Black-Eyed Kids and Arthur Machen

Black-Eyed Kids or BEK, first reported in 1998, are an urban legend kind of myth, one that has quietly and steadily gained momentum in forums, blogs and all kinds of internet hangouts.

What are BEK you ask? Well, in true campfire horror story, they appear at night, and knock on your door, or car window, demanding that you let them in, to use a phone or get a ride or whatever. They get frustrated when they are not let in, and insist that they be let in. Witnesses describe an eerie feeling emanating from the kids, helped of course by their huge, completely black eyes.

So that’s it. A full report here, some ideas here, and an account here.

It is archetypal, and sounds a lot like trolling, but, what if it isn’t?
And from that assumption, let’s move on to an interesting question: all reports come from people who did not let the BEK in, although they felt a strong urge to do so.
There are no reports from people who actually let the kids in. I for one could not find any.
So, hasn’t anyone let them in? And, if they did, what happened to them?
Maybe nothing happened, or maybe SOMETHING happened. But what?
I am afraid we just don’t have enough info.

All this reminds me of a short story by Arthur Machen called The Children of the Pool. The reason I remember it is that it has been etched on my mind ever since I read it, some twenty years ago. The story is eerily simple and akin to the BEK story: A Welsh myth of teenage children, the Plant y pwll, or Children of the Pool, hang around a waterhole with bad vibes, and are offensive to passers by, know intimate details about their life, and later appear at their home demanding to be heard.

The similarities are not many, the story does not report anything about black eyes, and it could be all fiction, but somehow I doubt it. Machen wrote about the paranormal as if he had witnessed it, and all his stories ring true, to my ears at least. He has written another story in which he uses the “weird children” theme but I cannot recall the title.
All I am trying to say, maybe this BEK thing is not as new as everyone thinks.
What if they are here, and have been here for a long time? Would we notice?