Kelly-Hopkinsville & Monkeys

Over at his A Different Perspective blog, Kevin Randle provides us with an excellent post on one of the most intriguing, and controversial, cases within the realm of UFO research: the ultra-weird "Kelly-Hopkinsville" affair of 1955, in which a Kentucky, USA family was allegedly terrorized by alien entities from a UFO.

It might be reasonably argued that UFOs have no place at this particular blog. Maybe. But, the reason I mention the affair is because, on the specific matter of the event in question, a certain Major John E. Albert wrote the following, by way of an explanation:

"It is my opinion that the report Mrs. Lankford or her son, Elmer Sutton [name deleted but it is reasonable to assume it was Elmer Sutton], was caused by one of two reasons. Either they actually did see what they thought was a little man and at the time, there was a circus in the area and a monkey might have escaped, giving the appearance of a small man. Two, being emotionally upset, and discussing the article and showing pictures of this little monkey, that appeared like a man, their imaginations ran away with them and they really did believe what they saw, which they thought was a little man."

I am, of course, reminded here of the deep similarities between the major's explanation and those highly similar ones that have surfaced to try and explain away Britain's big-cats as circus escapees.

Similarly, when, in 1879, England's notorious Man-Monkey first manifested out of the dense trees surrounding Bridge 39 on the Shropshire Union Canal, rumours were rife that a gorilla was the cause of all the fuss - supposedly (but never, ever proved, of course) having escaped from a traveling menagerie.

I find it intriguing that when attempts are made to explain such curiosities as the big-cats, the Man-Monkey, and the Kelly-Hopkinsville creatures in wholly conventional terms and scenarios, one of the staple-ingredients that often surfaces is that of the circus-escapee.

And, given that the Man-Monkey saga began 132-years ago, the Kelly-Hopkinsville event took place 56-years ago, and the big-cats of Britain are still running around, it demonstrates that in terms of trying to expand their down-to-earth explanations across the decades, the skeptics have actually not get very far at all!

Next time you hear of a sighting of a weird beast, an out-of-place exotic animal, or something even stranger, keep a careful watch for commentary from the "experts" relative to that apparently-thriving and much-used old chestnut: the "zoo-escapee."