Field Notes From The Unknown: Hello, I'm Casey. And I'm Mackenzie. And this is Field Notes from the Unknown, a podcast about your favorite local cryptid. Casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: Hello Casey, good evening. Casey: Good evening. How are you? Mackenzie Hrubey: I'm good. I'm good. It's good to see you. have you gotten used to the time change? Casey: It's honestly didn't affect me too much because I feel like I get an hour extra hour when I really don't, but honestly I think we just need to get rid of the time change. Like it's I don't think we need to do it anymore. Mackenzie Hrubey: I think it's a completely outdated, ridiculous thing that we do. Casey: Extremely outdated. But Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. And even though it's supposed to be lighter in the morning when I get up, it's actually harder to get up. Casey: Yeah. Yeah, no. It's not affecting me too much. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Well, Casey: But Mackenzie Hrubey: that's a good thing. we are a little late this week, but I have a really Casey: We are Mackenzie Hrubey: spooky one to make up for it. Casey: Ooh, I'm excited. You know what? It's okay. We're late, it happens. We have a life. Mackenzie Hrubey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And over here in Cryptid Land, you know, just 'cause we're past Halloween doesn't mean we're not in the Halloween spirit. Casey: True. I'm still there. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. The house is still decorated for Halloween, so I you know, I won't decorate for Christmas. We're gonna go straight from Halloween into Christmas, and that's gonna be the weekend after Thanksgiving. Casey: I am not decorating for Christmas until probably the first week in December. Mackenzie Hrubey: That's perfect. You know what? Have your boundaries. Casey: Yeah. Last year I did it too soon and I took the Christmas tree down the day of Christmas. I was so fucking sick of it. Mackenzie Hrubey: So I keep mine up until Saint Patrick's Day, truly. I do. Casey: You keep yours up year round, what are you talking about? Do you put up another tree? Mackenzie Hrubey: I just yeah, usually I put one in the office where I'm at and then I put I keep the one in there. But I'm gonna re theme it obviously for versus, you know, Halloween I'm gonna theme it to to Yule. Casey: Well yeah, but I don't really count the tree in your living room as a Christmas tree because it's a seasonal year round tree. Mackenzie Hrubey: I'll probably put the other tree behind me in this kind of area so it can be semi like on recording kind of thing. That I think will be the the dream. Yeah. Casey: Ooh, that would be cute. Yeah, I'm not putting a tree out here for you guys. Unfortunately, this is what you get. Mackenzie Hrubey: That's okay. That's perfect and we love it. Casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Are you ready to get into our cryptid story today? Casey: I'm so ready for a spooky spooky cryptid story. Mackenzie Hrubey: Alright, so I'm gonna set the scene a little bit. Are you ready? Casey: I'm ready. Mackenzie Hrubey: Buckle in and get on your comfort vest and like make sure that there's lights on because this is a little terrifying, okay? Casey: Should I shut my lights off? Mackenzie Hrubey: If you want. I personally have three candles lit plus multiple lights. Casey: I just have one light. I'm okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: All right. The year was nineteen ninety six. Journalist Brian Bethel had just finished his shift at the newspaper for the day. Casey: And I was just a year old. Mackenzie Hrubey: I was too. Casey: Well, maybe. It de maybe. Yeah. No, I would have been Mackenzie Hrubey: What do you mean maybe? Casey: I would have been one, yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Casey: Yes, yes, yes. Mackenzie Hrubey: Alright. So Brian was in his car filling out a check to the cable company when he felt the eerie sensation of the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to stand on end. It's that primordial sense that we've retained from our ancestors who lived day in, day out in the wild and needed to know when they were being stalked, when they were being hunted. Casey: Hunted. Mackenzie Hrubey: It's a completely natural response, an instinct even. It's our brain telling us that we are in the presence of a predator. Suddenly on edge and hyperaware, Brian looked up from his checkbook and began to scan his surroundings. And out of the corner of his eye, there they were. They had approached the car absolutely silently in the pitch blackness, and were standing now, beside his driver's side door, illuminated by the not quite bright enough street light. It was a group of teenagers, and one of them Tapped. on Brian's window. And he lowered it just a crack, just enough to hear the request. Hey mister, can you give us a ride to my mom's house? We need to get money to go see a movie. Casey: Hey, kid that Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Casey: just came out of the forest. I'm sorry. Mackenzie Hrubey: Ha ha ha ha. Casey: Go back to which you came. Mackenzie Hrubey: And like on the surface, that's an innocent enough request, right? Casey: No it's not. Mackenzie Hrubey: I mean, keep in mind, this is like