I host a lot of authors here. It’s something I enjoy, and it’s occasionally paid off when I need a place to promote one of my new stories. It’s even more enjoyable when it’s one of my friends. Mae Clair and I go way back, and we’re both members of Story Empire.
The Something Wicked tour involves all of the Story Empire crowd taking our show on the road and spreading the word about our personal work. I hope you’ll make Mae feel welcome and check out:
The Hopkinsville Goblins
Thanks for hosting me today, Craig! It’s fun to be here with your readers kicking off my fourth stop of Story Empire’s Something Wicked Blog Tour.
October is a fun time that brings plenty of shivers as we draw closer to Halloween, our mind naturally drawn to ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. But not all goblins are of the supernatural variety.
On a summer night in August of 1955, Billy Ray Taylor, a native of Pennsylvania was visiting his friend, Lucky Sutton of Kentucky. Lucky lived on a farm tucked between the towns of Kelly and Hopkinsville, a rural homestead that lacked electricity and running water. At some point during the evening, Billy hiked outside to get a drink of water from the well. In the process he glimpsed a shining object which descended from the sky and landed in a gully a quarter mile away.
When Billy returned to the homestead, he excitedly shared his tale, but the Sutton family laughed off the story. Not long afterward, the family dog broke into a crazy raucous before vanishing under the porch where it remained in hiding until the next day. Armed with rifles, Billy and Lucky headed outdoors to investigate. In the front yard, they encountered a bizarre creature with “large eyes, a long thin mouth, large ears, thin short legs, and hands ending in claws.” The being was unlike any they had ever seen before, short in stature, gremlin-like in appearance.
Both men unloaded their guns. They later insisted they couldn’t have missed their target at such close range, but the creature slipped away, vanishing into the surrounding woods. Billy and Lucky returned to the house, where they barricaded themselves inside.
In a short while, more creatures appeared. They gaped through the windows and grappled at the screens, trying to gain access to the house. The men unloaded ammo repeatedly. It took several hours before family members were able to escape and seek help from the sheriff’s department.
When they arrived at the Sutton farm, the sheriff and his men found no evidence of the goblin-like creatures but couldn’t deny there were holes blown through the walls and screens where bullets had penetrated. All officers reported the Suttons were sober and seemed genuinely terrified by something. They eventually left the farm around 2:15 in the morning.
Almost immediately, the goblin-like creatures descended again, peeking in windows and trying to gain entry. The strange events finally came to a halt shortly before dawn. At a loss for explanation, not knowing what else to do, the sheriff summoned the Air Force.
The story made headline news, prompting many to speculate the Suttons had fabricated a hoax. But they gained nothing from the publicity, and neighbors collaborated their reports of “lights in the sky.” All of the adults who witnessed the event−Billy and Lucky among them−gave the exact same account of events when questioned separately. There are even reports of a highway trooper citing “meteor-like objects” flying overhead around 11PM that night. Additionally, there is mention of “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.”
Years later, each family member remained firm in their story, no evidence of a hoax ever discovered. Interestingly, the U.S. Air Force has denied any involvement, but it has led many to believe the events of August 21, 1955, were those of an authentic UFO encounter.
I’ve always been fascinated by stories of UFOs and extraterrestrial beings. You’ll meet more than one alien in my novel, A Cold Tomorrow, but they are far from the Hopkinsville Goblin variety. I invite you to journey to Point Pleasant, where documented accounts of UFOs, Men in Black, and strange visitors once made national headlines. Although A Cold Tomorrow, is book 2 of my Point Pleasant series, it can easily be enjoyed as a standalone novel.
Blurb:
Where secrets make their home…
Stopping to help a motorist in trouble, Katie Lynch stumbles upon a mystery as elusive as the Mothman legend that haunts her hometown of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Could the coded message she finds herald an extraterrestrial visitor? According to locals, it wouldn’t be the first time. And what sense should she make of her young son’s sudden spate of bizarre drawings—and his claim of a late-night visitation? Determined to uncover the truth, Katie only breaks the surface when a new threat erupts. Suddenly her long-gone ex-boyfriend is back and it’s as if he’s under someone else’s control. Not only is he half-crazed, he’s intent on murder….
As a sergeant in the sheriff’s office of the famously uncanny Point Pleasant, Officer Ryan Flynn has learned to tolerate reports of puzzling paranormal events. But single mom Katie Lynch appears to be in very real danger—and somehow Ryan’s own brother, Caden, is caught up in the madness, too. What the skeptical lawman discovers astounds him—and sends him into action. For stopping whatever evil forces are at play may just keep Katie and Caden alive….
Connect with Mae Clair at BOOKBUB and the following haunts:
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Craig here again. I’ve read the entire Point Pleasant series and can vouch highly for it. It would be perfect for your Halloween reading, but holds up well at other times of the year, too. Make our day and use those sharing buttons.
We’d love to hear from you in the comments, too. Do any of you live near Hopkinsville or Point Pleasant?
Side note: Today is my birthday. As my gift, please consider picking up any of the titles on the Something Wicked tour this week. (Doesn’t have to be mine.) I know you’ll enjoy them.
Entertaining Stories 