This version leaves a vague or relatively uneventful span of 2 - 2.5 hours between the first one or two shooting events (depending on which account is being followed) and this late flurry of excitement.
I think the latter version is the one most probably reflecting what really happened.
Assuredly seems that way, doesn't it.
So, the popularised story of them seizing a break in the perceived attack to make run for it and seek help, maybe isn't correct?
They must have departed shortly after those pivotal shooting incidents at the farmhouse itself?
Billy Ray Taylor's visit to the well is cited as circa 7:30 p.m. and the first sighting of strange creatures some 30-45 minutes afterwards.
As you note, that means there is a significant period between, say, 8:00-8:15 p.m. to 10:30 during which...
What exactly?
These are statedly questions, as obviously still latent uncertainties.
From the 'Evansville Press' article of 22 August:
"Mrs Lankford told today of seeing a kind of round shiny circle hovering in the air three times during the night. She said she saw it at 7:30, 10:30 p.m. and at 3:30 a.m. She said she saw a figure like that of a little old man or monkey walking around her house. She said he was about two and a half or three feet tall".
I am presuming this is the newspaper's mistaken rehash of different aspects, with the 'round shiny circle' referencing Taylor's sighting, as does the 7:30 p.m. time.
It's the "little old man or monkey walking around her house" claim which intrigues and leads to a key question concerning our timeline...
What precisely did Mrs Lankford see and when?
Aside from the fact Mrs Lankford's version of events as related to Isabel Davis is completely different, her earliest first-hand account seems to include the following, from Isabel Davis' 'Close Encounters...':
The Ledwith Inquiries: 11:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
by Andrew B. Ledwith
AFTER THE BASIC SHAPE HAD BEEN SKETCHED, AND THE HEAD ADDED AT THE TOP, MRS. LANKFORD SAID THAT IT WAS SO LIKE THE APPARITION SHE HAD SEEN THAT SHE WAS NOT GOING TO LOOK AT IT ANY LONGER, AND SHE WENT BACK OUTDOORS.
(...)
THE THREE OTHER WOMEN, MY COMPANION, AND I STAYED INSIDE TO PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON THE DRAWING. WHEN IT WAS COMPLETED, WE TOOK IT OUTSIDE TO SHOW TO MRS. LANKFORD, WHO TOOK ONE LOOK, SAID WE HADN'T MISSED A THING, AND ASKED ME TO TAKE IT AWAY - SHE DIDN'T WANT TO LOOK AT IT ANY MORE.
(End)
Additionally, Isabel Davis writes:
"Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of their behavior was their method of locomotion. Whenever they came toward thehouse they had an upright posture, walking slowly with their hands raised. (Talking to Mr. Ledwith the next morning, Mrs. Lankford said she thought the slow approach and raised hands meant that the creatures were trying to establish communication.)
(End)
Therefore, from the outset, we do appear to have Mrs. Lankford conforming she did see the creatures slowly approaching, with arms raised and also had a sufficiently close view enabling recognition of features to an extent the sketches were such a likeness she was distressed.
When did she observe both?
Seemingly, it can't have been during the 10:30 incident, certainty not according to her written statement and the story apparently told to Andre, nor according to the apparent confirmation from the 'Madisonville Messenger', article on 22 August:
"Mrs Lankford got only a glimpse of "one of those shiny things" through a screen door and fainted".
How to reconcile?
I wonder if both the Evansville claim and her acceptance of the Ledwith 'women's sketch' are both explicable by her 3:30 sighting - the 'Evansville Press' article already has her claiming to witness a 'round shiny circle' on three occasions.
She did get a 'closer look' at 3:30., which could explain her reaction to the sketch.
This leaves us with the other reported observations. Isabel Davis states, "Talking to Mr. Ledwith the next morning, Mrs. Lankford said she thought the slow approach and raised hands meant that the creatures were trying to establish communication".
So far as I can see, it's not mentioned in Ledwith's written documentation.
The point being, Isabel Davis wrote:
"Throughout the night Mrs. Lankford had been the most self-
possessed and observant of those present. It was she who mentioned that the creatures always approached the house slowly, with raised hands, as if they were trying to reassure their hosts or even communicate with them. Had she been able to control the situation, the shooting might have stopped. "I kept telling them to come into the house and shut the doors," she said to me. "The things weren't doing us any harm."
(End)
That perspective has been a mainstay in endeavours to make some sense of the case.
Is there, in fact, any evidence to back it up?
If a falsehood, its removal from the puzzle leaves a much simpler picture.