Picture this…
It’s late at night. Perhaps you’re alone, or maybe your spouse or roommate is sleeping upstairs.
There’s a knock at the door.
Instead of acting protective, your pet runs away or hides nearby, whining and cringing.
You check the peephole, or look out the window, and see two kids. They’re probably blonde, with long bangs hiding their eyes. Without you saying a word, they know you’re there. They ask to use your phone. They’re in trouble, they say. Their mother is waiting for them. Please, can they come in and use your phone?
As you begin to open the door, a terrible sense of fear and dread overwhelms you. You want to help those children–anyone would–but every instinct you have is screaming at you, warning you not to open that door.
When you back away, the children get less polite and more insistent. You must let them in.
And then you see their eyes through the peephole. They are solid black, with no whites visible.
You’re unable to sleep for the rest of the night, even though you watched through the window as they finally left your house and walked down the street.
The next morning, you find a word carved into your door.
Soon, it says.
I’ve just described a typical encounter with the black-eyed kids. Many say they are an urban legend, but there are hundreds–if not thousands–of so-called true encounters on the Internet. Reddit has a large thread where people regularly report their personal stories.
Sometimes the kids’ eyes are described as all black, other times as having black irises or weirdly dilated pupils. In each case, the person felt like they were in a trance, compelled to help the children and open the door, until they saw the strange eyes.
If black-eyed kids are more than legend, what are they? There are many theories, ranging from aliens to ghosts to vampires, which I suspect came about because the kids have to be invited in, much like Dracula and his buddies.
And even more intriguing, what happens if you do let them in? I could only find one such account, and the guy said he fell into a trance where he felt like he was being torn apart before his girlfriend came home and rescued him.
Have you met a black-eyed kid, or do you know someone who has? What do you think these children are after? What are they?
PS: For more creepy children, check out this post.
This is as scary as all hell … no, I’ve never seen one nor will I seek one – but it seems as if ‘they’ do the seeking …
It is pretty scary, Susan, especially since most people’s first instinct would be to help a child in trouble.
If it’s true, it’s terrifying, and if not, it’s one spooky urban legend!
Geez, this is a thing? I thought it was just a horror movie thrill, not an urban legend. How creepy!
It’s definitely a thing, Elle. If you have time, check the Reddit feed. There are tons of stories on there.
It is totally creepy, I agree. Thanks for commenting!
I’m so glad I read these posts in the daytime. Although, this one creeped me out anyway. I’m really hoping no one rings the doorbell today…. 😮
Me too, Madeline. Remember to always check your peephole. Good rule to live by!
Thanks for reading.
Now, THAT’s scary!!
Thanks, Kath! If you have a blog, I’d love to support you as well. Feel free to link to it.
OMG I hope to never see one of them!
Me too, Alice. I would freak! But also be curious, I have to admit.
Here from/for A to Z. Gah. Now I never want to go to my front door again.
Someone carved something on my front door before we moved in. The previous owners tried to fill it in and paint it over but slowly it’s pushing its way back to the surface. And now you’ve scared the bejebus out of me.
I read your “A” post as well. I write science fiction, but because I’m a former historian, I know lots of readers. Several have begged to read my book draft saying they don’t like sci fi but they would probably like my book since they liked my non-fiction…. and are now avoiding me. I told them it’s not lit fic, it’s sci fi. Very, very much of a nerdy genre. I’ve had really great, positive but honest feedback from friends who also like sci fi and fantasy so I’m excited to finish and send it on. People who don’t surprise, apparently don’t like it but are afraid to admit it. I’d never dump a friend for not liking my writing though.
Welcome, Rory! I hope to see you back here again. Always great to meet another writer and a historian–I love history and have a keen interest in it, as you’ll see in a lot of the upcoming posts.
That story about your door is freaky! Can you tell what the word was?
Well, I’m pretty open when I don’t read or care for genres, but I’ve edited romance books for friends (I don’t normally read romance) and loved them. In this case, we wrote the same genre, which is one of the reasons I could see a lot of problems. Problem number one–the book wasn’t scary.
I’ll glad you’ve been able to get some great feedback on your work. Good beta readers are worth their weight in gold.
The letters come through more clearly with each change in the season (nothing scary there, just the contraction/expansion of wood) so eventually we might be able to. Thanks to you, I’m going to start taking pictures of the door to document the change. It better not say soon! I’ve always figured it’s some kid’s initials.
Well, let me know when you find out, Rory! I’m intrigued.
This one made me laugh. I’m sure it’s freaky, but after having two babies who woke me every two hours at night I can’t help but giggle. I would stumble into the room to pick up my screaming infant, who would then suddenly stop crying and would stare at me with black eyes. Their pupils are huge and seem to absorb whatever little light filtered into the room. I never turned on a light. Moonlight could make them glow as it reflected off the back of their pupils.
Now, saying that, there is no way I would open the door to the freaky black eyed children in this legend!
