The Boxer Rebellion

 

Many unfortunate souls lost their lives during the Boxer Rebellion which began in November of 1899 and ended with the signing of the Boxer Protocol on September 7, 1901. The Boxers originated from a group called the Righteous Harmonious Fists but the westerners referred to them as the Boxers because they performed physical exercises they believed would make them able to withstand bullets. One of the China’s rulers, Tzu Hsi, viewed the Boxers as a way of getting rid of the foreigners, which were considered troublemakers, without the use of imperial support. Eight countries stepped in to stop the rebellion. The only time in history that has ever happened. A foreign form of religion, Christianity, was being accepted by a minority of the Chinese. The Chinese Christians were referred to as traitors and the foreigners considered evil. Conflicting views and misunderstandings usually serve as the impetus for violence. Thousands died as a result of the Boxer Rebellion.

    The Whitaker’s Almanack contained the count of Chinese and foreigners in China in 1900. The entire empire of China consisted of 300 million people and 10,855 were foreigners. Broken down into countries: 4,362 Britains, 1,439 Americans, 933 French, 870 Germans, and 852 Japanese. Language barriers, culture and internal disputes between foreigners and the Chinese created difficulties concerning the interpretation of each other’s behaviors and motivations.

    The unofficial support of Tzu His, one of China’s rulers, was not the only reason for the rise of the group called the Boxers. Other problems arose such as natural disasters. Two harvests failed which led to widespread famine. A plague of locusts added to their misery. The Yellow River overflowed and flooded hundreds of villages. The Chinese people also went through political, economic and military sanctions placed upon them by Western Powers and Japan. The Chinese people realized they could not do much about the natural disasters but they could do something about the foreigners and their modern ideas (Bodin, 2008).

    During the late 1890s, the general population of China felt the Christian converts behaviors started getting out of hand. Their numbers grew exponentially and they became more demanding. Tzu His said “These Chinese Christians are the worst people in China. They rob the poor country people of heir land and property, and the missionaries, of course, always protect them, in order to get a share themselves” (Preston, 2000, pg. 26). To make matters worse, their new religion prohibited them from participating in ancient ceremonies at their villages such as ancestor worship which was fundamental to Chinese life. The close-knit social fabric of town and village life fell apart and they were ostracized from their own communities. The converts had to rely on the missions for their survival. They worked as servants and bearers. They represented the poorest groups and they were referred to as “rice Christians” because they converted to fill their bellies (Preston, 2000).

    The Boxer movement spread like wildfire. They offered a lifeline to the poor and destitute residing along the countryside. Many young men flooded the boxing grounds to watch as the Boxers would call upon a god to possess them and they fell into a trance while twirling and dancing with their weapons in their hands. They dared onlookers to attack them. An issued promise of invulnerability served as an irresistible temptation for those who felt they had little power in their daily lives. The Boxers, an ill organized group, claimed to have supernatural powers. Its members came from the poor and dispossessed from northern China with a goal of eliminating foreigners and the Chinese Christians.

    Herbert Hoover referred to the Boxers as an emotional movement which was not unusual for China. He was right, the movement served as an impetus to the worsening and desperate condition in northern China. The area of Shantung was the birth place of the Boxers. It happened to be a poor and overpopulated province and the birthplace of Confucius. The place had been hit hard by the flooding of foreign goods such as textiles. The new foreign technology wreaked havoc on the economy. The steamboats put thousands of bargemen out of work. Many camel-men, mule-drivers, chair bearers and innkeepers lost their jobs due to the railways (Preston, 2000).

    The Boxers despised and feared the railways, not only for the economic harm the railways caused the Chinese people. They had strong beliefs that the “iron centipedes” or “firecarts” destroyed the land and disturbed the graves of their ancestors. They said “The ponderous locomotives and rumbling trains pressed heavily the head of the Dragon and that his beneficent exhalations were mothered and no clouds could from in the heavens” (Preston, 2000, pg. 30).

    The Boxers carried the same feelings and fear for telegraph lines and cut them whenever possible. They believed the wind grousing through the high telegraph poles sounded like they were spirits in anguish. The rust dripping from the wires appeared to be the blood of spirits of the air. The mining of minerals served as the worst torment of the Chinese earth. “When we have slaughtered them all, we shall tear up the railways, cut down the telegraphs, and then finish off by burning their steamboats” (Preston, 2000, pg. 30).

 

        Another source of contention was the Chinese people’s inability to let go of their antiquities. They wanted to hold onto the way they have always done things and not embrace the new technology introduced by the foreigners.

    China suffered many encroachments during the last decade of the 19^th century. The English, French, Germans, and Russians took valuable land and port sites in China from the Chinese people through unsavory methods and while doing so they showed no respect for them. In 1896 the Germans took over the two areas of Kiaochow and Tsingtao soon after two German priests were murdered. The Germans used the murders as an excuse to seize the two areas. The Russians coerced the Chinese to give them a lease on Port Arthur and Darien. The French took over Kwangchowwan in the south and the British gained access to Wei-Hai-Wei through a 25 year lease. America’s interest in China was primarily commercial. They sought trading opportunities instead of territory (Bodin, 2008).

    The white Anglo-Saxons carried a belief of superiority over all other races.  The British and Americans believed the Anglo-Saxon race to be considered prominent among the white races which meant they could rightly dominate the rest. The Americans viewed the Chinese and their Chinatowns as places filled with drugs, prostitution and other irreducible elements of society. Chinese labor was welcomed during the 1850s but when the country suffered an economic downturn during 1860s and 1870s, there was a resentment towards their willingness to work for low rages and would often break strikes. Westerners believed the Orientals as being less evolved and more prone to savage animal instincts. Americans and other Westerners placed importance on physical interests and material possessions which led to their success in the world markets. Their vast inventions of material things had great appeal for people of democracy (Preston, 2000).

    On the other hand, the Chinese existed in a world based on superstitions and believed the foreigners were evil and the Chinese Christians traitors. Superstitions and magical practices, associated with the Boxer movement, involved incantations and trance-like states amongst their followers. Many people watched as they prepared in awe. The Boxers began their campaign by their promotion of propaganda. They used a network of printing presses and distributed tens of thousands of leaflets and handbills about the Catholic Church and the atrocities they committed on women and children. The Boxers also promised to bring back rain to ensure bountiful harvests.

    The Chinese Government tried to stop the Boxer movement, however, the governors and military officials who were anti-Boxer, lost their positions. Predominantly, through most of 1899 the Boxers focused their attention on the Chinese Christians, many of their businesses faced obliteration. Only a few people lost their lives. On December 30, 1899, a few Boxers killed Reverend S. M. Brooks, a British missionary, and this action gained much notoriety. The British and Germans protested the murder. As a result, two Boxers faced execution, and another had to serve life in prison.  

