In 1996, a Texas Man named Brian Bethel would recall a strange encounter he had on the website creepypasta.com. Little did Bethel know though that his tale would draw many similar eerie stories. While skeptics will quickly dismiss these stories as mere urban legends, it’s important to point out a variety of stories have surfaced from many independent witnesses, and many dating back way before Bethel’s encounter. In this post we will examine the legend of the Black-Eyed Children, sometimes called Black Eyed Kids.
Black eyed children are typically described as supernatural pale kids with coal black eyes between the ages of 6-16. It is said they often wear antiquated clothing or some type of a hoodie. People who have encountered them say that looking into their eyes causes an overwhelming sense of terror. The eyes are often described as soulless and devoid of humanity. Black-eyed children are said to be able to sometimes control people’s thoughts and minds.
Witnesses report Black Eyed Children have strange speech patterns sounding mechanical and behave abnormally. Black eyed children are said to be found many places, but perhaps most famously, they appear on people’s doorsteps. Similar to Vampire legends, they must be invited into someone’s space. If an individual refuses, then often the children become more persistent eventually becoming very angered.
A typical Black eyed kid story may appear as follows. In the middle of the night, a homeowner hears a bang on the door. Peering outside, the homeowner sees two young children in hoodies. The unsuspecting homeowner opens the door, and the children ask to make a phone call. The homeowner gets a better look at the children and sees their jet-black eyes, feels overcome with fear and slams the door. The children disappear into the night.
While many encounters have surfaced the last few decades, the experience that seems to have jump started the conversation around Black eyed children is Brian Bethel’s 1996 encounter.
In 1996, Bethel says he was in the parking lot of a movie theater one night. As he was sitting in the car. Bethel says two boys around the ages of 9 and 12 approached the car. They were wearing hooded sweatshirts. One of the boys had red hair and the other had dark curly hair and was pale.
As Bethel rolled down the window, the boys asked if they could get a ride to their mom’s house so they could buy tickets for the Mortal Kombat movie. Bethel says that when the second boy talked, he felt an unnatural sense of dread. Feeling creeped out, Bethel pointed out that the movie had already started, and they wouldn’t make it back in time.
The boys were persistent though. They said, “we don’t have a gun or anything”. Bethel said their words sounded rehearsed and unnatural. Then Bethel finally got a better look at the faces. The boys each had terrifying jet-black eyes.
Bethel rolled up his window and began driving away. While this was occurring, the boys were banging on the window. One of the boys said, “we can’t come in unless you tell us it’s okay”. As Bethel sped off, he looked in his rearview mirror and the boys had disappeared.
While Black Eyed children have been seen around the world, it seems England is the epicenter of most of the activity. In addition, the next story might be the best-known black-eyed child story in history.
Lee Brickley
In 2014 Paranormal researcher Lee Brickley would begin interviewing witnesses that had alleged to see the Black-eyed child of Cannock Chase.
A woman and her daughter were walking when they heard screams and saw a child wandering alone. The mom ran after the child but couldn’t find the child. Then when she turned around, a girl around 10 years old was there. She had her hands covering her eyes. The mom asked the child if she was okay. The child then lowered her hands and revealed eyes that were absolutely black. The woman grabbed her daughter and moved back. When she looked up again, the child had disappeared.
This story would gain international attention; however, this wasn’t the first encounter with this entity
In the early 1980’s reports would surface about this specific black-eyed child.
In particular, Lee Brickley’s Aunt would have an encounter.
Brickley’s Aunt Encounter
In the late 1980’s Lee Brickley’s aunt was out in the woods in Cannock Chase. Her and her friends spotted a child around 100 feet away. Brickley’s aunt, then age 18, began running after the child. However, she couldn’t catch it and eventually she fell and twisted her ankle. Brickley’s aunt would tell the story to her mother, and they called the police. The police searched the woods and found nothing. This is believed to be the first sighting of the black-eyed girl of Cannock Chase.
In 2021, another sighting would occur of the Black-Eyed Child of Cannock Chase. This time by a teenage boy and teenage girl who went camping in the woods.
In the summer of 2021 during the COVID lockdown in England, two seventeen-year-old teens, decided to meet up in the woods and camp. That night the young couple would have an experience they would never forget. Sometime around midnight, the teenagers began to hear noises outside their tent. Thinking it could be a wild animal, the couple stayed quiet. Then they heard footsteps and decided to take a look outside the tent. It was pitch black, but oddly the couple heard a small child giggling.
They lit up a lantern and soon they would see something. However, it was something not of this world. Whatever it was, it quickly moved from tree to tree in a way a human simply couldn’t. Then the entity decided to reveal itself. It came out from behind the trees and the two teenagers saw a young girl, a child. It had coal black eyes and she stared at the two. The teenagers were terrified, and the giggling got louder. The laughing got to the point where the teens heard the giggling all around them.
The entity would then disappear into the woods. The teens went back into their tent, terrified and waited for the sun to come up.
When the sun arose, the teens unzipped their tent and noticed piles of stones around the tent and strange stick formations in the trees.
The teenagers headed for their car and as they were walking back, one of the teens would spot the black-eyed child peeking from behind a tree.
While this is one of the scarier sightings of the Black-eyed child of Cannock Chase. Still, it appears this entity has malevolent intentions.
In 2019, a young woman began chasing a child through Cannock Chase. The woman followed the child through winding curves around the forest. The entity appeared to try and lead the woman over a cliff. The woman was able to stop herself moments before she saw the drop. If she had kept running she would have been seriously injured or possibly killed.
Are Black eyed children real or just a myth?
The stories just mentioned are some of the more popular well-known stories. However, it’s important to point out the internet is filled with individuals sharing their personal stories with black eyed kids.
One other thing to point out is that these stories seemed to first start growing in the late 1990’s with Bethel’s story. This was the dawn of the internet age and people were able to communicate with ithers around the world. Perhaps if the internet had come sooner, then someone else would have shared their story on Black eyed children.
There are several theories as to what the Black-Eyed Children are.
The first is that the black-eyed children are extraterrestrial in nature. There are several reports that black eyed kids are connected to the MIB. Some incidents have adults coming and picking up the children. This has led some to speculate Black eyed children are part of a hybrid program, meaning they are half alien half human. Others say they are extraterrestrial and allowed by secret government programs to roam society.
A second theory is that the Black-eyed children are demonic in nature. This is a popular theory, and many speculate this since so many reports reveal an overwhelming sense of dread and fear. Many stories concerning BEKs seem to show they have no regard for the individuals who see them. Some believe that if you invite them in, they might take your soul and that’s why they need to be invited in.
There are other theories concerning them as well. Some think they could be from another dimension or parallel universe. Others say that they could be time travelers from the future.
There’s of course many who believe that Black Eyed Children are simply a myth. Those people say the 1996 story from Bethel ignited an urban legend and the accounts are either made up or stories from people who were confused.
Still, it’s tough to imagine so many people getting confused over seeing black eyed children. Unlike going to a graveyard or haunted home, children are surely seen as innocent and harmless. Since this is the case, it’s tough to imagine people getting frightened by children unless something was awry. Despite this though, the majority of cases appear to be shared by anonymous users. Until there is some hard evidence, BEKs will probably continue to remain an urban legend.
