.
Family dog retreats under house. Lucky Sutton and Taylor encounter first creature approaching the farm. Gunfire begins.
Source: Sutton witness statements. Police report.
August 21--22, 1955
Three-hour ordeal. Eleven family members barricaded inside the house. Repeated gunfire at creatures appearing at windows, on roof, and in trees.
Source: Sutton and Taylor witness statements. Hopkinsville Police incident report.
August 22, 1955 -- 11:00 p.m.
Family drives to Hopkinsville Police Department. Chief Greenwell, officers, and state troopers respond.
Source: Hopkinsville New Era, August 22, 1955.
August 22, 1955 -- after midnight
Police investigate farm; find evidence of gunfire but no creatures. Officers report unusual lights in sky before dawn. Creatures allegedly return briefly after police leave.
Source: Hopkinsville Police incident report.
1956
NICAP investigators interview all available witnesses. Accounts are consistent across the family group.
Source: Ledger, J. & Lore, G. (1966). Strange Effects from UFOs. NICAP.
Declassified Documents
Hopkinsville Police Department Incident Report, August 22, 1955
August 22, 1955
The only official government document on the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter. Documents the family's report, the police investigation, and officers' observations before dawn.
Alternative Explanations Examined
Claim 1
“The Sutton family and their guests misidentified great horned owls -- large, nocturnal, territorial birds whose glowing yellow eyes could appear startling at night.”
Accounts For
The described appearance of large eyes on a small, dark body. The creatures' ability to absorb gunfire without visible injury (owls can withstand pellets from a distance). The entities appearing to float or glide in the darkness. The general hysteria of a rural family at night.
Fails to Explain
Why eleven witnesses with rural Kentucky backgrounds and familiarity with local wildlife would mistake owls for silver-skinned, bipedal entities with oversized heads and claw-like hands. The metallic sound described when creatures were struck. The sustained nature of the encounter across three hours. The luminous patch found by police before dawn. The initial report of a craft landing in the gully.
Skeptical Voices
“Great horned owls are highly aggressive when defending territory. At night, caught in a flashlight beam, their size and luminous eyes are genuinely startling -- even to people familiar with local wildlife. The family may have been drinking -- some accounts mention this -- and their fear would have amplified the experience beyond recognition.”
Joe Nickell
Senior Research Fellow, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
Source: Nickell, J. (2006). Skeptical Inquirer, 30(6).
Chronology of Events
August 21, 1955 -- 7:00 p.m.
August 21, 1955 -- 7:30 p.m.
August 21, 1955 -- 7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
August 22, 1955 -- 11:00 p.m.
August 22, 1955 -- after midnight
1956
2006
Annually
Credibility Analysis
Witness Count & Quality
STRONG -- Eleven witnesses of varying ages and relationships who maintained consistent accounts. Law enforcement officers who responded found the family genuinely distressed. No member of the group has ever recanted.
Physical Evidence
LIMITED -- No physical traces of creatures were recovered. Evidence of sustained gunfire documented. A pre-dawn luminous patch reported by officers was not sampled. No biological material recovered.
Account Consistency
STRONG -- Eleven witnesses across age ranges gave consistent descriptions of the creatures' appearance, behavior, and the family's response over the three-hour encounter.
Independent Verification
MODERATE -- Police officers who responded confirmed the family's distress and physical evidence of the confrontation (spent casings, disturbed screens). Some officers reported unusual lights in the sky before dawn. No independent witness to the creatures themselves.
What We Know
- ✓
Eleven people -- including multiple adults with no apparent motive to fabricate -- reported a sustained, three-hour encounter with entities at a Kentucky farmhouse on August 21--22, 1955.
- ✓
The family fired weapons repeatedly at the creatures without apparent effect, documented by police who found evidence of sustained gunfire.
- ✓
Local police and state troopers responded and found a genuinely distressed group whose accounts they found credible.
- ✓
No conventional explanation has been accepted by the witnesses or independently verified by investigators.
- ✓
The case was investigated by NICAP in 1956 and multiple researchers since -- no evidence of fabrication has been established.
Remains Unexplained
- ?
What entities could repeatedly absorb close-range shotgun fire without injury or blood traces.
- ?
What Billy Ray Taylor observed landing in the gully before the encounter began.
- ?
The nature of the luminous patch reported by police officers before dawn at the reported landing site.
- ?
Why no family member, in the 60+ years since the event, has claimed it was fabricated or exaggerated.
Sources & Further Reading
Strange Effects from UFOs
Gordon Lore & Harold Deneault (NICAP) · 1969
NICAP's investigation of the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, including interviews with all available witnesses. The primary research document for the case.
"Siege of Little Green Men": The 1955 Kelly, Kentucky Incident
Joe Nickell · 2006
The most thorough skeptical investigation. Proposes the great horned owl explanation with supporting behavioral analysis.
UFO Dynamics
Berthold E. Schwarz, M.D. · 1983
Psychiatric assessment of the Kelly-Hopkinsville witnesses by a physician who interviewed the family. Finds no clinical evidence of fabrication or collective psychosis.
Hopkinsville New Era
Staff · 1955
Contemporary local newspaper coverage from August 22, 1955, including Police Chief Greenwell's statements and initial witness accounts.