Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Black Eyed Children: Real or Urban Legend?

Black-eyed children (orblack-eyed kids) are an American contemporary legend of paranormalcreatures that resemble children between ages 6 and 16, with paleskin and black eyes, who are reportedly seen hitchhiking orpanhandling, or are encountered on doorsteps of residential homes.

History

While tabloid coverage of thesecreatures has claimed that tales of black-eyed children have existedsince the 1980s, most sources indicate that the legend originatedfrom 1996 postings written by Texas reporter Brian Bethel on a"ghost-related mailing list," relating two allegedencounters with "black-eyed kids." Bethel describesencountering two such children in Abilene, Texas in 1996, and claimsthat a second person had a similar, unrelated encounter in Portland,Oregon. Bethel's stories have become regarded as classic examples ofcreepypasta, and gained such popularity that he published a FAQ "justto keep up with demand for more info about the new urban legend." In 2012, Brian Bethel told his story on reality TV seriesMonsters and Mysteries in America. He wrote a follow-up article forthe Abilene Reporter News, describing his experience and maintaininghis belief that it was legitimate.

In 2012, the horror film Black EyedKids was produced with Kickstarter funding, its directorcommenting that the creepy children were "an urban legendthat's been floating around on the Internet for years now, I alwaysthought it was fascinating." A 2013 episode of MSN's WeeklyStrange that featured reports of black eyed children is thought tohave helped spread the legend on the internet.

During one week in September 2014, theBritish tabloid Daily Star ran three sensationalistic front-pagestories about alleged sightings of black-eyed children, connected tothe sale of a supposedly haunted pub in Staffordshire. The paperclaimed a "shock rise in sightings around the world".Alleged sightings are taken seriously by ghost hunters, some of whombelieve black eyed children to be extraterrestrials, vampires, orghosts.

Science writer Sharon A. Hill wasunable to find any documentation of black-eyed child encounters,concluding that the tales are passed on as "friend of afriend" ghost stories. Hill considers the legend to resemble"typical spooky folklore stories" such as thephantom black dog, where the subject is not supernatural, and theremay never have been an actual original encounter. Snopes lists thisphenomenon as being a legend.