The Black Eyed Children

The paranormal world today has come a long way from the UFO sightings and ghost stories of women in white crying on the side of the road of the 1950s.  Scully and Mulder helped usher in a new wave of interest in all things spooky in the 1990s. UFOs evolved to include reports of crop circles and abductions to perform genetic experiments.  Fringe science helped to popularize new age beliefs.  New creatures popped up like the chupacabra that emerged in Puerto Rico and made its way up through Mexico into the US.  

The start of the new millennium saw even more interest in the paranormal, with ghost hunting shows taking over the airwaves.  The culture continued to evolve. The internet revolutionized access to information.  The world wide web helped to spread tales of strange encounters.  Anyone could post about their encounters on forums and social networking sites. 

Reports started to appear about encounters with black eyed children.  Had it not been for the internet revolution it is doubtful that stories about encountering black eyed children would have caught fire and taken off as they have.  Nearly all of the accounts were eerily similar, with the weird kids approaching a person and asking to be let in to their home or car.  They seemed to emit a vibe that incited absolute fear in the person.  When they are told no the children become enraged, banging on windows and doors and yelling, demanding to be let in.  No reports exist in which the person allowed them in.   Perhaps this tells us that to do so would mean certain death by some horrid unknown means.  

It took until the 2000s for stories of black eyed kids to take off and gain popularity.  The genesis of the reports goes back to 1998. Journalist Brian Bethel wrote about his encounter.  Bethel had just gotten into his car when two boys approached him and asked for a ride.  He described feeling sudden fear and panic and an urge to flee, while at the same time a strange need to open the door for the boys.  That was when he noticed their eyes.  They were coal black.  There was no visible white to them, no colored iris. The entire eye was as black as the pupil. Even more frightened now, Bethel refused the boys, who became more insistent and banged on the windows.  Bethel said that was when their ‘spell’ broke long enough for him to put his car into gear and get the hell out of there.  

Since Bethel’s story thousands of more accounts have been made.  There are usually two children, while cases with only one have been reported.  They frequently appear to be in their teens, sometimes younger.  They are usually dressed in trendy clothes, often hoodies, but in a handful of instances they were dressed in period clothing.  They have very pale skin and something about them seems off.  They all have those coal-black eyes that the person usually doesn’t notice at first.  They seem to only come out in the late evening or at night.

Almost every account of black eyed children encounters includes the strange need to oblige the children’s request.  It’s been theorized that this is a result of a psychic signal the kids send to the person.  In many instances the person described a hypnotic feeling and having to fight the urge to let them in.  They tell the person they need in to use their phone, or ask for a ride because they need to get home, their mother is worried about them.

So what are these kids? Where do they come from?  People have declared that they are everything from Satan’s spawn and demons in disguise to alien shape shifters and offspring of the Nephilim.  What would happen if you let one in?  Some believe they are vampire-like creatures, probably related to their need to be invited in, that will exanguinate you if allowed inside.  Others think they’re trying to feed, but are hungry for your soul rather than your blood.

Skeptics point out that you can buy contacts that make your eyes look black.  Believers argue that such contacts are extremely uncomfortable and not cheap, thus not likely to be being worn by these kids.  An interesting side note involves the famous cloned sheep, Dolly. Dolly had black eyes with no whites.  This leads some to believe that these kids are clones, and since they were created in a lab they have no soul and this is why they are hungry for yours. 

When will Hollywood catch on and cash in on this relatively new paranormal phenomena?  Are black eyed kids with some unknown origin lurking out there in the dark waiting, or is this a new urban legend propelled by the anonymous ability to post such tales on the internet?

Author David Weatherly has written a book detailing accounts and theorize about them, called The Black Eyed Children.   For more info on black eyed kids visit the following links:

Article from Who Forted 

Several accounts of encounters on about.com 

 Another good article