Tales of the Black-Eyed People

I have my favorite UFO, esoteric/Fortean/cryptid stories, like Bigfoot-UFO accounts, Lizard Men tales, Mothman and MIBS. The glowing, talking raccoon that Dr. Kary Mullis encountered in 1983 is one of my favorite stories. Shadow people are interesting, and I've even had my own brief sighting of what I call a shadow person (something woke me up; I looked around, and a fleeting movement of something humanoid/bipedal and black, darker than the surrounding dim of the room, moving quickly through the air. It was somewhat transparent, about two feet tall. It really unnerved me) but the shadow people phenomenon doesn't scare me or intrigue me as much as other phenomenon.

But one that scares the hell out of me and grabs my deep interest are the stories of "black eyed" people. I first learned about the black-eyed people in the March-April issue of Nexus magazine. Reading Jason Offutt's Invasion of the Black-Eyed Children article was good, clean, scary Fortean fun. (Of course, I don't know how much "fun" encountering one of the people (entities?) would be; does not seem "fun" at all.)

Offutt has more on black-eyed people on his blog From the Shadows, about encounters in Texas and Nebraska.

Stephen Wagner has a few different accounts of witnesses encountering these creepy and eerie black-eyed people.

One witness account Wagner posted, from "Missy," describes the black-eyed person she saw in a Starbuck's. The description sounds like a MIB:

I should note here: I did not see anything unusual in his manner of dress. Jeans, black shirt, lightweight black jacket, (no hat, no overcoat) not unusual dress. His hair was almost black, but didn't look any darker than my boyfriend's hair (boyfriend is of Japanese descent). His skin tone was a bit olive and pale but not overly so. It was the eyes and the aura, coming off of him that scared me.

However, "Missy" goes on to say this person, or being, was decidedly malevolent. From reading other accounts of black-eyed people, they don't seem to be MIBS, not entirely anyway.

Stephen Wagner writes about a weird bit of synchronicity involving correspondence with a friend in Australia and black-eyed people.

Most of the witnesses seem to say that they were convinced the black-eyed "people" they saw weren't human. They may look human -- except for the eyes of course -- dress like humans, though often wearing either all or mostly black, but something about their overall vibe is not human. The black-eyed people seen by witnesses are both men and women. Wagner wonders what they are; are they just humans with unusually dark eyes, due to drug use, a medical condition perhaps?

Offutt writes that black-eyed people are usually:

. . .  children to young adults who use language and assertiveness that would seem to be beyond their means. But the most common thread is their eyes; black, without iris or whites, and dead like a Hollywood vampire’s.

Both Offutt and Wagner discuss the overwhelming fear witnesses experience when meeting these black-eyed entities, and the intense waves of malevolence coming off these beings.

Comparisons to both MIBs and the bug-eyed grays are understandable. The black eyed people seem to have characteristics of both. MIB type beings have been around in folklore for a very long time, predating what we commonly call the "UFO era," or, say, post WWII UFOs. (for example, see William Bramley's Gods of Eden.)  UFOs in classical art has long been a subject of interest; and here's an interesting figure in Botticelli's 1475 painting Adoration of the Magi, painted for the Medicis, shown below in full:

 Here's an inset of the painting, showing the small white or white clothed being with large black eyes, or black covered eyes, complete with black cape-like clothing and black hat:

Who knows what they are, demons, aliens, mind controlled humans... whatever they are, it's a mystery, and a downright scary one. Like other stories that are downright weird, the one thing that always has me coming back for more is the consistency and fact of the tale. In other words, as unusual as stories of black-eyed people are, (and other tales, like MIBS, Bigfoot-UFOs, reptilians, etc.) we come across these stories over and over. There are dozens of accounts like this, with the same characteristics, which is fascinating. And, creepy.