    The Dowager Empress, Tzu Hsi, issued an imperial edict that claimed secret societies functioned as part of Chinese life and their actions were not to be considered criminal. Her declaration involved the acceptance of citizens who joined groups and practiced martial arts for their self-defense. They should not be considered hostile by foreigners and Christians. Her actions instilled rage by the foreign diplomats in Peking and they protested her decree. She ignored their protests. The Empress issued three edicts warning Yuan Shih-K’ai, a Chinese Military and Government Official, about his use of military force to manage the Boxers. Tzu Hsi did everything she could to support the Boxer movement without openly supporting their movement. She opened doors for the Boxers to proceed on their campaign to rid China of the foreigners and Chinese Christians.

    The Boxers campaign was on the fast track by the spring of 1900. At the town of Pao Ting Fu, 70 Chinese Christians met their untimely deaths. The town was 60 miles southwest of Peking.

     Many Chinese Christians hid from the Boxers and Qing imperial army at the Peking Legations Quarter. A Legation was originally a common form of diplomatic mission headed by ministers. These fell out of favor after WWII and were upgraded to embassies headed by ambassadors. The people at the legations wondered how they could defend themselves against an inevitable attack by the Qing army and the Boxers. The British legation compound, with the Jade River on one side and Imperial Carriage Park on the other, had the most protected position. On May 30, 1900, antiforeign demonstrations raged  in the streets of Peking by the Boxers. Panic-stricken refugees flooded the city. British refugees were offered refuge at the British legation. Other legations opened their gates for the desperate refugees. Approximately 2,800 Chinese Christians sought safety at various legations and within the walls of Peking.

   

 

 

   

    Peking served as a wonder and fortress by many onlookers and inhabitants. The beauty and complexity of its architecture proved to be structurally safe and foreboding. The walls of the ancient city reached 30 feet in height and approximately 20 feet thick. The walls of the Tartar or the inner city connected to the north were immense, over 40 feet high, with 60 feet at the base and 50 feet at the top of the walls. There were nine iron-studded gates at the outer walls. Within the inner city, which was referred to as the Imperial City, many palaces, temples, public offices and gardens cast an air of elegance over the city (Preston, 2000).

    On June 9, 1900 the first Boxer attack occurred in Peking. The Racecourse was burned to the ground. Sir Claude MacDonald, the British minister in Peking, wired Admiral Seymour at Taku and requested a large relief force. Those staying at the Legation Quarter knew they were the next target. The Boxers cut the telegraph line to Tientsin and they stopped regular mail. Imperial troops worked alongside the Boxers and artillery was mounted along the city walls facing the Legation Quarter. A new administrator was appointed to the Tsungli Yamen (The Chinese Foreign Office) who happened to be a pro-Boxer which aided the Boxers with their pending campaign.

    Circumstances quickly went downhill when Mr. Sugiyama, the Chancellor of the Japanese Legation, met his untimely death while on his way to the railway station to meet the expected Seymour’s relief battalion. Chinese Christians and foreigners fled to the two remaining groups of Westerners and converts in Peking which was the Legation Quarter and the Pei T’ang Cathedral.

    On June 16 the Boxers set fire to a large area of the Peking city that contained stores and shops that provided goods to foreigners and they destroyed approximately 4,000 businesses. The ministers received an edict which ordered them to leave Peking and move to Tientsin. They wisely decided to ignore the ultimatum.

    The ministers requested a meeting with the Tsungli Yamen of which they received no response. The German minister, Baron von Ketteler, did not want to wait any longer and set out to meet with the group and while in route an imperial soldier killed him. The Tsungli Yamen ignored the notice of the minister’s death and requested the ministers to reconsider the previous edict to leave Peking. Approximately 125 civilians and volunteers stepped up to provide armed protection for the foreigners and Chinese Christians and called themselves “Thornhill’s Roughs.” They were armed with an assortment of hunting and sporting guns. Later they were referred to as “The Carving Knife Brigade” because of the knives attached to the muzzles of their guns that served as bayonets. A French and Italian officer along with 30 French and 11 Italian sailors joined their brigade.

    The Legation defenders made use of all available volunteers. All foreigners without military experience served on a variety of committees which consisted of general duties, sanitation, fuel, water, fortification, labor, food ration and fire defense committees. A system to ration food was established which placed more importance on fresh meat, fruits and vegetables. Sufficient supplies of rice and canned products were made available by some of the stores. The foreigners did not supply food rations to the Chinese Christians. They ended up eating rats, dogs, plants, roots and garbage. The healthy Chinese men had to work two hours a day for the general good. The work included reinforcing barricades, cleaning up garbage, digging countermines and the digging of graves. The women served as nurses and sewed many sandbags for the barricades (Bodin, 1979).

    The streets of Peking became a living nightmare. Boxers shouted “Sha Sha!” (kill, kill) that could be heard in the distance. Parts of the city were set on fire. The Chinese Christians, who did not burn in the fires, suffered agonizing deaths by being cut to pieces by the Boxers’ knives. Many men, women and children lay in large piles, some hacked to pieces, others burned, throats cut from ear to ear, some still moving while others immobile.

    The Boxers tortured many of their victims in temples while offering incantations before their gods, offering Christians in sacrifice.

    Fortunately hundreds of foreigners and Chinese Christians were brought to safety. A multitude of them suffered horrendous wounds and were covered in soot and ashes from the fires (Bodin, 1979).

   

    Edward Seymour, Commander-in-chief of the British China Station, carried out a rather failed attempt to provide protection for the inhabitants at Peking. Once he received the request from Sir Claude MacDonald, he immediately organized a battalion for the advance. He departed Taku with the Royal Marines and Bluejackets and marched to Tientsin. His entourage consisted of 2,100 men: 915 British; 512 Germans; 312 Russians; 157 French; 111 Americans; 54 Japanese; 42 Italians and 26 Austrians (Bodin, 1979).

    Admiral Seymour decided to travel by train to Peking and he thought he would arrive by the end of the day. He only brought rations for three days. The distance from Tientsin to Peking was 100 miles. Others felt he was overconfident regarding the venture because there hostile Boxers along the way and the imperial army. Seymour thought ahead and brought supplies to fix broken railroad tracks. They advanced 25 miles, only to Yang Tsun, before they encountered severely damaged tracks.