rural Texas in the 90s. So like that's not crazy unusual. Casey: Would you go up to a stranger's car and be like, Hey man? Mackenzie Hrubey: not now. Not anymore. But back then maybe. Casey: I wouldn't do it back then. Mackenzie Hrubey: Like back then we didn't have like the parental paranoia that we have now about like stranger danger and everything. And like I don't know, back then, especially in rural Texas, I think Casey: You can't tell me. Back in the day they had so many serial killers. Mackenzie Hrubey: They didn't know that though. the criminal mines hadn't become popular yet. Suspend your disbelief. Suspend your disbelief. Casey: Okay. I'm suspending my disbelief, but I am looking something up. Mackenzie Hrubey: Neighbors helped neighbors. But there was something a little unusual on this night. The children spoke in voices that weren't quite right. They were a little too old sounding, and they were a little bit too formal. And the movie that they were saying that they were about to go see, well, the movie was Mortal Kombat, and it already started playing at the theater. At the end of the strip mall, shared by the newspaper, about forty five minutes previous to the time when the teens knocked upon Brian's window. So Casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: as Brian nervously considered their request, it suddenly clicked to him. The source of his ever growing anxiety became suddenly apparent. And at first he was just alarmed, but that disquiet turned into terror because the kids, their eyes, their eyes were completely, solidly, terribly black. Blacker Casey: She Mackenzie Hrubey: than the night. Casey: the kids are the serial killers. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes. Casey: What I was looking up was when was John Wayne Gacy active and when was Ted Bundy active. The this encounter happened years after they were caught, so Mackenzie Hrubey: All right, well maybe your kids aren't black eyed kids. Casey: They could be. Mackenzie Hrubey: I'm just waiting for you to notice the four different lollipops that I'm eating today. Casey: I hope you know that I noticed Mackenzie Hrubey: Mm-hmm. Casey: the caramel apple one and then you brought up the ring pop. Mackenzie Hrubey: The ring pops. Casey: And I want you to know that because I'm so used to this, Mackenzie Hrubey: Whoa! Casey: it doesn't faze me anymore. Why do you have so many? Mackenzie Mackenzie Hrubey: I just wanted to see if you would notice. What? Casey: You haven't went to the dentist yet. Mackenzie Hrubey: Of course not. I don't go to dentists. Casey: You are eating four different types of sugary lollipops. Mackenzie Hrubey: My teeth are great. Look at them. Look at those. Casey: Not after that carmel Mackenzie? Mackenzie Hrubey: Look at those good old chompers. Casey: Go to the dentist. Mackenzie Hrubey: So back to Brian. So upon seeing the black eyed children for all of their spooky glory, Brian's fear grew into a fever pitch, and he wildly threw that car into reverse. He pulled out from the parking space and into the road, not even checking to see if his turn was clear. And when he looked back, the Casey: You hit one. Mackenzie Hrubey: children had just vanished, disappeared. Yep, just gone. But Casey: As quickly as they came out asking for money, they're just gone. Yeah, that's what was he doing? Mackenzie Hrubey: He was sitting in the he was after after his shift just writing a check to pay the cable company. It was just in his car. Casey: yeah, that's right. Mackenzie Hrubey: And then he was scared four days afterwards. He couldn't sleep for like two or three days. He was constantly waking up and checking his house and all his locked to make sure that no one was getting in, 'cause he was haunted by these things. And that was the first ever documented encounter, well, kind of like wildly documented public encounter with the phenomenon we now call the black eyed children or the black eyed kids. Casey: Interesting. Mackenzie Hrubey: So that is our topic today. Are you spooked? Casey: I am spooked. One, I don't want to come across these them at Mackenzie Hrubey: Mm-hmm. Casey: all. Because I don't know what would happen if you let one in. Mackenzie Hrubey: Well do you want to find out? Casey: Will we get there? Yeah, I do actually. I do. I do want to find out. Tell me. Tell me now. Mackenzie Hrubey: All right, all all right. So Bethel wrote down this encounter in the Abilene News Reporter in nineteen ninety six, which is a newspaper he wrote out. And that makes his encounter one of the first written encounters, but honestly, compared to other stories, he got out pretty unscathed. Casey: It wasn't a slow news day where he just made this up. Mackenzie Hrubey: I'm surprised at you being skeptic on our podcast. Casey: I know, I know. But Mackenzie Hrubey: Wow. Wow. Wow. I mean, it's possible, but we're gonna talk a little bit about the historical context and historical precedent for black eyed kids and culture. So hold on to your socks, Miss Ma'am. Casey: If I had socks on I would. Mackenzie Hrubey: Alright. And don't think that black eyed kids are just a thing of like the Texas Desert Desert Southwest either. because they're not. Are you ready for our next encounter? Casey: Do we have them here? Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, we sure do. In twenty fifteen, there was a married couple who was looking for a little winter getaway. They rented a cabin in upstate Vermont. I know. We need to go. Casey: We have to go. Mackenzie Hrubey: I know, one of your bucket list trips. Yeah. So it was becoming quite late at night. The couple were snowed in, and they were winding down for what was supposed to be a romantic evening inn. They had lit a fire and Snow was falling pretty considerably outside, and they had a dog that was curled up on the rug by their feet, when all of a sudden there was a knock on the door. And just like that, kind of like Brian's encounter, that unsettling, unnerving feeling began creeping up the backs of their necks that same primordial feeling that there was a predator. The couple went together and opened up the door to find a pair of children young children pale and underdressed for the blustery winter conditions outside. The entire encounter, only the eldest child of the two children spoke, and he said Hi, mister, can we please come inside to use your phone? Despite their no yeah, absolutely not. Yeah, you may not. Casey: No. Thank God we don't have landlines anymore. Mackenzie Hrubey: I know. Despite their growing unease, the couple felt they could not say no to two young kids in the dark and cold, clearly underdressed, who were probably lost, so they let the kids inside. Yeah. As soon Yeah. As soon as the children stepped inside, the power cut out. Like a switch had blown out. Casey: That's creepy. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Their dog freaked out, whimpered and Casey: As Mackenzie Hrubey: went d yeah, and bolted to the bedroom and hid under the bed. So some guard dog And the children sat. They didn't go to a phone, because of course the power was out. They sat down on the couch. Motionless, speechless, silent as death, and they never blinked. But as the couple realized that the children weren't blinking, they realized something else. The eyes. Casey: Eyes with Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. In the dim firelight, they realized that the children's eyes were black. and pupiless. As soon as the couple realized it and it kind of clicked in their minds, the kids stood up in unison and the eldest said, our parents are here. The husband was terrified, but somehow moving against his will, opened the door once again, and the children casually walked outside and walked into the snow and towards the dense woods, and as the couple were staring bewildered at these children leaving, they noticed a pair of tall, shadowy figures illuminated by the moon in the tree line. Casey: Our parents are here? What the fuck? Mackenzie Hrubey: And our our parents are here. And just like that, the power came back on. Now months later. Casey: So they don't they don't do anything. They're just fucking creepy. Mackenzie Hrubey: There's fucking creepy. But months later, the husband was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of skin cancer. And the wife simultaneously developed these chronic severe migraines that would be accompanied by these horrible nosebleeds. And doctors couldn't figure out why or what was going on. And the couple felt like it all Casey: I think Mackenzie Hrubey: went back to the black eyed kids. Casey: That's creepy. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Yeah. Casey: Do you think they're aliens? Mackenzie Hrubey: It's definitely a theory. I don't really believe in demons. I think I think demons are like really, really bad human spirits. I think they're either aliens or they're some kind of like land spirit in its most like evolved modern way. What do you think? Casey: I think it could be aliens or a very, very smart version of a not deer. Like not a not deer, but a different type of a not deer. Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Ha ha So there could also be something like maybe a vampire or just like a typical kind of monster thing because like they don't seem to be able to enter the house by themselves. You have to open the door for them or like consent to them coming in. Casey: Okay, but then you they get in the house and what do they do? They do they Mackenzie Hrubey: Sit there. Casey: ever are there ever reports of them coming back to the same house? Mm. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yes, there are. there are no reports of them attacking somebody physically, although to be fair, maybe we just never found out because if people got attacked. Casey: Would you really remember it if you did? Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Yeah. Casey: kinda alien induction at this point you're just having really weird, vivid dreams and you're like, hm Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. And it's hard to know because again, like black eyed kids in like the US discourse became a thing in the nineties and like early two thousands on like the internet forums. But it's possible that these are an embodiment of a much older source of evil. And there's another thought that black-eyed kids inhabit transitional spaces or spaces in between or like what we would call like a liminal space. Like they're entities from that area that are trying to keep you or like abduct you in that in-between stage. So they're almost like keeping you from progressing. Like they're like Casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: trapping you in that. Casey: Alright, I was thinking maybe it was a time slip Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Casey: and where they're at their normal. But but maybe they want to bring more into their world. So they come out here and it's almost like they're hunting. Mackenzie Hrubey: It could be. It's almost like they're feeding off of the fear. Casey: Like the hide behind. Mackenzie Hrubey: Or Monsters Incorporated. Casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: You really do We should watch it together. I it In any case, black eyed kids really do seem to get around. So there were Casey: And they're always kids, right? Mackenzie Hrubey: Usually. Casey: It's so weird. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, it's strange. It's like the it's like again, if we're going on the idea of the predator and they're there to suck your fear out, then they want to get to as close to you as possible, so it's gonna assume a form that is traditionally least scary to adults. Casey: Well, good thing I don't trust kids, so Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, honestly. Yeah. That's your saving grace. I'd I'd be screwed. Casey: Get out. Mackenzie Hrubey: There were sightings of five black eyed children in a group that were get this, dressed in yellow raincoats. Casey: So that was my question. The are they ever like in an old timey clothes or are they all just like in so many different types of versions and variations of clothing that it doesn't really matter? Mackenzie Hrubey: So modern reports typically are dressed in clothes that are disheveled or look like they're older than they ought to be, but not like crazy old. Not like Victorian wear. But like Casey: when are we gonna start seeing ghosts in Ug Boots? Mackenzie Hrubey: Soon. I would think now. Right about now. In fact Casey: I would Mackenzie Hrubey: what's up behind you? Casey: Is that a ghost and unboots? Mackenzie Hrubey: So the sighting of the of the children in yellow raincoats happened in Aisney A I S N E Aisney France Casey: Easy. Mackenzie Hrubey: in 1974. So it actually predates the 90s sighting by Brian Sullivan, but it's only kind of in the modern time that we connect these all together. there was a group of men who were passing through a village in a vehicle. And they spotted the children and went to go alert the townspeople who then came back with them. And the local villager that came with them described them as children in yellow raincoats, quote unquote. But they had billiard size black eyes. It's like these huge massive dark black eyes and yellow raincoats. Casey: Weird. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. The other weird European black-eyed kids thing happened in the British town of Canok Chase. Canok Chase you've mentioned before for episodes. Casey: Yes. Mackenzie Hrubey: And it is known for a myriad of weird, spooky, witchy, paranormal phenomena, part of which often links to like the Fay folk. So like are black-eyed kids Fay folk? Casey: Or pigman. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah, or pick. That scared me so much. I'm sorry, I'm never going to cannot chase. I'm not doing it. Casey: I want we're gonna go. Mackenzie Hrubey: you have to put a bag on my head. Casey: I will. Mackenzie Hrubey: I the scary thing is I believe you. Casey: I'll just say we're gonna go there or the dentist, you pick. Mackenzie Hrubey: Cannot chase, I think. Black Eyed Kids have been spotted in Cannock Chase multiple times, but most recently in two thousand and fourteen, there was a woman and her daughter who were walking through town and they heard a scream, like a child scream, and they turned the corner to find a young girl on a doorstep who was crying. having the motherly ends take, the woman went to go and ask what was wrong with the girl, and the girl looked up at her with these pitch black eyes, and then vanished. It's like was that a ghost? Was that a faith folk? Was that what was that? Casey: Did anything ever happen to that woman? is she sick or anything like that? Mackenzie Hrubey: Not that was reported. Casey: Get the whole their whole point other than just terrifying people. Mackenzie Hrubey: That's why I feel like maybe they are fay folk, because there's no point. Maybe they're just tricking people and like playing jokes on people just for the fun of it. Casey: Very creepy. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Some people even point to an ancient piece of archaeology to suggest that the black eyed people phenomena go back even further in our kind of cryptid pantheon. So have you heard of the Urpha Man? Casey: No. Mackenzie Hrubey: So the Eartha Man is a 13,500-year-old statue that they unearthed Casey: Okay. Mackenzie Hrubey: from the remnants of Gobleck of Gobekli Tepe. the Earth of Man is this statue that is kind of super duper creepy and it's got these huge black obsidian stone eyes. And people say it's in a museum now. People say that whenever they go see it, they get that same like hair on the back of your neck standing up. that the eyes actually follow you across the room. Casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: I know. So is it possible that black eyed kids are just the newest kind