In modern times, most phenomena have an explanation given through rigorous scientific investigations. Occasionally, however, events happen that seem to defy all reasonable explanations. They are strange. They are sometimes even terrifying. These instances may eventually even become urban legends. Whether these stories are true is up for debate, but they often reflect our deepest fears and anxieties. Could these seemingly impossible situations happen to us when we least expect it?

Many urban legends exist, but perhaps one of the most intriguing is the legend of the black eyed kids.

Otherworldly Children

Black eyed kids, as one may guess, are children who, at first glance, appear ordinary until you look closely at their eyes, which are completely black. They are usually between 6-16 years old, have pale skin, and wear dated clothing. Many report feeling an overwhelming sense of dread once they realize they aren’t normal. These children often appear to unsuspecting victims in the dead of night, knocking and asking to be let in.

“Brian vs. the Evil, Black-eyed, Possibly Vampiric or Demonic But At Least Not Bloody Normal Kids”

One night in 1996, Brian Bethel was driving in Abilene, Texas, on his way to pay his monthly bill to his internet service provider. It was sometime after 9:30 pm when he pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center where the drop box was located. After putting his car into idle, he began writing out the check, letting the lights of the movie theater nearby illuminate his sight.

Suddenly, he heard tapping on his driver’s-side window. Bethel looked up to see two children in their preteens staring back at him. One boy was taller than the other; he had brown, curly hair and olive-colored skin. The smaller boy had pale skin with freckles, his hair a light shade of orange. Both wore hooded sweaters.

Perturbed, Bethel opened his window a crack to see what they wanted. The first boy smiled broadly at him, his teeth an unusually iridescent white. Bethel’s blood inexplicably ran cold.

The boy began to ask if he could possibly give them a ride home. You see, they forgot to bring money and they really wanted to go see a movie. They needed a ride home so that they could get their money. The boy’s diction, as Bethel described, was a “quiet calm” that sounded more appropriate for a young man than that of a boy. His tone of voice also so insinuated that his request was more of the expectation of Bethel’s help than that of an actual inquiry.

Put on the spot, Bethel could only stammer a reply. It would feel wrong to refuse help to a couple of children, but on the other hand… something seemed terribly off about them both.

Picking up on his nervousness, the taller boy attempts to reassure Bethel. They can’t go inside his car unless they get permission. Just let them in and they’ll be gone before he knows it. Bethel is frozen in fear, and it was at this point he realizes why. For the first time, he looks the boy in the eyes and sees two pools of pure black looking back at him.

Horrified, Bethel’s hand shoots to the car’s gear shift. A look of panic, the realization of exposure, comes over the smaller boy’s features.

”WE CAN’T COME IN UNLESS YOU TELL US IT’S OKAY. LET.. US… IN!” the first boy angrily lets out. Bethel books it out of there and a second later makes it to the exit of the parking lot. When he steals a quick glance back—the boys vanished.

Please Let Us In

Bethel’s account is arguably the first of several accounts to crop up around the United States and United Kingdom. Although these encounters do span regions, most of them share the same attributes: two seemingly normal kids appear in the dead of night, knocking on someone’s front door or window, asking — pleading for help and to be let inside.

What makes them terrifying is not just the fact that they’re paranormal entities but that they outwardly appear as small children. They appeal to their victims’ humanity, the instinct to protect the vulnerable among us, in order to gain access inside and cross the boundary between normalcy and wreaking havoc on those individuals’ lives.

Although some well-intentioned people might give these entities the benefit of the doubt, that they very well may be harmless spirits or lost souls, letting them inside may consequently be inviting disaster instead.

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20050213181819/http://www.pinn.net/~royaloak/Stories/black_eyed.htm