    After two more days the battalion ended up at Lang Fang about 40 miles from Peking. They encountered a force of Boxers. The enemy fled the scene and they started making repairs on the train tracks. The scouts, who were sent ahead, could not get further than An Ting because of a strong Boxer resistance. The supplies for track repairs and rations started running very low. A train was sent back to Tientsin for supplies and it returned to Lang Fang empty. The troops reported that the tracks were put out of service from Yang Tsun to Tientsin. The trains proceeded back to Yang Tsun very slowly. German scouts returned to the trains to report that they had a skirmish with the imperial troops who seemed to have joined with the Boxers which devastated Seymour.

    The trains reached the river at Yang Tsun and they discovered the bridge was too dangerous to cross. They decided to march the rest of the way to Tientsin. The battalion captured junks on the river to haul the wounded and artillery. They departed on the 9^th of June for this mission and by June 22^nd after a very slow progression, the battalion ended up at a government building that was weakly guarded by a few Chinese. The building was taken over by Seymour’s battalion. Seymour discovered they captured the Imperial Chinese Arsenal at Hsiku, loaded with food, water, arms and ammunition. He decided to remain at Hsiku until rescued. On the 26^th of June, a group of Russian soldiers came to their aid. Their attempt to rescue Peking failed dejectedly.

 

    The international Legation Quarter survived a 55 day siege conducted by the Qing Army and Boxers.  A never before alliance occurred between eight military powers of the world. This has never happened before and has never happened again. For approximately a year military and naval recruits from Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States joined forces against a common enemy which was a social order  who had a goal of eliminating through murder and torture all foreigners and Chinese Christians in China. These homicidal villains, called the Boxers and Qing Army, managed to accomplish part of their goal. The Allies heard the legations fell under the imperial and Boxer rule. The efforts to relieve Peking had been revitalized when a messenger made his way through the Chinese lines to inform the Allies in Tientisin that the Peking Legations remained in foreign control.

    The force numbered approximately: 10,000 Japanese, 4,000 Russians, 3,000 British, 2,000 Americans, 800 French, 200 Germans, 58 Austrians and 53 Italians. The first place they stopped was Pei Ho which was north of Tientsin. A fleet of junks, carts and wagons carried their supply of food and ammunition. Weather conditions basically left the force parched and choking on dust with 104 degrees and made the takeover of this location more difficult (Bodin, 1979).

    Scouts reported the Chinese grouped at Pei Tsang which was seven miles north of Tientsin. The force proceeded to that location and the battle began shortly after their arrival. After the location fell under the Allies control and the Chinese fled, they proceeded to Yang Tsun, ten miles north of Tientsin. The men collapsed under the weight of their packs and the extreme heat. However, the Allies managed to take over one trench after another until Yang Tsun fell under the control of the Allies.

    Their next stop was the walled city of Tungchow and their advance through the heat and dust ended up being very slow. The city was not heavily guarded and it appeared that the city was left to the Boxers, who looted, killed and burned before they fled. The Allied generals held a meeting to plan their attack on Peking. They wanted the final advance on Peking to be well-planned with executed maneuvers. The assault was scheduled for the morning of August 15^th.

    Russian scouts reported they were able to advance to a few hundred yards of the Peking walls. Specific Ally countries had been given specific gates to storm. The Russians decided to attack the gate the Americans were assigned and were not successful. The Americans reacted to their move by advancing at daybreak. The General in charge, General Gaselee, saw his coordinated plans ignored, ordered a general advance immediately. The British entered the Legation Quarter and ended the 55 day siege.

    Traffic jams and fighting occurred at the other gates which slowed the advances of the other Allies. The Russians marched into the Legation Quarter two hours after the British. The Japanese decided to assault the area the Russians were assigned too along with their own assignment, which slowed them down considerably.

    The Dowager Empress, Tsu Hsi fled with part of her entourage while other members of the court were murdered during the nights of August 14 and 15. Hsu Tung, ordered to form a new government, hung himself.  What was left of the imperial court set up their residence at Sian, 700 miles southwest of Peking. The empress hoped to start negotiations with the Allies.

    The Americans entered the Forbidden City where the palace of the empress was located at Peking and discovered heavy Chinese resistance. The Chinese fired at them from three directions. They finally reached the area of the palace and were told to withdraw. They were shocked. After fighting for most of the morning, they lost 15 men and many wounded. A Franco-Russian protest to the other Allied commanders and ministers convinced the Allies to put a halt to the assault. They had no choice, they did not want to risk endangering peace among the Allies.

    Peking ended up being divided among the Allies into zones in which each country had the authority to control their assigned zone. Chinese attempts at setting up a temporary government failed miserably. The Allies spent time looting or defending against looting. For some reason, The American and British troops could not take part in any looting. However, Russians, French, Germans and Japanese felt it was their right as victors to tear apart Peking. They stripped the city of much of its art, gold and silver. The ancient astronomical instruments at the Peking observatory found its way to Europe.

    After the American assault on August 15, the Forbidden lay untouched until the 28^th. On the 27^th, the Allied ministers and generals held a victory march through the Forbidden City. Representatives from the eight countries and a group of Legation defenders marched proudly. The occupation at Peking was complete (Bodin, 1979).

   

    The Boxers did not disappear overnight. Through the months of September and part of October campaigns against them continued in various locations. On October 20 the last Boxer resistance was captured at Pao Ting Fu. The town was sacked and burned as punishment.

    A series of war crime trials were held by representatives of all eight Allied powers. The commission tried Chinese military leaders, Boxers and Chinese officials. Most were put to death. The commission charged huge fines to cities to help pay for the Allied expedition. The Allied representatives at the peace talks were the ministers of the eight military powers. They did not want to be lenient. Three points needed to be covered. The responsible Boxers and Chinese officials must be severely punished, China must pay the cost of the Allied military expedition and all existing treaties between China and the Allies need to be renegotiated.

    Nine more points entered into the peace talks. China had to send a representative to Berlin to apologize for Baron von Ketteler’s death and a monument to honor him erected at Peking. A similar mission was to be held to honor Mr. Sugiyama’s death. Places where foreigners lost their lives was not allowed to have Civil Service test for five years, a serious punishment directed at Chinese officials and scholars. Monuments had to be erected in foreign and Chinese Christian cemeteries destroyed by Boxers. China was not permitted to import arms or war material for two years. Orders directed the Tuku forts to be destroyed. A defense line built around the perimeter of the Legation Quarter in Peking and Chinese citizens were not permitted to reside within the perimeter. The Allies could manage the lines of communication between Peking and the coast. Imperial edicts issued to ensure that any violence against foreigners was a crime punishable by death. Local officials were held responsible for the safety of foreigners. The Tsungli Yamen must be replaced by a more modern foreign office.

