Goblins?

This is what we can safely refer to as a oner.  The creatures described are clearly not part of the literature unless you include goblins per se.  In fact the depth of the interaction and number of viewings by the witness pretty well describes what he is seeing.  Better the tracks are unexpected and could be identified as of sloth origin, for which we have good fossil support.  The unusual hairlessness begs explanation as well.

Thus my first instinct is that we are looking at a piece of fiction with no creditable independent reports out there.  However, that is not necessarily true as misidentification is likely in such a  case as we have observed with the Giant Sloth.

What stands out though is that this is a family band using the mine or cave as a dwelling.  As well they are living a naive primitive life way that we can recognize.  Better yet they are also nocturnal.  Yet they are not primates and may be genetically modified giant sloths.  That is my best bet until someone looks at their front paws.  After all they are hopping but otherwise upright.

Again we have a small obscure population quite able to avoid interaction better than most.

I do not know what further follow up has taken place as yet, so otherwise enjoy the tale.

Have the Kentucky Goblins Returned? Exclusive Photos!

By Greg Newkirk on June 20, 2012

http://whofortedblog.com/2012/06/20/return-hopkinsville-goblins/

In the fall of 1955, anomalous researchers all over North America became familiar with the Sutton family farm, the scene of one of the most intriguing cases in the history of extraterrestrial visitation. The events, witnessed by dozens of credible witnesses, centered around nightly attacks by “little green men”. While the status of these creatures is often argued as everything from space aliens, goblins, or even the official military explanation of “silver painted circus monkey”, the attacks that became known as the Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter, or the Hopkinsville Goblins Case, ceased as quickly as they began, with the strange creatures disappearing into the pages of UFOlogy books for the next 50 years.

I mention the Hopkinsville case only because it bears a striking similarity to the events that one man claims have occurred to he and his family over the past year in the very same state; events that have led some to believe that the Goblins have returned. Only this time, they’ve left evidence of their visit.

Strap in, reader. It’s going to get very weird very quickly.

Two months ago, I received an email at an account belonging to my long defunct ghost hunting outfit by the name of Ghost Hunters, Incorporated. The GHI website is so old that it hasn’t had a proper update in roughly eight years. I’ll pop in and check the mail about once a month or so, but generally at this point we only receive emails intended for the cast of Ghost Hunters, requests for driving directions to our old haunts, and the occasional invitation to speak at a conference. This email, however, was different. This email was a plea for help.

The following is the complete email sent to ghosthuntersinc(at)gmail.com on April 22. I’ve removed only identifying names and locations. We’ll call the sender “David” from here on out.

Hello, my name is [David]. I received your contact information through a mutual acquaintance who assures me that you are well equipped to investigate peculiar problems. Furthermore, I believe you may have interest in these events beyond any compensation that I am prepared to deliver in order to have these issues sorted.

For the past 6 months I have been living in a rural home located on the border of West Virginia and Kentucky where my family is nightly assaulted by creatures that I have come to believe are of an extraterrestrial origin. These beings appear to be the size and stature of a small child, devoid of any facial features save for large, oily eyes and lipless mouths. They frighten my children by peering through their bedroom windows, chirping at one another. They actively attempt to enter my home in the middle of the night. Last month they took my dog. The police refuse to provide any further assistance, attributing the problems to wild animals and forwarding my complaints to the state game commission.

I believe they are coming from an abandoned mine located on the edge of my property. Though I’m armed, I’m afraid that I’m far too frightened to enter the mine by my lonesome, and cannot convince any sympathetic friends to accompany me, though I cannot blame them. I am convinced that the only answer is to collapse the mine.

I believe this is where we can be mutually beneficial to one another. If you are prepared to assist me in this matter, I can offer you permission to record and document these events under the condition of anonymity. I can guarantee you evidence of these creatures which I assure you are not “wild animals”.

Please respond ASAP. Thank you.

