1955: A Really, REALLY Close Encounter

by Nick Redfern         November 16, 2017          (mysteriousuniverse.org)

• This is the story of an incident that occurred on August 15, 1955 in Kelly, Kentucky, a small town ten miles from Hopkinsville.

• About 7pm on this night, Billy Ray went out of the house to fetch some water from the well. He saw a large, illuminated, circular object land in a gully. He and his friend Elmer grabbed their shotguns and went to have a look. Suddenly a three-foot tall silver ape-like creature with long arms held high in the air came at them. Elmer blasted it with his shotgun but it didn’t harm the creature. It did a back-flip and disappeared into the darkness. Back at the house one of these creatures was peering through the window and got shot in the face. The creature ran away unharmed. When they went outside one of the creatures on the roof grabbed Billy Ray’s hair. Another creature was watching perched on a nearby tree branch. When they started shooting at it, it floated to the ground. Soon a group of these creatures were going nuts all around them, lasting into the night. Elmer, Billy Ray and family left the house and drove to the Hopkinsville sheriff’s office. When they all returned to the house, the creatures were gone.

• Major John E. Albert of the United States Air Force investigated the incident and officially determined that some silver-painted monkeys had escaped from a traveling circus.

• UFO researcher Dr. J. Allen Hynek also investigated the incident. He noted that there had been no traveling circus in that vicinity at that time.

The subject of UFO research is filled with cases that positively reek of high strangeness. And they don’t get much stranger than a very weird incident which occurred in August 1955, in the vicinity of Kelly and Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Depending on whose version of events you accept as the truth, either aliens landed or a band of marauding circus monkeys – painted silver, no less – were on the loose! Kelly was, and still is, a small, rural town which is situated just short of ten miles from Hopkinsville. It was the night of August 15 when absolute chaos broke out. It all went down at the farmhouse of the Sutton family, who had visitors in from Pennsylvania: Billy Ray Taylor and his wife. Around 7.00 p.m. Billy Ray left the farmhouse to fetch water from the family’s well. And what a big mistake that was.

In mere minutes, Billy Ray was back, minus the water. Terrified Billy Ray told the Suttons and his wife that as he headed towards the well he saw a significantly sized, illuminated, circular-shaped object come to rest in a nearby gully. As the group tried to figure out what on earth (or off it…) was going on, they mused upon the possibilities of shooting stars, meteorites, and good old leg-pulling. By all accounts, it was none of those. In just a few minutes, the Sutton’s dog began to bark, growl, and snarl in aggressive, uncontrollable fashion – after which it raced for cover underneath the porch. Clearly, something strange was going down. Exactly how strange, soon became very apparent.

Intent on making sure they were in control of the situation, Elmer Sutton and Billy Ray Taylor armed themselves with a shotgun and headed out into the darkness. In no time, they were confronted by something terrifying: a small, silvery, creature – in the region of three feet tall – that was scurrying towards them with its long, ape-like, arms held high in the air. Sutton did what most folk might do when confronted by a strange, dwarfish thing after sunset: he blasted the beast with his shotgun. To the consternation of both men, the gun had no effect, aside from causing the creature to do a quick, impressive back-flip, after which it disappeared into the darkness – for a while.

Rather wisely, Elmer and Billy Ray raced for the safety of the farmhouse and locked the doors behind them. In mere moments, the same creature – or, at least, a very similar one – was seen peering through one of the windows. Elmer’s son, J.C., took a shot at it. The only damage was to the window. The small beast scurried away at lightning speed. Elmer Sutton and Billy Ray took a tentative walk outside to see if they could see the creature – or creatures. That was a very bad move: as they prowled around the property, a clawed hand came down from the roof and seized Billy Ray’s hair and head.

Terrified Billy Ray pulled away, screaming, to see the creature charge across the roof. To their horror, a second creature was staring at them from the branch of a nearby tree. A second shoot-out achieved nothing, aside from the remarkably weird sight of the creatures floating – rather than leaping or falling – to the ground and then racing into the darkness. The tumultuous events continued throughout the night, with guns firing, and the creepy little beasts seemingly doing their very best to create as much havoc and mayhem as was conceivably possible.

Realizing that the situation might very well go on all night, the group decided there was only one option available to them: they had to flee the farmhouse, which they did in two cars, making their speedy way to the sheriff’s office in nearby Hopkinsville. The sheer, collective state of fear into which the Suttons and the Taylors had been plunged, pretty much immediately convinced the sheriff that whatever had happened, it was no drunken prank.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on one’s perspective), by the time the sheriff and the family arrived back at the farmhouse, the creatures were gone – they did, however, put in a reappearance in the early hours, and conveniently after the police had left. In no time at all, the media got onto the story, as did the U.S. Air Force – the latter coming up with a very bizarre explanation as its staff sought to lay matters to rest.

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With thanks to Mojo Jojo and the Powerpuff Girls, and Cartoon Network.

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