    For the most part the Imperial edicts met most of the Allied demands which included the erection of monuments, anti-foreignism declared a crime punishable by death, and heavy fines paid to the Allies. The Empress, Tsu His, made vast attempts to redeem herself. She apologized to many of the ministers and their wives for their sufferings during the siege.

    The Boxer Rebellion served as a black eye to China’s prestige in the world. After Japan defeated China in 1894-95, China was placed second among Asian countries. The defeat by the Allies caused them to lose more prestige. The Boxer Rebellion was one of the reasons for the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912. China did embrace modernization after the rebellion which benefited the country. And never again would the flags of the eight Allied powers fly together in joined military operations against a common enemy (Bodin, 1979).

 

   

 

 

Black Eyed Children

 

A loud knock and then a plea could be heard from the other side of the door. “Can I use your phone to call home?” asked the small voice. Elenore opened the door and then slammed the door in the child’s face, when she saw the black eyes on the little girl. Chills ran up and down Elenore’s spine, she has never seen anything so eerie in her life. The little girl knocked on the door again and said “Don’t be afraid. I only want to use you for a while.” Elenore called the police and no sign of the girl could be found. It has been reported that thousands of people of all ages have vanished. Could this be the result of the black-eyed children?

    What are the black-eyed children? It has been speculated that they may be alien hybrids, demons, vampires or ghosts and they are soulless, scary and evil. They leave a long-lasting impression filled with fear after seeing these children. Some of their victims ended up seeing them in various locations. The earliest sighting of one of these eerie children was reported by Brian Bethel, a journalist, in 1996 (Stockman, 2013).

    Black-eyed children usually range from six to 16 years of age, wear hoodies and otherwise normal clothing such as jeans. These strange children appear out of nowhere and use various excuses to gain access to homes and vehicles. They appear to be normal kids except for the black eyes. Being in the vicinity of these beings has caused a feeling of unease and terror. Some people have reported that the children had talons for feet and other demonic features. They always ask for something, usually to gain entry into the person’s home or vehicle. There are no reported stories about when someone invited one of the black-eyed children into their home or vehicle. In 2014, a British newspaper reported that more and more black-eyed children have been seen all over the world.

    Various theories exist that explain the strange phenomenon such as a rare disease called alkaptonuria which has been known to cause black eyes, skin and bones. This disease was more prominent in Slavakia, but has been known to occur in other places in the world including the United States. It is also believed that these scary beings appear when people have lost their innocence and may be entering a darker part of their lives. Their appearance may represent the darker sides of people, the darker energy that is in all people (Stockman, 2013).

    The following are eight of the 16 episodes in which people reported being terrified when they saw the Black Eyed Kids which were taken from Instagram Quotes about Submissions collected by Christine Stockton in 2013 and compiled by Thought Catalog. 

“1. Midnight caller. 

“It almost felt like a dream. I woke up to my dog, Lucy, barking. She was upright on the bed where my husband and I were sleeping with our 22-month-old daughter, staring at our door like an unknown stranger was out there rummaging around. I thought she was just freaking out over a house noise. We’d only had her for 3 months and she was still a puppy. It could have been anything, our roommate, a creak from the house settling, the awnings moving outside in the breeze- I wasn’t too concerned initially.

    “I decided the best bet would be to open the door and show her nothing was there. It sounds a bit silly, but it’s what we do with our daughter when she gets scared, and I figured it should work with a puppy, too. I opened the door and she raced to the front door. She stood there, snarling at the door. It was an angry, violent growl, one I had never heard her make before. I looked groggily at her and opened the baby gate blocking the doorway, planning to open the door and show her everything was OK.

    “The second my hand reached for the deadbolt, Lucy went wild. She started barking and jumped toward me, and when I touched the metal, she suddenly changed her temper. She whimpered, almost like she was afraid and backing down. As her mannerism changed, so did mine, I wasn’t calm anymore. My heart was racing and sinking at the same time. I had been flooded with a mixture of fear and dread. I looked through the peephole. I can’t explain why I looked, but I did. Outside were two kids.          

   “One was just a smidgen shorter than me, and didn’t look much younger. I’m 21, and she looked to be 16 or 17. She was slender and pale. Her hair was a light shade of honey blonde, and she wore it long, about mid-back, with long, thin, blunt bangs in the front that covered most of her eyes. She wore jeans, a light-wash that’s popular right now, and a thin-looking olive colored pullover style hoodie. She held the hand of a small girl, who looked to be around 3 or 4, in the same style jeans and a button-down ivory cardigan. The smaller one looked at the floor shyly, but had the same shade of hair, tied back in a ponytail. She held a stuffed toy under her free arm, and it was identical to one my daughter has, as was their style of dress. Had it not been for the feeling of overwhelming dread and fear, I probably would have asked these children in and given them some tea or hot chocolate to get them out of the bitter cold. Something about them seemed off. At this point, I hadn’t made any noise. I hadn’t shushed the dog or grumbled, nothing- I hadn’t turned on any lights, these kids had no indicators I was at the door. The older one spoke.

    “She had a voice that was mature, confidant, strong, and without an accent. She held her head tilted downward, and I couldn’t see her eyes. She said ‘We have to use your phone.’ I stood frozen in fear. How did she know I was there? She raised her head to face me directly, and that was when I saw her eyes. There was a reason I couldn’t see them through her bangs before they were black, or midnight blue, or a dark, dark purple, they were otherworldly. she said. ‘Our mother is worried.’

    “As someone who has always been interested in creepy stories, I knew what she was the second she looked at me through the door. I have never been one to believe in these things, as a staunch Atheist and skeptic when it comes to the paranormal. I had written off many a ghost story from friends and family members eager to tell their tale. I didn’t believe it. Still, I couldn’t rationalize my way out of this. I was standing with nothing but a thin wooden door between me and a Black-Eyed Kid. There was no questioning what was right in front of me.

    “I did not answer her. Slowly and silently, I backed away from the door, Lucy still cowering at my ankles. She kept talking. ‘Just let us in to use your phone.’ I took another step back, and with that step, the tone changed. At first, she seemed polite. When I took that second step back, she became commanding, almost hostile. ‘We’re not going to hurt you. If we wanted to do that, we would have broken in. I’ll ask again. May we come in and use your phone?’ Lucy snarled at the door, and I inched backward, though something inside me seemed to be slowly pulling me back toward the door. It wasn’t a physical pulling so much as a subconscious need to go back and let them in.