Let me make it clear that as GHI, we have never once investigated any claims of extraterrestrials or UFOs. We may or may not have created a crop circle or two in our teenage years, but that is about the closest we’ve ever come to chasing space aliens. Unless you count spying on Nick Foust’s dating life.

As you can see from the image of the gang, we were 110% professional back in those days. Clearly the kind of fine young men you’d want investigating the terrifying occurrences plaguing your home.

Thinking the email was obviously a joke, I wrote back stating that we unfortunately had no experience with extraterrestrials or explosives, but we’d be glad to assist if he wouldn’t mind elaborating on the details and providing some evidence. I posted the email (sans identifiers, of course) to a paranormal message board that I frequent, as well as my Facebook account, and it quickly became a subject of fun speculation. Who is this guy? Why would he email a ghost hunting group for a space alien problem? Who was this “mutual friend” that was mentioned? Why would space faring beings be living in a cave? Is blowing up an abandoned mine shaft even legal? And of course, the question anyone with a passing interest in the paranormal was asking themselves: what if he’s telling the truth?

These conversations quickly led to the creation of the Alien Cave Base Task Force, a rag-tag group of adventurous friends and strangers who half-seriously pledged to travel to Kentucky with the intention of going on an adventure and seeing if Dave was for real. We even made t-shirts. I don’t think any of us honestly believed that there was any chance of this trip actually happening.

After a few more jokes about dying in a mine collapse, I hit the sack, not thinking much more of the strange email or the Task Force. The following day GHI had a new message from Dave sitting in their inbox.

Thank you for the prompt response. I do not blame you for being skeptical of my story. I appreciate you keeping an open mind about my situation and I am more than happy to provide you with as much information as I am able.

I was given your contact information through a man by the name of Terry Wriste

[Editors Note: I’ve left this name untouched due to it’s relevance and the fact that I don’t believe it to be a real person - we'll come back to this].

When these disturbances first began occurring, I was only inclined to confide in a personal friend who I knew had fringe interests. He offered to share my concerns with a man that had dealt with somewhat similar experiences in previous years. I accepted his offer. Within a week I was informed that this gentleman had long since retired from pursuits of this kind but was willing to provide me with contacts who may be willing to help. This is how I came to contact you. I do not have any answer to “why” other than a referral and recommendation from a gentleman I do not know personally. I was under the impression that you would answer that question.

I am located in Pike County, just outside the town of [redacted], Kentucky. [redacted] is located roughly 30 to 60 minutes from the borders of Virginia and West Virginia respectively. Most of Pike County is made up of small towns and rural communities; it is not uncommon to go days without seeing my closest neighbors. I moved to this area for the peace and quiet. I have received neither.

I have lived in this area for just under seven months and in that time the majority of the harassment has occurred within the past three. I did not become aware of any strangeness until early December, although that is only when I began to keep a record of these events. At first it was merely strange tracks in the snow around my home. I had initially imagined that they were from some kind of animal, though it closely resembled a human footprint minus the heel. At that time I was under the impression that it was simply a single creature. It wasn’t until the weeks later that I began to suspect that I was dealing with a number of what I thought were individuals “hazing” me upon my arrival to the area.

At this point I was incapable of keeping my dog outdoors overnight. Any attempt to leave her leashed would result in her barking herself hoarse until she was allowed back indoors. In the weeks leading up to this particular evening I had awoken to find my shed doors open on several occasions, many of my children’s toys missing or moved, and my yard in general disarray. I had already given a report to the police, who were making it increasingly clear that they were not interested in my case barring psychical harm or large scale theft.

The second week of January I am having breakfast with my family when my five year old daughter begins talking about the “kids without hair”. When my wife inquired about these kids, she informed us that she had spent the previous night watching them play in the yard. As you can imagine, this was of some concern. I asked my daughter what these kids looked like, she told me that they “were bald like grandpa and weren’t wearing any clothes”. The very same day I found the wreath that hangs inside our rear porch stuffed into our mailbox. I purchased and installed motion activated floodlights the following day and for a time, the problems ceased. It wasn’t until the end of February that our daughter informed us that the “bald kids” had returned.

