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“My friend Taylor was a beautiful, fun, down to earth girl. Sweet as can be and always willing to help a friend in need. She had been playing ouija board, non stop for a few months straight. Sometimes it consumed her entirely. A few girlfriends and I went to her house to hang out & have a few drinks. Taylor suggested that we play ouija board, and we all agreed. Taylor turned off all the lights and lit candles. She had been drinking heavily so at this point she was really drunk, and slurring her words a bit. We all got ready & put our fingers on the patchulet, Taylor stops us before we start and looks each one of us in our eye.. She breaks the silence by saying “before we start, you have to say you don’t believe in God” .. We were all very confused.. We looked at each other not knowing what to do or say. She said it again, but this time with a bit more aggression. I remember the room becoming heavy… I felt something in the room but kept quiet. We finally started the game, active almost immediately. Taylor was obsessed, it was like she was in some kind of trance. The rest of us were creeped out, and one girl walked away saying she was done. We made contact with an angry spirit, who, when asked, said he wanted Taylor… Whatever that meant. It answered questions to situations that had happened to each of us. Stuff that only we would know the answer to. Taylor seemed out of it, and we asked her if she was okay, she didn’t respond to us. She just sat there staring off in front of her, and her muscles started to spasm a little bit. The air in the room felt thick & heavy.. I felt an energy in a dark corner behind me and felt a tug at my shirt. My 2 other friends and I got scared and decided we were also done playing the game. Taylor suddenly snapped out of her trance.. Eyes full of anger.. She slammed her hand on the table and said “we are not done here… Don’t you fucking walk away from this table” it didn’t seem like Taylor at all! It was like something had taken over her. We were all pretty spooked so we grabbed our things and left. Taylor blew out the candles and stood in the doorway, staring at us in the dark until we drove off. That was one of the creepiest ouija experiences I’ve ever had. A couple weeks later, Taylor cut off all her hair, jumped on a freight train and literally became a hobo. She has never been the same since that night, and she hardly comes around anymore.. She has completely lost it, I’m not sure whether or not the board is to blame.
*I tried to make this story very short and to the point so there were some details left out*”
Video Shows ‘Ghost’ Shattering Pint Glass in British Pub
Reputedly haunted pub The Salmon in northern England shared a video to its Facebook page on January 1st which shows a partially full pint glass shatter with no discernible cause.
The Belford, Northumberland pub’s landlords Michael and Donna Duns posted the CCTV footage to social media, claiming it’s not the first odd event to take place on the property.
Are The Black-Eyed Children Real? Supernatural Profile
It’s late at night. You hear a knock on the door. You look out the peephole and can make out two short figures standing outside your door. If you are brave enough to open the door you will come face to face with two young children. One could be as old as sixteen, the other only half that age. They are dressed in antiquated clothing. A sense of dread overcomes you as you look upon them. They ask to be let in so they can call their mom. As they insist you realize that they both have solid black eyes. So do you let them in?
You may already be familiar with the contemporary phenomenon of the Black-Eyed Children. Stories about them have been floating around sites like Reddit for years. So are the Black-Eyed Children real, and if so what are they?
My Introduction to The Black-Eyed Children
I remember the first time I ever heard of the Black-Eyed Children. Though I’m a big fan of the supernatural I’m a pretty staunch skeptic. I love supernatural fiction, and I enjoy hearing about supposed real encounters with ghosts and ghouls. Ultimately, I’m a nonbeliever. Among my circle of acquaintances that puts me in a minority. For years, I worked in a restaurant kitchen and many of my coworkers were the type to believe everything they read online or saw on YouTube. I was conversing with a dishwasher who bounced from one conspiracy theory to another. After going on about some guru who could cure HIV and cancer out of nowhere he says to me “you know about the little kids with the black eyes that show up at your door wanting to be let in right?”
I’m like “What? Kids with black eyes?”
“Yeah, the black-eyed kids.”