    “I got to my room, covered up the window, locked the door, and sat there in the dim light of the nightlight. I heard her call me back to the door once more, and then quiet. I didn’t go back to sleep that night, and I haven’t slept right since. I know from reading about them that BEK’s can’t just come in without permission. I know they haven’t hurt anyone, but I still fear I’ll be the exception. When I told my husband, he said it was just a dream. He keeps telling me to forget it, but this lingering feeling of sadness, this dread when the house is silent at night, this fear of a knock at the door… this tells me otherwise. 

“2. Halloween 

“This is so funny. I’d never hear of Black-Eyed Kids (BEK’s) before my incident so I come on here to post my story and the first story I see is about a BEK. Weird.

   “Let me preface this by saying I’m by no means a writer, just a ‘domestic engineer’ living in north Texas. Also, I don’t believe in the paranormal – ghosts, demons, aliens, whatever. However, I did have an event happen to me this Halloween I have to admit has me has me scratching my head…

    “So, it had been a slow trick-or-treat night in our neighborhood that evening, which is pretty odd in itself. We usually have kids from different areas ‘dropped off’ in ours and have a constant parade at our door. That night I’d say we’d had no more than 8 or 10 groups of kids come the entire night. It was about 9:30 pm. and my husband and I were sitting in our family room watching some of those ghost shows based on (supposedly) actual events. Like I said, I don’t believe in that stuff but I do like a good ghost story now and then and it was Halloween and all.

    “We hadn’t had any activity at the door in over half an hour and it was getting late so we decided to turn the porch light off and let our dog Chloe out of her crate. Chole is an American Bulldog and is very docile. We only put her in her crate because we were afraid she’d try and get out to ‘play’ with all the kids and I didn’t want to have to chase after her down the street. Also, we didn’t want her to scare any of the kids because she would look a little intimidating to the young kids.

   “So, I turned the outside light off. let Chloe out and she followed me back to the couch and lay down at my feet. It was getting close to 10:00pm when my husband decided he’d had enough fun for the night and was going to go upstairs, take a shower and get ready for bed. After all, it was Thursday and he still had to get up early the next day. My teenage son was out with his friends at a local haunted house and wasn’t expected back for another hour or so, so that left me alone on the couch with Chloe.

    “Now, just because I don’t believe doesn’t mean those shows don’t freak me out a bit, and being alone now watching I’d have to say was kind of “on edge,” as it were. It wasn’t long after I heard the upstairs water for the shower turn on when there came a light ‘knock – knock – knock’ at the front door. My initial reaction was “what the hell, really? It’s almost 10:00 go home…’ but soon an uneasy feeling came over me. Why the knock? Our doorbell glows and in the dark and without the porch light, it would be extra obvious to anyone there.

    “I paused. I couldn’t really just ignore it, our front door has a big beveled glass panel and anybody right at the door could see in enough to see someone was in the family room watching TV. It would be pretty rude for me to just sit there and not answer it. ‘Knock – knock – knock’, again from the door. I glance down at Chloe and she was gone. My gaze followed her usual path to the front door expecting her to be on her way there as she normally does. Nothing, she wasn’t there.

    “I stood up to look around the room better and found her, crouching by the back door like she was wanting out. However, she never asks to go out like that. She always comes and licks my hand or puts her head on my knee. This was totally out of character for her, and I have to say heightened my anxiety. ‘Chloe, crate!’ I said. She just turned back to look at me like ‘hell no lady, ain’t movin.’

    “I yelled up to my husband, but if he was already in the shower, I knew there was no chance of him hearing me. “Knock – knock – knock.” About that time a car drove down our street and cast just enough light on the door to where I could see the silhouettes of two small children through the glass. I instantly felt relief. It was just some kids, probably a couple of my neighbors on their way back home who wanted to stop by and show me their costume or something. I headed to the door and looked back to make sure Chloe wasn’t going to follow, what a great watchdog I thought to myself as she just sat there.

   “I turned on the porch light when I got to the door and sure enough, I could see through the glass that it was a couple of pretty small kids. A little late for such young ones I thought and I began to wonder about what kind of parents would let their kids run the streets that late at night. I only opened the door enough to where I could block Chloe’s escape if she decided to grow some balls, which was only about two feet. What struck me immediately as odd was the kids weren’t wearing any costumes; they were in normal street clothes. Also, no customary ‘Trick-or-treat!’ either. I began to feel very uneasy again.

    “It was a girl and boy. The girl, to my left, was older – I’d say about 11 or 12. I could tell she was blond, but I couldn’t make out any distinct features as our lights are from high above and on columns at the front of the porch so most of the light was coming from behind them. I had not opened the door wide enough for any light from inside to hit them directly. The boy was younger and about a foot shorter, I’d say 8 or 9 and looked to have light brown hair.

    “The girl very politely spoke up, ‘Ma’am, can we please come inside and use your phone to call our mom?’ As she spoke something in the pit of my stomach was telling me something was wrong. What kid, even at that age doesn’t have a cell phone of their own these days? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had anybody asked to use my home phone. “Um… hun, don’t you have a phone of your own you can call your mom on?” I asked. This was when things really got weird. Both kids turned to look at one another like they were going to say something to one another, but neither spoke. They both turned back to me and the girl said, ‘Ma’am, my cell phone battery doesn’t have any charge left in it. Can we please come inside and call our mother? We’re alone out here and my brother is scared.’

    “I have to admit there were two competing feelings going on inside me. The first, that of a mother’s heart that wanted to help these two small children get to their mom. The other, a sinking fear in my gut that was keeping the other feeling at bay. It was then I noticed that during the short conversation I’d already opened the door a few extra inches which I was completely unaware of doing. I stopped. “Honey, why don’t you give me your mother’s number and I can call her myself.” Another pause and they again looked at one another. After a short moment, they turned back to me and the girl said, ‘Ma’am, my little brother has to use your bathroom. Can we please come inside while you call our mom?’ And with that last statement the little girl moved closer toward the door like she was going to just walk on in by me.

    “As she did, she stepped into the light coming from inside the house and I got my first real good look at her. Solid, jet black eyes – that’s all I could see. That motherly instinct was gone and replaced by terror I don’t think I’ve ever felt in my life. I could feel every hair on my arms and back of my neck standing at attention. I closed the door to where just my face was able to stick out. The little girl stopped and again pleaded, “Please Ma’am we’re really scared and alone out here. We HAVE to come inside. Please help us!” Then, like on cue, both kids began to whimper and cry.

    “That’s when the fear took over and I shut and locked the door. “I’ll call your mom if you give me the number,” I shouted through the door, ‘but I’m not letting you in my house!’ I could still see them stand there on the porch, just staring at me thru the beveled glass pane. Part of me wanted to run upstairs to my husband, but the bigger part didn’t want to lose track of where they were. That would have freaked me out even more to not know where they were.