I was awoken to the sound to my daughter screaming and rushed to her bedroom only to meet her halfway down the hall. When my wife and I were finally able to calm her down enough to speak, she told us that the kids were trying to peer into her window but they couldn’t reach, and instead, had taken to tapping on it. She hasn’t slept in her own bedroom since. It was that morning that I phoned the police for the second the time, and they responded by finally sending a trooper to our residence. I informed him of the regular mischief, how I was now unable to let my dog outdoors after dusk, and of the “bald kids”. When we found the ground disturbed just under my daughter’s bedroom window the officer informed me, very matter-of-factly, that we were dealing with an animal and I would be better off contacting the game commission than waste their resources any further.

Almost every day for the following week, I would find some evidence that something or someone had been on my property the previous night. Smudges on the windows were not uncommon, stones from the walkway dragged to the other side of the lawn, and I had found tears in the screen door. On Wednesday the 7th of March I finally witnessed the “kids without hair” for myself.

The dog woke me up around 1:30 AM, scratching at the back door and whimpering to be let out. I noticed that the motion floodlight was on, and went to the kitchen window to check that the shed doors were still closed when I realized that I could see the shadow of an individual cast across my lawn. From the angle I was positioned at the window I could not actually see the source of the shadow or the floodlights. The dog was pacing circles around the back door and I could hear someone rifling through a box on the porch. Filled with more anger than common sense, the only reaction I could muster was to bang loudly on the window and yell, at which point I heard the screen door on the porch swing open and slam against the house. I heard what I can only describe as “chirping” at this point. It sounded much like a skunk, if more guttural. I then realized that there were more than two people on my property, and the shadow, which had been reacting as if it didn’t know which way to run, was quickly joined by another. For a moment I watched as the shadows chirped at one another when I noticed a figure out of the corner of my eye.

Standing in the flower bed just to the bottom left of my window was a small, humanoid figure, with sickly pale skin, completely hairless, standing roughly 4′. It was looking in the direction of the shadows, and had clearly come from around the left side of the house opposite the porch and had not noticed me as far as I could tell. It’s face was devoid of features, save for large round eyes, very reminiscent in shape and color of a bird’s eye. It had no nose to speak of, and only a small slit for a mouth. It didn’t appear to move it’s mouth as it chirped, sounding more as if the noises originated from it’s throat. It was most certainly not a “wild animal” and even more certainly not a child. I was too terrified to move, and watched as the creature hopped to the others, and together they scrambled into the woods on the right side of my property. It was clear that there were at least five in the group.

I have not mentioned this particular incident to my wife, and the only other person who I’ve spoken to about these creatures are yourself and the close friend who introduced me to our mutual friend Mr. Wriste. I would prefer to keep things that way, and to approach this problem as discreetly as possible. Since that evening, my dog has gone missing from the porch, yet to return, and I can only imagine that his disappearance has to do with these creatures. I’ve gone looking for him during daylight hours, only to find many of my missing belongings scattered at the entrance to an abandoned mine shaft at the far edge of my property. I don’t dare go inside.

My friend has convinced me that my experience is similar to that of other “visitation” experiences, providing me with material and references that back up his claims. I am aware of the outlandish nature of what I have told you, but I am afraid that I have no other explanation for what I have seen, at least at this time. I can see no other option than to seal the entrance to the mine. I cannot achieve this on my own, and I am too frightened to try. I don’t dare share this information with others for fear of ruining my career and the reputation of my family. I am prepared to compensate your travel expenses and offer you unrestricted access with whatever recording equipment that you desire but only on the condition of complete anonymity. Beyond that, I have no other desire than to be rid of this problem.

Please inform me of what you would like photographs of and where to send them.

Thank you again.

I immediately felt the urge to take the Alien Cave Base Task Force a bit more seriously..

Lets recap, shall we? Small, child-size creatures? Check. Terror-stricken family? Check. Desolate property in rural Kentucky? Check. It all sounds very familiar.