Like I did on many other nights when I went home I looked up this crazy story I heard at work. Normally within minutes on such nights, I can link the stories to creepypasta style fiction or some type of scam, like with the guru. My initial research of the black-eyed children proved to be no different. I found the stories to be both creepy and fascinating but I ultimately passed the stories off as just another example of creepypasta.
In the years since I’ve repeatedly stumbled upon more and more stories of the black-eyed children. My current preoccupation with them started the other night. Quite often at night after watching whatever show we are currently binging my girlfriend and I watch random videos on YouTube. That night I was scrolling through PBS Monstrum videos. In each short video, the awesomely brilliant Dr. Emily Zarka tackles everything from mythical monsters to cryptids. After going through several episodes I came upon her video on Black-Eyed Children aptly entitled “Don’t Let Them In.”
Before seeing the Monstrum video my girlfriend never heard of the phenomenon before. Since watching it, I myself, at least mentally, have been haunted by the Black-Eyed Children.
The Brian Bethel Incident
The earliest reported case of the Black-Eyed Children took place in Abilene, Texas back in 1996. That night seasoned journalist Brian Bethel sat in his car parked in front of a movie theater. Busy going through his checkbook he didn’t sense the two children outside his car until one knocked on his window. Fear set in the moment he rolled down his window though he knew not why. One child appeared to be about twelve and the other nine. Both wore pullover hoodies. One of the boys was curly-haired and olive-skinned while the other was redheaded and freckled.
Bethel’s dread intensified when one of the boys asked for a ride. The boy claimed they wanted to see the Mortal Kombat movie but forgot their money at home. Bethel told them that the movie already started, and they wouldn’t make it back in time. The children grew insistent, but as his unease grew Bethel finally realized both kids had soulless black orbs for eyes with no white showing. Terrified Bethel rolled up the window, and started the car. One of the children banged on the window pleading that they couldn’t come in unless they were invited. As he sped away Bethel looked in his rearview mirror seeing no sign of the children.
Bethel initially only shared his story through email with a handful of friends. Inevitably the story leaked online, and once it did others came forth with tales of their own encounters with Black-Eyed Children. Most of the accounts follow a similar pattern. Though many accounts tell of a solo child typically, a pair of children aged from six to sixteen show up outside their door or car late at night. They are often dressed antiquated. They ask to be let in often to use the phone. They instill a sense of dread. Of course, they all have solid black eyes.
Bethel has never wavered in his story, and to this day insists it’s true. Since his account found its way online tales of Black-Eyed Children that purportedly predate his encounter have emerged.
The Cannock Chase Sightings
In September 2014, the tabloid, The Daily Star, ran stories of sightings of a black-eyed girl in the Cannock Chase area of Staffordshire, England. These stories drew the attention of paranormal investigator, Lee Brickley. He would report an account of a local woman. While out with her daughter she heard a terrifying scream that she thought came from a child. She searched for the child before noticing a girl dressed in white standing behind her. The girl stood there covering her eyes as if playing peekaboo. When the woman tried to talk to the lone child the girl removed her hands revealing her completely black eyes. The woman jumped back and grabbed her daughter only to find the black-eyed girl gone.
Strangely Brickley claimed his own aunt encountered the same black-eyed girl 30 years before in 1982. According to Brickley, his aunt heard a yell for help before spotting a young girl dressed in white running the opposite way. She caught up to the girl, placing her hand on the girl’s shoulder. The girl turned around, looking at the woman with her black eyes. The girl broke away, ran off, and disappeared.
In 2015 video from a drone flying over Cannock Chase surfaced on YouTube. The video captures what some believe to be the black-eyed girl of Cannock Chase. I leave it to the reader to decide how believable the accounts by Brickley or the video are.
What Happens If You Let The Black Eyed Children In?
In virtually every account of the Black-Eyed Children, I’ve come upon the terrified witness refused their wishes. They wouldn’t let the Black-Eyed Children in, wouldn’t let them use the phone, or if encountered outside fled from them. I only came across one story where someone actually let them into their house.