As someone who doesn’t have children, that sounds pretty freaky to me, Bonnie, but I’m sure the Black-Eyed Kids are a little more unusual. I’m guessing you didn’t feel a horrific sense of dread when you approached your infant…or at least, I hope not! 😉
Thanks for commenting. You rock!
One look at your image I’m already under the desk. Don’t let them come to the door.
Welcome to my blog! Hope I didn’t freak you out too much…maybe I’m doing my job too well. 😉
PS – I love your blog and your theme! I’ll definitely be back.
That is creepy! Usually, I like reading about stuff like this, but I’ll skip this one.
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee’s Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
What was it about this one that turned you off? Too scary?
Oh, that is creepy. I got chills! Now I know to look at the eyes of any kids, especially blonde-haired kids, who knock on my door.
It’s definitely the safest course of action, Chrys! Thanks for commenting.
Scary children get me every time–even in otherwise cheesy horror movies!
I wonder what it is about children that makes them so darn creepy!
Yeah.. one second, I just need to go and remove the door bell and cover the glass in my front door.
OK. Done.
Another brilliantly freaky myth. I had heard of this one. I think, maybe from a Ghost Hunters type show on TV.
I actually had a prompt today for tomorrows post that could have lead to a “supernatural” path, but for some reason I just couldn’t walk down there. I blame what was on TV at the time which was a whole other horror story.
True crime, I’m guessing?
Glad I inspired you to prepare your door. You just never know…
Oh my goodness, that picture is creepy!
Hi Katy! Welcome to my blog. Yes, I may have overdone it. I’m really freaking people out today.
Is it abuse if you hit a ghost child? I’m not someone that is moved by children being in danger. Children being the danger freaks me out almost as much as clowns.
Brr…clowns! I hate clowns! Even before I knew about John Wayne Gacy, I hated clowns.
If you trounced one of the black-eyed kids, I think the world would forgive you.
They’re probably stoned, thus the weird eye dilation – and they’re being used by adults to convince people to open the door. Once the door is opened, it’s easier to gain entrance to rob the place.
Jehovah’s Witnesses use the same schtick – they put a child in front of the door to be seen with the adult standing off to the side, out of sight. People are more prone to open their door for a child than a strange adult. When the door is opened because someone sees a kid on their doorstep, then the adult steps out from beside the door and begins to proselyte.
I came across these while researching for my NaNo project. There are also adult versions too and black hats. Then there are the Cherokee legends that talk about similar beings.
The thought of them scare the crud out of me.
They are pretty terrifying. Who are they, and what do they want?
I didn’t know about the adult versions…I’ll have to look into that!
They are called shadow people.
And I meant Choctaw not Cherokee. Similar to shadow people. They are called nalusa falaya.
Thanks for the info! I’ll check it out.
I’ve always been fascinated by the black eyed kids. I’m torn as to whether I believe in them. I do mostly think it’s an urban legend and I think a lot of the so called encounters are made up, but I could just be being cynical. I can’t help but think that in this day and age, if it was true, at least some of theses people who report sightings would have video evidence to back it up
Debbie
True, but whenever there is video evidence of something, everyone says it’s a hoax. Hard to win these days.
First I have heard of this, but my question would be ‘What were they smoking?’ Aliens I can buy into; weird kids at my door only happens at Halloween.
Are we talking a black sclera and black iris and black pupil, or the idea that the entire eye is pupil? It’d be interesting to explore what each one would mean, biologically. (All-iris would mean you’d see great at night, I imagine, but during the day you’d be blind.)
You do come up with the most interesting topics, J!
Ha ha, trust you to go for the technical question, Randee. I believe it refers to the entire eye being black, as in–no white of the eye showing at all. But that would be a tad obvious, so perhaps it was just a strange kid with really dark eyes that sparked this entire legend.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m happy my blog be thought of as interesting.
I saw the title for this post in my email, but I hadn’t had a chance to check it out yet. Then I’m on the FB and I see someone else posting about the same subject! Too weird. Did you know there is a coloring book? 🙂 I’ll share the link on FB messenger.
Thanks for sharing the link, Heather, but I have to say, that seems like a boring colouring book. I guess the choices in the eye color would be fairly limited. 🙂
Ah! That’s the stuff that produces nightmares. It’s probably a story of prankster teens gone viral. Eep. I will freak if anyone rings my doorbell after dark, now.
Probably a good rule of thumb, unless you live in a small town (and sometimes even then). Here in the city, if someone rings your doorbell at night and you’re not expecting anyone, you do not answer. Ever. And it’s not because of black-eyed kids, either.
I love these stories, but I had no idea there were so many accounts of Black-Eyed Children. Which got me thinking: are all reports from the Americas? I’ve heard plenty of urban legends in my time, but I have never heard of any accounts like this taking place in (Western) Europe. A bit like Slender Man doesn’t seem to pop up in the “Old World”. Any thoughts?
