< < BACK TO GALLERY

JACK ARTHUR WOOD, JR.

Hop Gob

Relief

12" x 12"

2016

I can remember most of my family’s visits with my grandparents, whom we referred to as “H” and “M,” short for Hillard and Margaret, inasmuch as they all called her Peggy. I can remember being probably seven at the time of this particular visit, very much consumed by my Gameboy. Batteries, however, would often force me to yield the high speed of instant gratification for the slower alternative provided by books. I cannot remember the name of the book that chronicled the incident of the “Hopkinsville Goblin,” first reported in 1955 by Joe Dorris (1).

The book frightened me deeply. My brother had not come on this visit and so I was alone in the room he and I usually shared. My grandparents’ house was a place of minding manners and watching p’s and q’s. It was unnerving already. I nervously fingered the mildewed pages, my worry growing with every word. The account of 12-15 four foot tall little green men, and their attack on the Sutton family farm really spooked my young mind. I looked out the bedside window and saw the drainage ditch there, bathed in eerie blue moonlight. My mind drifted to the drowning worms my brother and I would often try to rescue from the drainage cisterns. I thought their water-succumbed white bodies might be quite like the skin of aliens.

The description of the “goblins” describes them as having long limbs, disproportionately large heads, and black oily eyes. The Suttons are supposed to have waged a four hour-long battle with the little men, equipped with a shotgun and a .22 caliber target pistol. Four boxes of ammunition were spent, and none of the little green men was killed.

I’m sure you can imagine my reading this at seven. I was horrified, especially considering that I had believed I’d seen a UFO while stargazing with my Mother and Grandmother the summer prior.

The photograph I used for reference is from a more recent report of the same little green men as per Greg Newkirk (2). Interestingly, that article surfaced three weeks before I began researching and making my print. The recent report is very interesting and very similar to the original story, which occurred in Kelly, Kentucky, contrary to the name “Hopkinsville Goblin.”

I recently discussed the print with my mother who grew up in Hopkinsville. She had never heard of it and was very excited to tell me that she knew the news reporter, Joe Dorris, and most of the police personnel mentioned in the article.

I myself have never personally encountered anything I couldn’t explain except maybe whip scorpions. If the aliens come though, I’ll be ready to go.

Sources:

1 Dorris, Joe. "Story of Space-ship, 12 Little Men Probed Today." The Kentucky New Era (Hopkinsville), August 22, 1955.

2 Newkirk, Greg. "Return of the Kentucky Goblins: New Leads in a Case of Strange Creatures, Crashed UFOs, and the Men in Black." Week In Weird.