    “After what seemed like forever, but probably only a few seconds, I decided I’d call my neighbor that lives across the street. As I made my way to the side table by our couch to my phone, I glanced at the back door – Chloe was nowhere to be found. We later found her in the guest room under the bed. When I got to my phone and started to look for his contact information, it was only then the kids stepped away from the door and began to walk to the street.

    “As they did, I walked to the door to get a better look to see where they went, still not calling my neighbor. If you get close enough to the glass you can see out enough to make out peep hole shapes, but you can see much detail. Of course, standing that close to the door would make you pretty obvious to anyone outside looking in. From the door, I could see that the kids were still standing under the streetlamp nearest my house, staring at me. As I lifted the phone to my ear after calling, only then did the kids start walking down our street. I met my neighbor out under the lamp once he was out there, but the kids were nowhere to be seen.

    “Like I said, I don’t believe in any of this stuff and had never even heard about black eyed kids before talking to my friend. What I really think (what I have to think) is these kids were just out yanking people’s chains on Halloween night. But I will say this for them, they were good. Really good at it. They scared the s… out of me AND my dog! 

“3. ‘You must let me in.’ 

“On March 17, 2008 I had my one and only encounter with a black-eyed kid. Before my experience I had never heard of anything having to do with the black-eyed kids. I was 12. I was sitting outside of a hairdresser’s salon in an old Chevy pickup waiting for my mom to get her hair cut. About 15 minutes had passed and I saw some kid walking back and forth along the sidewalk in front of my parked car. At first, I thought I recognized him as one of my friends from school so I banged on the front windshield until he looked my way. It was not anyone I knew. At this point I was not scared at all. Not yet. The boy walked over to the side of my car and just stared at me. I think to let me get a good look at his eyes. To freak me out. Let me tell you.

    “If you have never seen a black eyed kid… you have no idea what to imagine. Pupils black as the night sky. The boy whispers “You must let me in” and then I locked the car doors and ducked down into the space below the seats. Five minutes later he was gone. When my mother got into the car she told me a boy with black eyes had come into the hairdressers and insisted for my mother to give him the keys to the car. She refused……thank God she did. 

“4. Trick or treat? 

“This really freaked me out… Yesterday I noticed my neighbor hadn’t put out all his Halloween deco-rations/lights/etc. The past two years I’ve lived next to him he’s gone all out for Halloween. I don’t know him well, he’s younger, single, but I know he likes kids (not in a creepy way). His brother and sister-in-law and their kids are always visiting him and he plays with his three young nieces and nephews out in the yard. So anyway, I got home from work and was walking up my driveway and I saw him outside and said something like ‘Hey man, you better get your Halloween stuff up or that house up the street is going to beat you for best decorations.’ He kind of smiles sheepishly and says that he’s actually going to keep his house dark this year and just put candy out. I asked if he was going out of town, but he said no, something happened last year that really scared him.

    “Now I was concerned for my own safety if some weirdos were coming around our neighborhood (which is a pretty safe neighborhood with tons of young families living here), so I asked him what happened. He said last year he had his brother’s family over so they could trick-or-treat in the neighborhood since they live in an apartment complex that doesn’t do much for Halloween. He had a bunch of kids come to the door like always. His family took off around 10:30 and there were only a few older trick-or-treaters, but by 11:30 they were pretty much done. So, he was inside, watching TV and the doorbell rings. He grabs the candy bowl and heads over, noticing that it’s a little past midnight and that’s pretty rude for trick-or-treaters to still be out, but then notices he hasn’t turned off all his decoration lights yet, so his house is still a beacon. He swings the door open and is about to yell ‘BOO!’ or something to freak them out, but stops dead when he sees the kids at the door.

   “He said one was probably around 13-14 and the other around 16-17 (both boys). They weren’t dressed up, but he remembers the older one was wearing a flannel checkered shirt. He was immediately overcome with uneasiness, like opening the door was a huge mistake. They just stared at him and he noticed they had really big irises and dilated pupils. He couldn’t even see the whites of their eyes, so he figured they were contact lenses. He was frozen there holding the candy bowl, like he couldn’t slam the door in their face as much as he wanted to. So, he nervously tried to smile at them hoping they would ‘break character’ and ask for candy or something. The younger one said they had gotten lost and needed to come in and use his phone. That was when he closed the door more than halfway on them and said ‘No, sorry’ and the older one said something like ‘Can we just wait in your house until our parents come get us?’ but by then he was convinced that his life was in danger and these kids must be high on something or intending to rob him and he just kept mumbling ‘No, sorry, goodnight’ as he inched the door closed and locked it.

    “He told me he was so scared at that point that they were going to try to break in through one of his windows or something, but he looked through the peephole and they had turned to leave. He watched TV with the volume really low so he could hear any sounds at all and he said he stayed up till like 5 am because he was too scared to go to bed and drop his guard. The whole time he’s telling me this I’m thinking oh my god, this sounds so familiar, just like the Black-eyed kids urban legend. Then I thought hey, maybe this dude is trying to scare me because after all, he does have the Halloween spirit…so I’m looking at him incredulously but trying not to seem too gullible. So, I’m like ‘Man, that is really crazy, sounds like the Black-eye kids.’ He just looks at me blankly, ‘The what, is that a movie or something?’ and I said no, but told him to go look it up online.        

    “Like an hour later I get a knock on my door (and admittedly, almost jump out of my skin thinking it’s a demon child). It was my neighbor and his eyes were freaking huge. He swears to me up and down that he had never heard of the BEKs before and it’s so similar to what happened to him. So, we talked awhile longer and I told him that quite a few people probably know about that urban legend and it’s possible it was just teenagers with black scleral contacts trying to freak people out on Halloween (which would be genius, by the way). But he said the fear he felt was so primal and came over him the second he opened the door for them. 

“5. Every story I’ve read about them is from someone who already knew about them. 

“Last night was like any other night, I was switching between listening to music and watching youtube videos with one headphone in so I can hear my infant daughter if she cries, that way my wife can get a full night’s sleep (she works at 4am at the hospital every day). When I decide to go lay down in the spare bed in the baby’s room.