Hmm…good question, Chris. The answer is, I’m not sure. This could be a North American legend, but I find most of these kinds of stories have variations all over the world. Here they’re known as black-eyed kids, but maybe where you are, they’re called something else and there’s a different aspect that’s a bit off.
Never say never, states the old saying, and I think it is a wise advice. Fortunately,I have never seen one of these beings, though my father, as a surgeon, has told me that he, a convinced atheist, has witnessed many strange events related to the unknown in the special atmosphere of a surgical room…Whatever the truth is about these supposed night-eyed kids, the only story is at least disturbing.
Ooh, that sounds really interesting, María. I’d love to hear more about your father’s stories. Thanks for commenting!
I think out of all things horror, creepy kids do me in the most. *shudder* Thankfully, we haven’t had any of those black-eyed kids popping up in our neighborhood.
Yet. You haven’t had them popping up YET.
There are too many comments to read through, so I won’t be sure I’m not repeating the words of others but, GOOD HELL! I”M NEVER GOING TO SLEEP WELL AGAIN! That was too creepy and you know damn well Imma look up all these stories and creep myself out.
Ha ha! That’s my job, Ryan. Good to hear I still got it. 😉
Seems like a very clever way to start a dialogue about an upcoming horror flick, or book. This could be such a huge idea, where the legend crosses over into real life. Start the idea on Reddit, chat rooms, etc. and watch it blossom. Or maybe I’m behind the times and there’s a book/movie already? Good idea. 🙂
I believe there is. There’s probably a few, since this is an older urban legend. I know there’s a colouring book. 🙂
When I read through the whole post, I kept wondering what would happen if one lets these kids in. Or, what happened “soon” in the event of the carved door. Creepy stuff! I would feel haunted for quite a while after sending the kids away. You can decipher a lot from the pets’/dogs’ behavior in situations like these. I’d trust their instincts.
It’s certainly an interesting question. I’m guessing nothing good would come of it, but what if they’re just poor little lost alien children trying to find their parents? It would put a different spin on the myth, that’s for sure.
Wow, so creepy! I don’t think I’m ever going to answer my door again.
That might be for the best…especially since you live on a boat. 😉
Blackeyed kids are definitely one of the urban legends that hit me on **that** level. They sorta linger in the back of my conscious, they way that Slenderman or other boogeymen just don’t.
They are pretty darn creepy, Karen.
Bizarre, but hard to take seriously. Still, I don’t think I’ll be answering the door after 9 pm unless the knocker is holding an Amazon box.
Sounds like a good plan, Tamara.
That sounds creepy. I hope I never see the black-eyed kids. ?
You and me both, Mandy.
As much as i hate to say this… It is a really scary occurrence… And its not just an urban legend… This is something that happened to me recently and its positively haunting… I still cant sleep and its made my insomnia worse… Its horrifying seeing those glossy pure black obsidian eyes
Wow, I’d love to hear more about your experience, GMS. You’re the first person I’ve heard from who’s said they’ve seen them.
I’m definitely a skeptic on topics such as this and I tend to take many stories like this with a grain of salt.Although skeptical by nature I also never ignore the unknown as well. Let’s just be honest,there are so many things about our realm of existence and our universe that we indeed know nothing about. I’m not a religious person nor am I an atheist.So I always take into the account of the unknown while staying tempered and grounded by healthy skepticism. I do have a BEK story albeit one that I did not experience first hand.It happened last year in October 2017. I have custody of both of my children, my son 11 and my daughter 7. They live with my girlfriend and I. My girlfriend friend was taking my daughter to school that morning and it was around 7:30 am. The were about a quarter of a mile from the school when my girlfriend noticed a little girl standing in front of a house right the street in the neighborhood that they were passing through. The little girl was standing on the left hand side of the street so my girlfriend got a very good look at her and they were only going between 25 and 30 mph.The little girl according to my girlfriend had the longest, straightest and most beautiful head of jet black hair that she had ever seen. She was wearing a dress that came down just below the knee, with the oddest and brightest pattern of colors she had ever seen. At first she thought it was a mannequin because of her motionless and unusual postier. As she was passing the little girl, the little girl just slightly tilted and turned her head simultaneously with the motion of the car.That was when she noticed the eyes and yes they did make eye contact with one another. My girlfriend described the eyes as blacker than night and bottomless pits. The little girl smiled but only slightly. My girlfriend said that an irrational terror just consumed her upon eye contact with this little girl who appeared to be about 6 years of age. As she traveled about 100 yards further then looked into the rearview mirror and the little girl was gone. She said that my daughter said to her ” the weird girl scared me”. My girlfriend was absolutely unnerved after this and was almost a basket case for the next two days. My girlfriend is a very rational and logical person but this encounter rattled her to the very fabric of her soul. It did scare my daughter as well but she never said anything about it. My girlfriend has never been one to throw bullshit around and like myself, she has a very low tolerance for bullshit. She had an encounter with something that cannot be explained on any logical level. Chalk up another one for the unknown.
Wow, that’s really creepy, Eric. Thanks for sharing! Brr…