Something that didn’t sound familiar, however, was the name Terry Wriste. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever heard the name before and after asking a few other GHI alumni I was certain they never had either. Was he someone we’d met at a convention many years ago? Someone we’d gone to high school with? A friend of a friend of a friend? The answer is none of the above. In fact, Terry Wriste isn’t even a real name.

A bit of googling provides only one source for the name Terry R. Wriste: a pseudonym used by an ex-military occultist interviewed in two rather obscure books printed in the mid-nineties. Titled The Secret Cipher of the Ufonauts and The Secret Rituals of the Men In Black, these particular books are about as fringe as you can get when it comes to ufology, with instructions on contacting “ultraterrestrials” via occult rituals supposedly deciphered by Aleister Crowley himself.

Just before the index of each book, author Allen Greenfield conducts an interview with Terry, who willingly admits that his name is not real. In these interviews, Wriste speaks of a guerrilla group of Vietnam veterans formed in the early 70’s whose directives included the infiltration and destruction of underground alien bases in and around the southern USA. After explaining how the team formed and where many of these cave entrances were located (including one entrance at the famous Brown Mountain in North Carolina), he goes on to describe the botched mission that caused him to retire from kicking space alien ass.

“…we were in a kind of cavern, only, I’d say, artificially hollowed out and illuminated by a greenish glow, defuse; not from a single, identifiable source. Anyhow, the whole area resembled (ufologist Dick) Shaver’s less exotic subterranean story descriptions, and, in more recent terms, some of the modern alien base stories. We were confronted by these small, grayish beings—humanoid only in the technical sense—and one of our guys said “Dero!” and started shooting. He had an M-1 rifle, if I recall. One shot, and [the little gray being] was illuminated in blue, and just gone. Then there was a sound, and I felt my own gun, an M-16, get unbearably hot. I dropped it, turned to run, and was confronted by two of these little gray-skinned guys with a net. Whatever had convinced me my rifle was hot had apparently not focused on my pistol, a vintage Luger, and one of the little net-holders received the last surprise of its life. It kind of exploded, and the other one dropped the net and ran, up the slope, with me suddenly in pursuit. When we got beyond the lighted area, though, it was just gone. I heard gun fire and explosions behind me, and that god-awful hum, and I continued, pistol in hand, looking around wildly, to go back the way I came. Only three of us ever made it back to the surface. One of them died a year or so later, of leukemia, I think. He was only about 24-25, so maybe there’s a connection.”

Wriste also talks of meeting a group of extraterrestrial refugees led by none other than Indrid Cold.Yes, that Indrid Cold. But I digress. Feel free to read the books yourself,  as they’re freely available online.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find that there are other folks out there with the name Terry Wriste, but the coincidence can’t be ignored.  Was David instructed by the very same Wriste? Probably not. It’s possible that David came into contact with a man that claims to have gone A-Team on ET, but it’s also more likely that it’s someone with a background in esoterica having some fun at his expense. Or ours.

I shared this new information with the ACBTF, a name that at that point, was becoming increasingly relevant to the situation. The gang hits the books and between the lot of us, we discover that Pike County is a hotbed of abandoned mines, that eastern Kentucky is home to some of North America’s most expansive systems of underground caverns, and KY as a whole has a history of some very strange UFO sightings. One adventurous Task Forcer even went so far as to call the Pike County State Police station. Their response was that “space aliens are reported all the time”.

I emailed Dave and requested some evidence for the second time, reiterating that if he was truly serious about having us come to Kentucky, we needed some pretty solid proof that we weren’t being jerked around.

He never emailed back.

Until last weekend.

My apologies for the time it has taken me to reply to your previous email. The situation at my home had become unbearable and we chose to stay with my wife’s family out of state until an appropriate solution can be reached. I am at my wits end.

This afternoon my brother-in-law and I traveled back to the house for the first time in over a month, as I needed to check on the security of my property and gather some belongings. The house seems relatively untouched, leading me to believe that the creatures’ motives were driven by the presence of my family. As you requested, I brought a camera back to the property for the purpose of photographic evidence.