This story surfaced in January 2016 of an encounter a Vermont woman claimed took place approximately a year earlier. While a blizzard raged outside she heard a loud bang on her front door. She peeked out the window and could see a trail of footprints leading to her house. As the knocking continued she nervously woke her husband who went to answer the door.
Outside they found a boy and a girl, both around eight years old. Neither was properly dressed for the cold weather. Though disturbed by the sight of the two children concern set in and she ushered them inside. Their presence spooked her cats with one feline hissing as they walked by. Whenever the woman tried to talk to them they respond the same way. “Our parents will be here soon.” She made the children hot cocoa. It wasn’t until she tried to hand them the cocoa that she realized to her dismay that their eyes were giant jet-black pupils.
Soon the two children asked to use the restroom and she showed them the way. As she waited on them her husband developed a nose bleed. Shortly thereafter the power went out. As she attempted to tend to her husband she saw the children standing in the dark hallway watching her. “Our parents are here,” they told her before making their way out the front door. Before closing the door behind them she watched as the children walked to two men dressed in black suits standing outside a black car. The children entered the car followed by the men before it disappeared into the snowy night.
In the following months, the woman’s husband was diagnosed with aggressive skin cancer. She too claimed to develop health problems as well stating she was in the worst condition of her life. She holds no doubts her and her husband’s ailments are connected to their encounter with the two black-eyed children.
So What Are The Black Eyed Children?
There are many theories on what these Black-Eyed Children are. Various beliefs suggest that the Black-Eyed Children are ghosts, vampires, demons, or aliens. Going back to the Bethel case and many of the accounts since the “let us in” aspect does invoke the vampire myth of them having to be invited in. The account of the Vermont woman also merges the tale with the much more prevalent urban myth of the Men in Black.
So are the Black-Eyed Children real? Again I’m a skeptic. If the original account by Brian Bethel is true I would suggest that he simply had a strange encounter with some creepy kids late at night, and his imagination got the better of him. I suspect many of the accounts online, if true, are likewise random encounters with unfamiliar kids. Let’s be honest kids can be both mischievous and weird. Add fear, poor lighting, possible grogginess, or even drunkenness into the mix and those weird kids may look like black-eyed aliens. I also suspect the vast majority of accounts are not at all true, and nothing more than creepypasta fiction.
Nevertheless, the Black-Eyed Children have entered the public psyche. They have joined the ranks of other urban legends like the Men in Black. They have also invaded pop culture. They are now a whole slew of novels featuring the Black-Eyed Children as well as a handful of films.Aftershock has released a fairly popular and critically acclaimed comic series called B.E.K Black Eyed Kids, which chronicles the origins of the Black-Eyed Children.
Regardless of my personal beliefs, I find accounts of the Black-Eyed Children to be fascinating. I may take these tales with a grain of salt but that doesn’t change the fact that I have spent many nights doing nothing, but reading up on them. So what are your thoughts? Please let me know. I would also love to hear some firsthand accounts of the Black-Eyed Children. Do you have your own Black-Eyed Children encounter you are willing to share? Please email me at damien@thenocturnalkeep.com with your story.
Now if you’ll excuse me…there is someone knocking on my front door.
a haunted house for katie (+ a bonus version i’m hoping to try riso printing soon)! this is the last illustration for haunts, and i finalized and ordered the books today! i’m super excited to get them! tip jar|patreon
it’s the final day to get a copy of haunts! 50+ pages of haunted house art, enamel pins, prints, stickers, etc etc! the kickstarter ends at noon est tomorrow (wednesday april 27)!
the last stretch goal is 30k, and if we hit that i’ll go sleep in a haunted house, do some ghost hunting, and make a comic about it. we’re only a little over 4k away at this point, so i believe it’s possible!! if you think that’d be cool, too, maybe share this around so i can do it!
there’s only one week left to grab your copy of HAUNTS, my 50+ page haunted house artbook, on kickstarter!
the initial goal has been reached, but there’s still one stretch goal left: if the campaign hits $69k, i will go spend the night in an actual haunted house (possibly the lizzie borden house!), do some ghost hunter-y activities, and make a comic about it!! i would love to be able to do this, so go grab a copy of the book if you’d like, and tell your friends to get one, too!