    “Just as I dosed off I heard a thumping coming from the front porch, startled at first I open my eyes wide and scan the room. Realizing it was most likely my cat scratching himself on the front porch I dozed back off. Then again, the thumping. “Damn cat” I got out of bed to run him off the porch only to see he wasn’t there any more, now that I was up again I wasn’t the least bit tired. I figured I’ll just get some tea and check Facebook while I’m up, maybe finish the web series I was watching on youtube and a few minutes into the video I felt the sudden urge to look up at the kitchen window, there they were, the tops of two short statured peoples’ heads cresting the stairs just above my window frame. The people were just short enough to not see in the window but I could see out. I heard no footsteps on my porch as my stomach turned, but the knock, the knock was a steady hollow thump. The very same thump I had just blamed on my cat. Deciding it was best not to answer I shut my laptop and crept by the door back to the baby’s room.

    “I assumed it was some of the people from the low-income housing across the road from me that were high or hiding from the cops or maybe looking for my cousin who stays with me often and has many friends over there. The last thing I needed was to try to explain to two stoners that I was trying to sleep even though it was 2am.

    “It wasn’t until I got to my daughter’s room that the creepiness set in. The thump had moved from the kitchen to the bedroom windows, both windows, a room apart thumping in perfect time. These stoners were going to wake up my daughter if I didn’t run them off now. Pissed off I went out to the kitchen, unlocked and opened the door ready to run around to the side of the house and kick some little idiots’ ass.

    “It happened then, standing there looking up at me were two 10 or 11- year-old boys. The feeling of dread and the smell of mold almost made me vomit. The smaller of the two then spoke ‘May we use your telegraph?’ Huh? I just stared blankly at these boys, horrified of what I then realized. Their eyes were pitch black. He asked again to use my ‘telegraph.’

    “There wasn’t a sound to be heard no crickets chirping, no dogs barking, no cars driving by. Nothing. I tried to play it cool and ignore the fact that he didn’t say telephone, or phone, or cell. Anything that would have made any sense of the situation and calmly replied “I don’t have service at my house sorry.” The expressions on their faces turned to rage as I finished my sentence. Swiftly I shut the door and locked it as quickly as I could, then stumbled back to protect my daughter. I picked her up from her crib and held her close, the fact that she didn’t wake up freaked me out the most but I managed to gather my senses enough to make sure she was still breathing and warm, everything seemed okay with her.

   “The thumping on the windows was back, I dropped to the floor as close to the wall as I could and held my little girl in my arms and wept like a child. I felt helpless and afraid. I lay there for what felt like hours and hours crying and shaking until I heard it, my wife’s alarm clock. The thumping stopped the instant the alarm went off and I crept into the master bedroom with the baby. ‘What’s wrong with you?’ My wife asked… ‘I just had a bad dream’ Is all I could mutter out. ‘okay well give me the baby so I can feed her before work.’ I handed my wife the baby and she fed her like any normal day. I turned on every light in the house and made coffee for her. For some reason just having her awake calmed my nerves enough to pretend like nothing happened. I walked her out to the car nervously with the baby in my arms. I asked her not to leave until I walked back in the house. She was put off by the request but did so to humor me. Once I was safely in the house, I locked the door again, and in the house. I sat horrified until she got home. I insisted we go to the next town over and stay the weekend at my brother’s house… and here I sit horrified while she sleeps in the guest room with my daughter. Wondering why they stopped when the alarm went off. I think I know the answer. I was aware of BEKs, she wasn’t. Every story I’ve read about them is from someone who already knew about them. Maybe, Just maybe knowledge of them existing is the only reason they visit. 

“6. ‘No. You won’t be calling anybody.’

“The incident took place about 13 years ago. I had just moved to a new city with my wife. We were small town newlyweds from the Midwest. We moved cross country to one of the biggest cities in the Southwest so I could attend graduate school. Being naive and new to city living, I habitually answered the door without a second thought. Never again after this.         

    “The first thing that should have tipped me off to the peculiarity of this situation was the fact that someone was knocking at 6:00 in the morning. The second thing that should have dawned on me is this kid had to reach over a rather tall patio gate to unlatch and open it.

    “The knock at the door was startling. My wife and I were getting ready for work, a pretty normal routine. The moment I opened the door, I was overtaken with an inexplicable sense of fear. To this day, I can picture him. Teenager, average height, average build, knee length black leather coat, short black hair and sunglasses. The sunglasses at 6:00 a.m. struck me as odd and even more odd, he was eating an apple. He was very polite and asked if he could come in and warm up. I said, “No”, closed the door and slid the security chain in to place. A moment later, another knock. I opened the now chained door, and before I could speak, he asked again if he could come in and warm up. ‘NO!’ I reply and attempted to close the door. Before the door could shut, he put his hand out stopping the door on its hinges. He looked directly in to my eyes, still wearing his sunglasses, and said, ‘Can I at least get some ketchup for my apple?’ I reply, albeit a little confused. ‘Get the hell outta here! My wife is calling the police!’ He takes a moment to let this information sink in, lowers his glasses, revealing eyes as black as obsidian and says, ‘No. You won’t be calling anybody.’ At that moment I force the door closed, lock it, and call out to my wife, she is scared shitless hiding in the bedroom. All jacked up on adrenalin, I rip the curtains back to look out the window next to the door. He’s gone. Absolutely no trace of him. I go out on the patio and check the gate, it’s still latched from the inside. That was messed up, I think to myself and as I turn to enter the house. I notice a half-eaten apple lying on the ground.

“7. I was having a visceral experience all over my body.

   “I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t know about Black Eyed Kids before this happened to me, late summer last year. I definitely did. Now, in the moment, that idea never crossed my mind. But afterward? Hell yes. And the thought lead to all kinds of regret I realize is stupid, but I am getting ahead of myself.

   “Let me tell you about my neighborhood. I live in a poor part of town. A bit ghetto, a bit of the barrio, a bit of the lower economic class of a cross-section of races. It’s L.A. The apartment complex spans a short block, it’s dusty brown like the desert we live in. It’s got two pools, lots of little Mexican children and, for the most part, a pretty friendly population.

    “I am a destitute writer trying to make it in Hollywood, so I spend my free time writing. When this happened, I was working mostly in the mornings and afternoons. I would get home, hit the gym and then settle in for an evening in front of the computer.

    “It’s pretty common for the evenings in the summer to be chaotic around our apartment complex. Kids playing in the pool, the ice-cream man pushing his cart up and down the sidewalk, women talking outside the laundry-room (hey, I do my own laundry, but I am pretty much the only guy I see here doing it). You know. Nice. Low-income but pleasant. Like a mixed-race 21st Century version of a Fifties Sitcom.        

    “And people will knock on your door. Sometimes to borrow something. I cook, so neighbors pop by to find out the origins of the great aromas wafting from my kitchen window.

