Hopkinsville Goblins
Small figures besieged farmhouse; family filed police report
The Hopkinsville Goblins—also known as the Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter—stand as one of the most bizarre and well-documented humanoid sightings in American history. What separates this case from countless other cryptid reports is not just the strangeness of the creatures, but the number of witnesses, police involvement, physical evidence, and immediate reporting. This was not a story told years later—it unfolded in real time.
The incident occurred on the night of August 21, 1955, at a farmhouse near Kelly, Kentucky, close to the town of Hopkinsville. The household included two adults and seven children, all of whom would later give statements to police. The evening began uneventfully until one of the adults, Billy Ray Taylor, stepped outside and claimed to see a bright object streak across the sky before landing in a nearby field. Shortly afterward, the family dogs began barking frantically.
What followed was a four-hour siege.
Small humanoid figures began appearing around the house, peering through windows and emerging from the darkness. Witnesses described the creatures as roughly three to four feet tall, with large glowing eyes, pointed ears, long thin arms, and clawed hands. Their skin was described as metallic or silvery, and their movements as gliding rather than walking. When confronted, the creatures would retreat—only to reappear moments later from another direction.
Terrified, the adults retrieved firearms and opened fire when the figures approached. Multiple shots were fired at close range. According to the witnesses, the creatures were not injured. Instead, they flipped, floated, or vanished into the night when struck, returning again later. Shell casings littered the property. Bullet holes were left in doors and window frames.
Eventually, the family fled the farmhouse and drove to the Hopkinsville police station, visibly shaken. Officers initially suspected drunkenness or hysteria, but the family showed no signs of intoxication. Deputies returned to the farmhouse, where they found extensive physical evidence: shell casings, damage consistent with gunfire, and disturbed ground around the house. No intruders were found.
Over the next few days, investigators, military personnel from nearby Fort Campbell, and journalists descended on the area. While no creatures were captured, the consistency of witness accounts—across adults and children—was striking. None of the witnesses recanted their story, even under ridicule.
Skeptics later suggested the creatures were great horned owls, whose glowing eyes and wing movements might appear strange in the dark. However, this explanation struggles to account for the sustained duration of the encounter, the creatures’ humanoid descriptions, or the witnesses’ reports of being fired upon repeatedly without injury.
What makes the Hopkinsville Goblins case endure is its tone. There was no attempt to sensationalize. The witnesses did not seek fame, profit, or publicity. They wanted protection. Many refused interviews later in life, still shaken decades after the event.
In Dread Lore, the Hopkinsville Goblins represent a rare moment when the unknown did not lurk at the edge of perception—it surrounded a home. For hours, something watched, tested, and returned again and again, indifferent to bullets and fear. Whether extraterrestrial, cryptid, or something else entirely, the encounter leaves behind an unsettling implication: that on at least one night in rural Kentucky, a family was not alone—and whatever visited them was curious, persistent, and unafraid.