HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The second annual GoblinCon UFO and Paranormal Expo was held at The Bruce in Hopkinsville on Aug. 22-23, where vendors and visitors from all over the region came together to express their love for all things paranormal. This event lined up with the anniversary of a famous local alien encounter.

The expo was hosted by Visit Hopkinsville and welcomed in hundreds of people on just the first day. Podcasters, ghost hunters, cryptid experts, spooky vendors and more all gathered for a weekend full of supernatural surprises.

When Amy Rogers became Executive Director at Visit Hopkinsville, she reinvigorated the area’s local tie to paranormal history due to the Kelly Green Men Encounter in 1955. She began by rebooting the local Alien Invasion Day, formerly held in Kelly, which celebrated the anniversary of the encounter. That eventually grew into GoblinCon which had its first iteration in 2025.

This year was visibly bigger, with even more vendors and visitors coming through. Local businesses also expressed enthusiasm for the expo with alien themed specials and menu items throughout the city in support.

R2-D2 made the rounds at the convention center alongside a storm trooper, a family friendly puppet show was put on featuring Christian County’s famous Kelly Green Men, local tattoo artists were inking people with themed designs alongside a costume contest.

Panels were scheduled throughout the weekend to explore various paranormal topics. Speakers included people like Dave Schrader, who is a lead investigator on the Travel Channel series The Holzer Files and Ghosts of Devil’s Perch along with being part of several other paranormal shows. Geraldine Sutton Stith will also be a speaker, who’s family was involved in the local Kelly Green Men encounter in 1955.

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Kelly Green Men encounter, August 21, 1955

The small town of Kelly tucked in north Christian County got its claim to fame after five adults and seven children reported seeing small alien creatures, also known as goblins, attacking their farmhouse on Aug. 21, 1955.

The family is reported to have held off the green men with gunfire for nearly four hours before reporting the incident to Hopkinsville Police. They claimed to see 12 to 15 short, dark figures popping up in windows and doorways.

This encounter has inspired documentaries, several investigations by ufologists, and extensive interviews with families and locals over the years. It even influenced the production of the 1982 movie “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and is reportedly the inspiration behind the design of a Pokémon named Sableeye.

The Pennyroyal Area museum in downtown Hopkinsville has an exhibit dedicated to the encounter, and the Hopkinsville Visitors Center also has an area where people can learn more about it.

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