    “Sometimes for a little help working on a broken-down car. But mostly kids are selling candy bars or Christmas wrapping paper. Or jittery tweakers selling magazine subscriptions. Or old Mexican men selling bootleg DVD’s. LOTS of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

    “Because it’s hot out I leave my windows open (A.C. isn’t cheap and I’ve got no money, remember?) hoping for the cross breeze. That means, though I can’t see anyone from where I sit and work, I can hear them very clearly as they walk up to my door.

    “When I hear someone knock, I answer it. Besides buying the occasional candy bar, I smile, politely decline, wish them a nice day and send them off. No big deal.

    “That evening it was quiet. Which was strange in and of itself. I should at least have been able to hear the distant sound of Ranchero music. I heard a couple of people walk up to my door. I am not the first apartment in my courtyard, so usually I hear the salespeople as they knock on my neighbors’ doors and work their way around to me. Not this time. Whoever it was walked right up to my door and knocked.

    “I got up to answer it, reaching for the door handle when a chill went through my body like I have never experienced. A cold tightness in my chest. I halted my hand movement towards the door handle and placed it flat on the door as if I

was feeling for heat from a fire. I have a peephole on my door, but it never crossed my mind to use it. I stood there with my hand flat on the door and listened. They knocked again.

    “I don’t scare easy. And I wasn’t exactly afraid, but I was having a visceral experience all over my body. A base, fear reaction. Just like I could hear them, they had heard me move to the door. They knew I was inside.

    “‘Yes?’ I said, “Who is it?” A boy’s voice answered. ‘We need to use your phone.’ ‘Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.’ I started laughing. I stress laugh, when I am in pain or under pressure. They heard me laughing. And neither of us moved for about a minute or two. A really, really, long minute or two.

    “Finally, they walked away. Not to any of the other of the eight doorways within fifteen feet. Not to ask anyone else. Before they could have gone more than a dozen yards, curiosity reasserted itself and I yanked the door open, running after them to see who it was and where they were headed. The courtyard of my complex was completely empty.          

    “Afterwards, I thought the experience fit the stories about Black Eyed Kids and I kicked myself for not opening the door. Coming face-to-face with Black-Eyed Kids? How cool would that have been? But then I remember that feeling, my skin crawling and the certain knowledge in me at that moment, there was no way in hell I was opening that door at the time.

“8. He told me to never agree to help them.

“It was a cold October evening, not too far off from Hallo-ween. I remember sitting in my room, playing the original Suikoden. The evening was slowly creeping by so I decided to go to the corner store. It was only 3 blocks, shouldn’t be much trouble right.

    “During my walk I see the normal. The occasional person putting up Halloween decorations and kids playing in their yards, but this story is about something far more sinister. I remember seeing two teens about age 14, knocking on a door asking to use the phone, which of course I thought was weird because most teens these days have phones. As I kept walking, they stopped and stared at me for a short moment. I felt the blood in veins chill. I felt so creeped out I hurried to the next block. The next block seemed fine, until I looked behind me and saw the two teens were following me. I took off sprinting to the store at this point.       

    “I saw the sign for the store, and relief washed over me. I opened the door, and I told the cashier about what happened on the way here. He looked at me slightly creeped out, and told me a story about this happening to him in his hometown and how they found him the day he left, and asked for his help, in an emotionless voice, and he told me to never agree to help.

    “He told me another story, but at that point I was no longer paying attention because they were standing at the door asking to be let in. The cashier freaked out, and locked the door.

    “The teens never seem to waver or leave. They wouldn’t step away from the door. It had been an hour. The cashier and I were ready to fight our way out, but instead he took me out the back. The one teen came around the back just as the door shut behind us.

    “Can you help me is all he could say. He was closing in on us, and his eyes. They were black as a starless night. They were peering right into my soul. I couldn’t help but gaze into his eyes. The terror, I can’t remember too much of what happened next, but I do recall the sounds of struggle.

    “When I came too, the cashier was struggling with both teens. He was calling out to me for help. I ran towards them, grabbed him by his collar and pulled him between the two, and knocking them over in the process. I didn’t look back until I was near my house, the cashier was gone but the teens were still following behind. I ran into my house, closed all the blinds, and turned the music up.

   “I got lucky that day, but I’m not sure how long I can keep out of their grasp. I tried to find and thank the cashier for saving my life that day, but he didn’t show up to work after that. I asked his boss, and he told me he called over the phone and quit. He said he was moving.

    “To this very day I sometimes feel the fear of those eyes watching me as I drive to work. I sometimes will look out my window and swear I see them watching my house from a couple blocks away. Waiting for their next chance.” (Stockton, 2019)

“Are Black-Eyed Kids real??? 

“There is good reason to suspect black eyed children are a real phenomena. The original sighting in 1996 was by a newspaper reporter whose interest in telling the story of what he experienced was more out of curiosity than fame-seeking. To this day he maintains that the story happened the way he originally told it.

“There are also many, many independent eyewitness accounts spread out through multiple countries who have described similar experiences. They corroborate each other with the same M.O. the children have: pale appearance with all black eyes, appearing in twos or threes, clothing style out of date, needing to gain access to the witness’ vehicle or home.

“It’s also important to keep in mind that the black-eyed kids story isn’t *that* phenomenal. If someone were making up a story, they might try harder to make it more interesting or fantastical. The situations described seem creepy — but not like the plot of a horror movie. Just an everyday situation with some kids in it that seem strange” (Stockton, 2019).

    Other reports of terrifying episodes involved a man’s life being saved by his girlfriend when she showed up and kicked out the black-eyed kids.  He said it felt like his soul was being sucked out of his body. Another report involved the black-eyed kids standing on someone’s balcony. Guiley and Paul in Haunted Hills and Hollows: What Lucks in Greene County, Pennsylvania report various episodes in which people have seen black eyed children and actually adults. Two were in a car behind a man named Justin. When he looked in the rearview mirror, the woman with black holes for eyes was pointing. Justin also experienced seeing a man with black holes in his face holding a phone box and he also saw a black-eyed child. Guiley and Paul featured a book cover of a book written by David Weatherly and the title of his book was Black Eyed Children: They Reside on the Fringes of the Paranormal: Are They a Diabolical Threat or They an Urban Legend? Many reports have existed associated with seeing this strange phenomenon (Stockton, 2019).

    They usually travel in pairs or three and their ages ranged from 6 to 16. They have been known to have worn hoodies and their clothes appear to be outdated.  Some people have reported seeing black eyed adults, also. Most circumstances involved children. The black-eyed children will ask for entry into vehicles or homes pleading that they need assistance such as a ride or use the person’s phone to contact their mothers. They will say it will only take a little while. Enough reports exist to question their existence.