Once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of influential businessman William Wirt Winchester. Renowned for it’s size, the Queen Anne Style Late Victorian mansion has had 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens.
After her husband’s death from tuberculosis in 1881, Sarah Winchester inherited more than $20.5 million and nearly fifty percent ownership of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, giving her an income of $1,000 per day. Equivalent to more than $23,000 a day in today’s currency.
Sarah believed she was haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. She believed she had to use her inheritance to fund the never ending construction of her home to appease the spirits. Since 1923, when the house opened to the public, workers and guests have recounted strange experiences. Stories of creaking floorboards and rattling doorknobs. The sounds of heavily breathing and unexplainable footsteps. Several visitors have claimed to see a ghostly apparition of a carpenter wearing heavy coveralls.
All of the experiences are that of alleged hauntings. All old houses have haunting memories of times past. The Winchester House has plenty of spooky potential.
“Comparative study shows that non-Celtic changeling beliefs parallel to those of the Celts exist almost everywhere…the idea that the human soul can be abstracted from the body by disembodied spirits and by magicians…According to the Lepers’ Islanders, ghosts steal men–as fairies do–’to add them to their company; and if a man has left children when he died, one of whom sickens afterwards, it is said that the dead father takes it. On Banks Island, Polynesia, the ghost of a woman who has died in childbirth is greatly dreaded: as long as her child is on earth she cannot proceed to Panoi, the otherworld; and the relatives take her child to another house, ‘because they know that the mother will come back to take its soul.”
-W. Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (1911)
This belief in the dead stealing living relatives also fueled the New England vampire panic in the 18th and 19th century. Folklorist Michael E. Bell wrote an informative and highly readable book about it called Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires.
“The ancient manor-house on the Trewern Farm (less than a mile from the Pentre Evan Cromlech) had been haunted as long as anybody could remember. Strange noises were often heard in it, dishes would dance about of their own accord, and sometimes a lady dressed in silk appeared. Many attempts were made to lay the ghosts, but none succeeded. Finally things got so bad that nobody wanted to live there. About eighty years ago, the sole occupants of the house were Mr. — and his two servants. At the time, it was well known in the neighborhood that at once Mr. — became very wealthy, and his servants seemed to be able to buy whatever they wanted. Everybody wondered, but no one could tell where the money came from; for at first he was a poor man, and he couldn’t have made much off the farm. The secret only leaked out through one of the servants after Mr. — was dead. The servant declared to certain friends that one of the ghosts, or, as she thought, the Devil, appeared to Mr. — and told him there was an image of great value walled up in the room over the main entrance to the manor. A search was made, and, sure enough, a large image of solid gold was found in the very place indicated, built into a recess in the wall. Mr. — bound the servants to secrecy, and began to turn the image into money. He would cut off small pieces of the image, one at a time, and take them to London and sell them. In this way, he sold the whole image, and nobody was the wiser. After the image was found, and disposed of, ghosts were no longer seen in the house, nor were unusual noises heard in it at night.
Was the image one of the Virgin or of some Christian saint, or was it a Druid idol? Both opinions are current in the neighborhood, but there is a great deal in favor of the second. The region, the little valley on whose side stands the Pentre Evan Cromlech, the finest in Britain, is believed to have been a favorite place with the ancient Druids; and in the oak groves which still exist there tradition says there was once a flourishing pagan school for neophytes, and that the cromlech was in those days completely enclosed, forming like other cromlechs a darkened chamber in which novices when initiated were placed for a certain number of days–the interior being called the ‘Womb or Court of Ceridwen.’”
-W. Y. Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (1911)
