1955 жылғы Келли-Хопкинсвиллдегі белгісіз ұшқыш объектілер кездесуі

Claimed UFO incident

The Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter (also known as the Hopkinsville Goblins Case or Kelly Green Men Case) was a claimed close encounter with extraterrestrial beings in 1955 near the communities of Kelly and Hopkinsville in Christian County, Kentucky, United States. UFOlogists regard it as one of the most significant and well documented cases in the history of UFO incidents, while skeptics say the reports were due to "the effects of excitement" and misidentification of natural phenomena such as meteors and owls. The United States Air Force classified the alleged incident as a hoax in the Project Blue Book files. Psychologists have used the alleged incident as an academic example of pseudoscience to help students distinguish truth from fiction.

On the evening of August 21, 1955, five adults and seven children arrived at the Hopkinsville police station claiming that small alien creatures from a spaceship were attacking their farmhouse, and that they had been holding them off with gunfire "for nearly four hours". Two of the adults, Elmer Sutton and Billy Ray Taylor, claimed they had been shooting at a few short, dark figures who repeatedly popped up at the doorway or peered into the windows. The Kentucky New Era, the first paper to report the incident, amplified the number to "12 to 15," and that number continues to be reported. Concerned about a possible gun battle between local citizens, four city police officers, five state troopers, three deputy sheriffs, and four military police officers from the nearby United States Army Fort Campbell drove to the Sutton farmhouse located near the town of Kelly in Christian County. Their search yielded nothing apart from evidence of gunfire and holes in window and door screens made by firearms.

Psychologists Rodney Schmaltz and Scott Lilienfeld cite the alleged incident as an example of pseudoscience and an "extraordinary claim" to help students develop critical thinking skills. Although contemporary newspaper stories reported that "all officials appeared to agree that there was no drinking involved", Schmaltz and Lilienfeld suggest that intoxication may have played a part in the sighting. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry member and skeptic Joe Nickell notes that the family could have misidentified "eagle owls" or great horned owls, which are nocturnal, fly silently, have yellow eyes, and aggressively defend their nests. According to Nickell, meteor sightings also occurred at the time that could explain Billy Ray Taylor's claim that he saw "a bright light streak across the sky and disappear beyond a tree line some distance from the house". UFOlogist Jerome Clark writes that the supposed creatures "floated" through the trees and the sound of bullets striking them "resembled bullets striking a metal bucket". Clark describes "an odd luminous patch along a fence where one of the beings had been shot, and, in the woods beyond, a green light whose source could not be determined";

Some UFOlogists compared the alleged creatures to gremlins, which have since often been referred to as the "Hopkinsville Goblins" in popular culture. UFOlogist Allan Hendry wrote: "This case is distinguished by its duration and also by the number of witnesses involved." Project Blue Book listed the case as a hoax with no further comment. The 1986 comedy horror film Critters is loosely based on the event. The Pokémon Sableye, introduced in Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire, is based on the goblins described in the event. In the games, they are animated with a swaying or "wading" motion, based on the creatures' reported gait. In the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the "hobkins", a type of gremlin from the Bestiary 5 book, is based upon the goblins described in the event. The event was the basis for the Annoyance Theater's musical "It Came From Kentucky" in Chicago. A February 2020 episode of the American television series Project Blue Book focused on the event. The Kelly community celebrates the event annually with the Little Green Men Days Festival.