Billy Ray Taylor, a guest at the Sutton farm, went into the backyard of the farmhouse after nightfall and saw a bright object come from the southwest, then pass over and descend into a gully about 500 feet north at about 35-40 feet lower elevation. Taylor, Ms Glennie Lankford, six other adults (mostly Sutton family), and three children (Charlton, Lonnie and Mary Lankford), then saw a nightmarish entity approach from the field. It had a large round head with enormous wide-set yellow glowing eyes, prominent ears, a slit-like mouth, and no nose. The being held its long arms, which ended in clawed hands, above its head. The seemingly naked body was silvery and luminescent.

The men fired at the thing with a shotgun and a 22-caliber rifle at 20 feet distance. There was a sound as though a metal bucket had been hit, and the creature was knocked over, but rose and scurried off. Another being appeared at the window and was fired upon.

When two of the men went out of the house, a creature on the roof reached down to touch one of the men's hair; the other shot it, and knocked it over the roof. A creature in a tree was fired upon, and "floated down". Another, coming around the house, was knocked over by a point black 12 gauge shotgun blast, but got up again and ran off. The things would run away on all fours, the legs stiff and inflexible, but always approached the house with raised hands. Running out of ammunition, at about 11 pm, the entire group fled in their two cars and drove into Hopkinsville to report the incident to the Police Department.

Meanwhile a state police officer leaving the Shady Oaks restaurant, three miles north of Hopkinsville, heard several meteor-like objects streaking over him, sounding like artillery shells, and was able to see two in a series of what looked like meteors coming from the southwest from the direction of Fort Campbell (site of a nuclear weapons depot).

After the Suttons reached town, a posse of city, county, state and military police and reporters drove out to the farm to investigate. They were there from around 11:30 pm to 2:00 am. After they left, the Suttons claimed the creatures returned. Again shots were fired without effect. The beings finally disappearing at about 4:45 am.(Taylor, Billy Ray; Lankford, Glennie; Sutton).

Hynek summarized the case:

A "conventional" UFO was seen by only one witness to land in a gully near the farmhouse occupied by the Sutton family. This witness, coming back to the farmhouse, told of his sighting. His report was promptly discounted, and he was subjected to mild ridicule. Less than an hour later the occupants of the house were alerted by the violent barking of the dog in the yard. Two of the men in the house went to the back door to see who was coming. A small "glowing" man with extremely large eyes, his arms extended over his head "as though he were being robbed," slowly approached the house.

In that area of the country people in the economic and social framework of these witnesses "shoot first and ask questions later." This is precisely what the two Sutton men reportedly did, one with a .22 rifle and the other with a shotgun. Both men fired when the "UFOnaut" was about 20 feet away from the house; the sound was described "just like I'd shot intoa bucket." The visitor did a quick flip and scurried away into the darkness.

Soon another visitor appeared at the window and was promptly fired at through the window. The screen bears the souvenir {a bullet hole) of this attack on the invader. Going out to see if they had killed the intruder, those behind the first man saw, as he momentarily stopped under a small overhang of the roof, a claw-like hand reach down and touch his hair. Gunplay again, directed toward the creature on the roof and toward one suddenly noted in a nearby tree branch. The latter was apparently hit directly, but it floated to the ground (a maneuver that was to be repeated) and scurried away.

Nothing seems to unnerve the Kentucky countryman as much as the ineffectiveness of guns, and soon the entire family was confined within the house behind bolted doors. From time to time the visitors reappeared at the windows.

After about three hours the family decided that they had had enough of this one-sided siege, and, apparently making a quick decision, all 11 of the occupants of the house piled into two cars and headed into town to the police. That was at 11:00 in the evening. Since it takes serious provocation to pack 11 people into cars late at night and to rush the 7 or so miles to the police station, asking for help, it gives some indication of the terror that must have gripped the family by this time.

When the family returned, the police surveyed the territory, lights flashing amidst considerable commotion, but nothing was found.

After the police left and all was once again dark and quiet, the creatures reappeared, according to all witnesses.

…I would not have given the Kelly-Hopkinsville case this much attention were it not for the fact that I know the principal investigators, Ledwith and Davis, well, particularly Ledwith since he was in my direct employ for nearly two years on the satellite tracking program.

There is an even greater reason: the "humanoids" are themselves a prototype that has occurred again and again throughout the years, going hack, as Vallee so convincingly points out in Passport to Magonia, to the myths and legends of many cultures.

Ledwith's account of how the description of the little creatures was obtained:

When I got there everyone greeted me with, "Have you seen the little green men yet?" I inquired and got a vague account of the night's happenings. Remembering a magazine article that I had read not long before, about the way the police artists reconstruct facial features from witnesses' descriptions, I decided to clarify the situation. I had once studied art and thought I might be able to get sketches.

With me I took one of the men at the station, in order to have a witness who could watch and listen and make sure that I was not leading or guiding the people 1 interviewed.

Despite the events of the previous night the men of the house had gone out of town on their planned business for the day and were not in. The womenfolk agreed to an interview.

I did not lead the women in any way as the pictures were drawn. They were extremely positive of what they had seen and had not seen; it was a matter of following the directions as to the shape of the face, eyes, hands, and body. If I even so much as advanced a supposition of how one particular feature might have looked, they would quickly correct me. ... It wasn't long before the "apparition" began to take form. The eyes were like saucers, large and set about six inches apart; they seemed to be halfway around the side of the face. . . . The head itself was circular and completely bald on top. . . . We progressed to the body. No one was sure whether there was a neck or not, so we left it out. According to the women, the body was thin, with a formless straight figure. . . . The arms were peculiar; they were almost twice as long as the legs . . . the hands were huge, bulky looking things. . . . The only part of the face that no one could describe was the nose. ... I tried to sketch in a nose . . . but no one was sure, so we removed it.

(When the men came home) His eyes dropped to the table, where I had placed my drawing. Without saying another word he sat down, . . , looked it over . . . and said, "No, the face is almost round, it doesn't come to a point." We got right to work on the men's drawing, using the women's as a guide and making changes as the three men indicated .... The mouth was disputable; Lucky was adamant that there had not been any mouth at all. If any, it was not much more than a straight line across the face. To pacify those who had seen it, I drew in a straight line, high, from ear to ear.

Those seven people had given me almost parallel stories and almost identical pictures. It would be impossible for so many people to give me false accounts and pictures that tallied so closely unless they first talked together and decided what each feature looked like; but three of the men had left very early that morning for Evansville and had not been home throughout the day. These were not interviews in which one person would look at another and say, "Is that what you thought it looked like?" No, all seven were sure of what they had seen, and no one would retract a statement . . . even under close cross-examination. I use that word loosely where Lucky is concerned; you don't exactly cross-examine Lucky Sutton.

... as the report spread outside the family, they were distorted in all directions; everyone who told the story seemed to add his own ideas of how the creatures looked. For this reason I am pleased that we had the advantage of time. Our morning interview was the first complete report of the whole night's happenings. The women were friendly and relaxed and we had no disturbance. The sight-seeing horde had not yet become overwhelming. That night we talked to the men in the same way, immediately after they came home, before they had had any opportunity to discuss the first interview with the others. I was greatly impressed with their sincerity, both the men and the women

Google map of this location.