BEK - Black Eyed Kids

Black-eyed children

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Full Issue: BLACK-EYED KIDS #11

The sort of eyes one sees these days on aliens or bargain-basement vampires on late night television. Soulless orbs like two great swathes of starless night. As Bethel rolled up his window, one of the boys banged on the glass, saying "we can't come in unless you tell us it's OK. Bethel isn't the only person with a creepy tale involving black eyed children.

The internet is full of similar stories. Reddit user sarabeth11 says she was sitting alone in her family room when there was a light knock at the front door.

Two young children were outside - a girl who looked about 11 and a boy who was roughly nine. 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," Sara says. I closed the door to where just my face was able to stick out. We HAVE to come inside. Obviously this photo isn't entirely real. Another reddit user, aptly named nosleep , also claims to have encountered black eyed children on her doorstep. She said 'We have to use your phone. If we wanted to do that, we would have broken in. May we come in and use your phone?

It wasn't a physical pulling so much as a subconscious need to go back and let them in. The reddit user says she didn't go back to sleep that night and hasn't slept right since.

The Black Eyed Children by David Weatherly

Of course, the internet is full of people claiming to have seen ghosts, aliens and, even more implausibly, Elvis Presley alive and breathing. Nobody has explained what these supposed black eyed children are, or why they knock on people's doors at night. But on the off chance that these creepy kids are real, we're betting you don't want to meet one. Other natural explanations have included the condition mydriasis, dilation of the pupils, which can be caused by various drugs or trauma or other things.

The Black Eyed Kids

A few authors have proposed that the strange, almost mechanical behavior of the kids might be consistent with having taken drugs that may produce mydriasis. I found this to be an even worse explanation than the contact lens hoax. First it's purely hypothetical. I couldn't find any example of drugs that produce both mydriasis and mechanical behavior of wanting to be given admittance to a house or car.

Second, eyes with dilated pupils don't look anything like eyes with an entirely black sclera. But let us return to one of our most important skeptical mantras: With the literature devoid of any testable, non-anecdotal evidence that black eyed kids actually exist, we must consider the possibility that its origin is folklore. This can be pretty hard to establish, since finding an early folkloric account doesn't necessarily prove that something wasn't also happening in the real world somewhere.

Researchers have looked into this, and have not come up empty handed. Tales of black eyed kids are found widespread on the Internet and in paranormal books, but only from about and forward. The earliest published account that anyone's been able to find was posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt. He also posted the same story a month later in alt. Bethel's original account was lengthy, but here's a heavily edited overview:. I drove by the theater on the way into the center proper and pulled into an empty parking space.

Using the glow of the marquee to write out my check, I was startled to hear a knock on the driver's-side window of my car.

See a Problem?

I looked over and saw two children staring at me from [the] street Both were boys, and my initial impression was that they were somewhere between I rolled down the window very, very slightly and asked "Yes? His teeth were very, very white. We have a problem," he said His command of language was incredible and he showed no signs of fear.

He spoke as if my help was a foregone conclusion And we're just two little boys. Something in the tone and diction again sent off alarm bells We can't get in your car until you do, you know," the spokesman said soothingly For the first time, I noticed their eyes.

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They were coal black. Just two staring orbs reflecting the red and white light of the marquee. At that point, I know my expression betrayed me I ripped the car into reverse thank goodness no one was coming up behind me and tore out of the parking lot. I noticed the boys in my peripheral vision, and I stole a quick glance back. Bethel has maintained his story, giving every indication that it was a factual account.

But he also gave us an interesting insight into the reason he may have posted it. On the very same day, he made another lengthy post to alt.

Bethel posed the question of whether such an imagined entity might actually become real, driven by the belief of enough people. Then I thought to myself: What a situation ripe for a spontaneous expression of magick. The method by which the necessary reality shift would be accomplished is the fear the story and the imagined? So, can we create something like Mary just by collective force of will? If not just childhood legends why not gods and goddesses as well?

Are they all just expressions of enough collective reality shifts? Or can they somehow exist on their own? And then, that same evening, Bethel posted his black eyed kids account. Put the two ideas together, the proposal of creating a new urban legend with a tale of mysterious black eyed children, and we have a perfectly plausible explanation for the phenomenon besides it actually being a real thing. Of course we can't presume to know what was in Bethel's head; but we can make a reasonable guess. So until someone dive-tackles a black eyed kid and calls the police, or lets one into his home and gives him a good video interview, I'm going to hold off buying into this particular urban legend.

And to the originator of this tale, whosoever he might be, I say: Well crafted, sir, well crafted. Please contact us with any corrections or feedback. Skeptoid Media, 15 Apr Museum of Hoaxes, 6 Aug.

What are Black-eyed Children?

Chris Lavergne, 14 Nov. Skeptoid Media, 15 Jan. Rights and reuse information.

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