While my home was free of tampering, I was able to find a trail of prints that match the size and shape of those previously left by the creatures on my property. The prints lead into the woods behind my home, following a stream that runs near the mine. My brother-in-law, an avid sportsman, can not identify the tracks despite his skepticism. Perhaps you know of someone better suited to identify these prints.

I will be spending the next two nights in my home and will send more images should the opportunity present itself. I am looking forward to your thoughts.

These are the attached images:

   

It doesn’t take a long hard look to see that the footprints are strange. The question is, of course, are they strange because they’re fake, because they belong to an animal whose prints we aren’t used to seeing, or because they belong to a creature we can’t identify?

Seeing as we were now out of the realm of pure anecdote and into potential photographic evidence, I posted the clearer of the two images here at WF and asked for the help of readers in identifying them.

You guys didn’t disappoint. So far I’ve seen theories about wild hog tracks, bear tracks, three-toed humans (and Sasquatches) to name a few, though my favorite was the reader who suggested it was a man on stilts with monster feet stuck on the end. Another reader sent the photo to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Department, who so far can’t identify the print but won’t declare it fake either.

Commenter “Isis” drew our attention to the fact that this sighting mirrors the Dover Demon case, dealing with a creature that matches the same description, down to a three-toed footprint.“Mysterian” mentioned that during the Fouke Monster sightings in the 70’s, a Texarkana newspaper published a very similar photo.

It was stated several times that getting an image of the prints next to a yard stick would greatly help in determining the creature’s size. As promised, David delivered. He delivered big time. This arrived the following day:

“The creatures came out the woods late last evening. I have enclosed photographs taken to the best of my ability given the situation. I have also enclosed photographs of the creature’s footprints alongside a measuring stick. My brother-in-law is not as skeptical as he was when we arrived and we will be leaving before dark this evening. I look forward to hearing back from you.”

The following image of the tracks show the prints measuring in around six inches, with a distance of a little over a foot between each:

   

Also attached were three images of the creatures that David claims terrorized his family. The EXIF data shows that the images were snapped, sans flash, with a digital zoom of 2.1. The model camera is a Canon a630. The photos were taken at 6:01 AM on June 19th.

As you can see, even with the images cleaned up, the photos are anything but conclusive, with the first being the best of the bunch by a long shot. I almost didn’t bother posting the second two images, but relented in the hopes that someone else may find some value in them. I’m assuming that the image on the left is supposed to be a profile view of the creature. The image on the right just looks like a dinosaur to me, but I guess if we’ve come this far we shouldn’t rule that out either.

One member of the ACBTF, Robyn Montella, took the time analyze the most striking photo, coming up with some interesting results (see chart to the left – click for full size). The International Center for Fortean Zoology is currently doing some research of their own, and we’re still waiting to hear what else the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has to say about the new evidence. If anyone else feels like taking a crack at some in-depth analyzation, I’d be more than happy to provide you with the high res images. Drop a line to editor@whofortedblog.com and I’ll get them to you.

So, that makes everything just about current. I’ve not received any further emails from David, but you can be sure that I’ll share them with everyone when I do. You have the story, you have the photos, and now we’d like you to share your own thoughts about the case.

Between the blurry images of purported space goblins, the clear photos of unidentifiable footprints, tales of anti-extraterrestrial guerrilla forces led by men with fake names, and the similarities to a handful of different visitation cases over the years, we’ve got a whole bunch of questions. We’re hoping you can help us answer them. You know, preferably before we decide to drive to Kentucky and die in an abandoned mine shaft. Or some strange man’s sex dungeon.

Can you identify the footprints? Do you recognize the creature in the photos? Who is Terry Wriste? Why would a space faring species go barefoot? Is it even an extraterrestrial? The list goes on. If you have theories, answers, or musings on any and all things involving this case, by all means, share them with us.

And for what it’s worth, the Alien Cave Base Task Force is still recruiting. And we have t-shirts.