70 Years Later, The True Story Behind E.T. Remains One Of The Most Shocking Real-Life Alien Encounters

The world loves E.T. He's weird looking, has the voice of an aunt who smokes too much, and is full of heart. It's pretty much impossible to watch the movie and not cry at least once. But, as odd as it may seem, E.T. was originally supposed to be a horror movie. It all started after Close Encounters of the Third Kind was a massive hit for Columbia Pictures, and they wanted a sequel. Spielberg, who was anti-sequels at the time, didn't want to do that, but he did have another idea for an alien movie he had been toying with that he called Night Skies.

In the story Spielberg laid out, an alien ship lands on a farm and terrorizes a family for one night. Essentially, it would be a home invasion movie, but with nasty beings from space doing the invading. And the whole idea was based on a true story.

That Time Aliens Attacked Sutton Farm

In the summer of 1955, Billy Ray Taylor and his wife June headed out for a nice evening at the Sutton farm between Kelly and Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Billy Ray was good pals with Elmer "Lucky Sutton, and it was common for the families to get together at the Suttons for a night of fun. And fun is what they had. The kids played, the adults talked, and the sun went down, revealing a beautiful full moon.

It was under that full moon where Billy Ray, who had stepped away from everyone esle to get some water from the well, saw something he couldn't believe: a big silver flying saucer. The craft glided across the night sky and came down no more than a football field's length away from Billy Ray. Billy Ray did what most any sane person would do in that situation: he hightailed it back to the Sutton home to tell everyone what he had just seen.

In the Sutton home, everyone did what most people would do if someone came running in claiming to have just seen a UFO (or UAP as they're called these days); they laughed in Billy Ray's face, thinking that he was playing a gag on them. The adults returned to their conversation, the kids kept playing, and the evening continued with, one would assume, Billy Ray still trying to get anyone to listen to him.

And while they seemingly ignored Billy Ray, when the trusty Sutton pooch started to act strange, everyone took notice. Lucky headed out to see what his dog was howling at. And that was when he realized Billy Ray wasn't trying to prank anyone.

Billy Ray And Lucky Fight The Aliens

According to the people who were at Sutton farm that night — five adults and seven children — the first being they saw looked like a ball of light at first, but, as it got closer, it came into focus. It stood no more than four feet tall, had large pointed ears that rose over the head, big, yellow eyes, long arms that nearly reached the ground, and a thin slit for a mouth. The creature's arms were raised and, from what everyone could tell, it was naked with skin that almost looked metallic, but it didn't appear to have any genitalia.

The creature reportedly had its arms raised in the air, almost as if it wanted everyone to know that it was unarmed and was not a threat. But, this being America, Lucky and Billy Ray quickly brought out their rifles and started shooting. The alien took a slug to the chest but wasn't harmed. Still, it seemed to pick up the message the bullet was meant to deliver and ran off back toward its ship. But the alien wasn't looking to leave, it went back to get its buddies.

Everyone rushed inside the house and, for the next four hours, Billy Ray and Lucky ran about shooting at the creatures, keeping them from getting inside. Finally, the aliens, tired of trying to join the party, got in their ship, and left. At that point, all twelve people at the Sutton house that night ran to their cars and raced to the closest police station. The farm was checked by the local police. And when the call went out, the state police joined in. Then the press arrived, and so did the military. But no one found any evidence of the little silver men.

The Legacy Of The Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter Continues

Spielberg first heard the story of the Kelly, Kentucky alien encounter while making Close Encounters of the Third Kind and became endlessly interested in it. And while he never made Night Skies, he used the ideas for it to make E.T. and, perhaps oddly, Poltergeist. But Spielberg isn't the only one who has been influenced by what Lucky and Billy Ray saw that night.

The look of the Pokemon Sableye is also based on what was reported to have happened on Sutton farm that summer night all those years ago. And fans of the Pathfinder RPG may have had to deal with hobkins in their adventures. Those also come from this alien encounter. And, for years, Kelly, Kentucky used to hold a "Little Green Men Days" festival, but it has since stopped. But interested parties can head to Hopkinsville's GoblinCon, which still happens every year.