111: The Hopkinsville Goblins | 31 Nights of Frights on True Crime Sleep Stories
True Crime Sleep StoriesSummary
In August 1955, a family in Kelly, Kentucky, experienced a night of terror that would become a legendary tale of extraterrestrial encounters. After dinner, Billy Ray Taylor, a guest at the Lankford farmhouse, reported seeing a bright light in the sky, which he initially dismissed as a shooting star. However, as darkness fell, strange occurrences began. The family claimed to have encountered small, glowing creatures with large heads and long arms, which approached their home, prompting them to arm themselves and fire shots in defense.
The family, consisting of Glennie Lankford and her children, along with several guests, ultimately fled to the Hopkinsville police station, where they described their harrowing experience. Officers responded to the scene, but found no evidence of the creatures, only spent shell casings and a hole in a window screen. The incident quickly garnered media attention, leading to sensational headlines that dubbed the beings "Little Green Men," despite the family's own descriptions of the creatures as silver.
In the aftermath, the family faced skepticism and ridicule, with many attributing the events to drunkenness or a hoax. Over the years, various theories emerged, including the possibility that the sightings were simply misidentified owls. Despite the controversy, the story remained a significant part of local folklore, inspiring festivals and media adaptations. The Lankford family, however, preferred to move on from the incident, seeking to live their lives away from the spotlight.
Show Notes
On August 21, 1955, a family near Kelly, Kentucky reported small glowing creatures (the so-called Kelly Green Men or little green men) attacking their farmhouse. Billy Ray Taylor saw a bright light, then a silvery figure with a large head and clawed arms. The men opened fire. All 11 people fled to police. Local police and Fort Campbell military police searched the property. Some claim it was just a great horned owl. The family disagreed. Hoax, prank, or real UFO encounter? What do you think? Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters. Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤 Listen & Connect • Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Stay in Touch Facebook Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ
Support the show on Patreon
True Crime Sleep Stories is hosted and created by Kelli Brink, produced with the support of our dedicated team. Subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast platform to help us keep telling these haunting tales. Visit patreon.com/kellibrink for exclusive content and to join our community. Thank you for listening, and we'll meet you in the shadows next time. Until then, stay safe out there, and lock your doors. 🌑 Goodnight. #HopkinsvilleGoblins #KellyHopkinsvilleEncounter #UFO #Kentucky #TrueCrimeSleepStories
More from True Crime Sleep Stories
You've heard the Winchester Mystery House legends: staircases to nowhere, doors that open onto nothing, and a widow haunted by the ghosts of everyone killed by a Winchester rifle. The true story of Sarah Winchester is far more interesting. Sarah "Sallie" Winchester lost her baby daughter, her parents, and her husband William Wirt Winchester, heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, all within a few years. Grieving, she moved to San Jose, California, and built a life on her own terms. She was a sharp businesswoman, a generous employer who kept her carpenters and staff working for decades, and she supported her family for the rest of her life. She designed her Victorian mansion herself, one room at a time, out of a love of architecture she had shared with Will. She lived with rheumatoid arthritis and was a happy homebody, not someone hiding from a curse. The ghost stories came after her death, invented to sell tickets and draw tourists. Sallie wasn't a haunted, cursed widow. She was a role model. Tonight on 31 Nights of Frights, I'm separating fact from fiction in a true story that isn't scary at all. It's inspiring, fascinating, and a little sad. 🖤 #WinchesterMysteryHouse #SarahWinchester #TrueCrimeSleepStories #HauntedHouse #HauntedHistory #GhostStories #SanJose #Halloween Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters. Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤 Listen & Connect • Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Stay in Touch Facebook Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ
Pull up a blanket, friends. Tonight on True Crime Sleep Stories, I'm sitting by the fire and looking back at my favorite true crime and unexplained mysteries from our 31 Nights of Frights. We'll revisit your listener stories (including the Captain from True Crime Garage), the legend of the Mothman in Point Pleasant, and the 1955 Pascagoula UFO Incident. I'll share the eeriest details that stayed with me, tell you a short Halloween bedtime story, and give you a peek at what's still coming, including our extra long Halloween episode on 10/31 (I'm so excited!!). Whether you listen to fall asleep or love a cozy, creepy story, thank you for being here and for supporting the show. You're the reason these 31 nights happened. 🖤 True crime for sleep, unsolved mysteries, paranormal stories, Halloween podcast, calm storytelling. Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters. Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤 Listen & Connect • Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Stay in Touch Facebook Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ
In this True Crime Sleep Stories episode, we cover the Campden Wonder, the nearly 400-year-old unsolved disappearance of William Harrison in Chipping Campden, Cotswolds, in 1660. After the estate steward vanished while collecting rent, his servant John Perry and the Perry family (Joan and Richard) were convicted and hanged for his murder despite no body being found. Harrison later returned alive, claiming he had been kidnapped and sold into slavery in Turkey, making the Campden Wonder one of England’s most famous historical true crime mysteries and a lasting cautionary tale about convicting without a body. Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters. Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤 Listen & Connect • Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Stay in Touch Facebook Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ
2 couples drive past the old TNT plant outside Point Pleasant, West Virginia, when headlights catch the Mothman... tall, gray, with glowing red eyes. It follows their car at nearly a hundred miles an hour. They go straight to the courthouse. The deputy says they weren’t lying. Tonight’s episode is a step further into the dark for 31 Nights of Frights. Ordinary people reported Mothman sightings around Point Pleasant, strange visitors, and silent phone calls. 13 months later, the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River with Christmas traffic on it. 46 people died. The crack in the steel had been growing for years, experts said. This episode stays with the people who never stopped saying the Mothman wasn’t a bird, the reporter who wrote it all down, the town of Point Pleasant that still remembers the names and put up a statue with red eyes. Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters. Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤 Listen & Connect • Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Stay in Touch Facebook Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ
A lot of people might not think the Bell Witch story is “true crime.” It sounds like folklore or a classic ghost tale. But it is true crime for one simple reason: John Bell was murdered. Welcome to another 31 Nights of Frights on True Crime Sleep Stories. In 1820, on the Bell family farm along the Red River in what is now Adams, Tennessee (Robertson County), John Bell died in his bed. If you believe it was the Bell Witch (the voice the neighbors called Kate), then a supernatural being killed him. If you don’t believe in witches or ghosts, then a person put poison in his medicine cabinet and gave him a fatal dose while he slept. Either way, a man died and someone, or something, did it. That’s the definition of true crime. This is the rare case where the supernatural and the murder aren’t competing explanations. They’re the same story. Whether it was a ghostly witch or a human hand that put the poison in that vial, John Bell was murdered in his own bed. Most of what we know about the Bell Witch haunting comes from his son Richard Williams Bell’s 1846 manuscript, later published in 1894. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. Sleep well. Patreon Exclusive: Ad-free version & bonus content available now for supporters. Your support keeps the stories coming... thank you! 💤 Listen & Connect • Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@SleepyTimeCreepyTime • Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Stay in Touch Facebook Instagram: @truecrimesleepstories | @kellibrink TikTok: @truecrimesleepstories Buy the True Crime Sleep Stories Books by Kelli Brink Vol. 1: amzn.to/3Z8jx5L Vol. 2: amzn.to/4kAthhj Vol. 3: amzn.to/3H9xfPQ