of amalgamation of an ancient boogeyman that's kinda always been here? Casey: What is the history behind the Earth a man? Mackenzie Hrubey: It's unknown. Just unearthed Mukobleki Tepe, but the ruins are so old that it's really hard to piece together what everything meant. Casey: That is weird. Mackenzie Hrubey: It's freaky. I don't like looking at it. Casey: The way the the stones are set in the eyes, it almost looks like it is a shadow, but they do say it is obsidian. Mackenzie Hrubey: Uh-huh. Yep. And it does also look a little bit alien, doesn't it? Casey: The hands, said It's like they got five fingers and one thumb. Mackenzie Hrubey: So is it in and kinda like the the lines on the chest do look space suity, don't they? Casey: Yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: So what if Casey: No matter where you look, he's always looking. Mackenzie Hrubey: Hold on for a second. What if aliens are fey folk and fey folk are aliens? And it's not aliens from a different world. It's just another entity living in a parallel universe on top of our own. Like when we talked about like the fourth dimension and like if time didn't exist, what would it look like? Casey: So that's what I was mentioning of when are it's just a time slip. they're Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Yeah. Casey: they're there in their own world doing I don't know what they do in their world during this time. Go see a movie. You know? Like Mackenzie Hrubey: get money from their mom to go see, a movie. Yeah. They don't know that it the times pass. They can't even read time. Casey: God knows what colours they see, who knows? Yeah. Like a bat. Mackenzie Hrubey: I've all black. They just hear s vibrations. Like Casey: Still a crow. But yeah. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. Weird, right? Casey: It's so weird. Mackenzie Hrubey: Whatever they are, they really are absolutely frickin' creepy. Casey: Very interesting but creepy. Mackenzie Hrubey: Yeah. So let me give you another sighting from nearby us in good old Appalachia. You ready? Casey: Of course. Mackenzie Hrubey: So this is from an anonymous Reddit poster, so of course we have to take Reddit stories with a grain of salt, but some of our best spooky stories in fact come from Reddit. Casey: Yes, that they do. Mackenzie Hrubey: So this poster says that when she was a teenager, she and her boyfriend were sitting in the car inside of a state forest in Appalachia, doing the thing that teenagers do under a full moon in the dark, humid, hot of summer. Casey: Summoning the devil. Mackenzie Hrubey: AHHHH Casey: What else would they be doing, Mackenzie? Mackenzie Hrubey: Exactly. It was sometime between nine PM and midnight, which is a really big range, but whatever. Stick with it. When they began to get that same foreboding hair prickling on the back of their neck kind of feeling. That same spine tingling, hair raising feeling that overtook Mr. Bethel, and the same feeling that that couple in Vermont also reported. From the dark, a group of five young children, no more than eleven years old, emerge from the wood line and began to approach the car. Casey: Get your kids. Mackenzie Hrubey: I would pee myself. The children approached the vehicle and just stood there, silent. They did not speak. They just stared at them. And they noticed that the children's eyes were again completely devoid of light. Pitch black. Casey: Well, I'm certainly not gonna be the one to start a conversation, so Mackenzie Hrubey: Definitely not. No. They're gonna have to be the ones to do it. I'm just gonna stare at them with that millennial stare. Casey: Yeah, by all means we're yeah, we are putting that car in drive. Mackenzie Hrubey: Absolutely. The oldest child, again, you know, no more than eleven, but the oldest of the five, reached his hand out to open the driver's side door. And that's when the boyfriend Casey: And hope it was locked. Mackenzie Hrubey: was like, Absolutely the fuck no, we're getting out of here. So at the last moment, he turns that car into gear, peels at the parking space, and then gets back on the road and out of the forest. And the Reddit poster says that was the last time she has ever been in the woods since that happened as a teenager. I don't blame her. Same. Casey: I don't blame her either. No thank you. Mackenzie Hrubey: Nope, nope. So I guess really moral of the story is be very, very, very careful of strange children, especially if you're in the dark. And I guess really most importantly of all is no matter what you do, do not let them inside. Casey: Don't let them in. Kids bite. Okay? Kids bite, Mackenzie Hrubey: They do. They might. Casey: they spit, and they're sticky all the time. Mackenzie Hrubey: They also poop a lot. Casey: Don't let them in. Mackenzie Hrubey: Mm-hmm. Casey: Ever. Mackenzie Hrubey: A little known the whole cancer and migraines thing, but just the sticky hand should be enough. Casey: Spray it with the hose. Mackenzie Hrubey: Okay, so Casey believability scale for the black eyed kids. Casey: Three. I think it's a different dimension with time slips. Mackenzie Hrubey: Alright, alright, alright. I'm gonna give this a five, mostly 'cause I'm gonna say Casey: It is Mackenzie Hrubey: a five so they never fucking come to my door. Casey: They can they can come to my door all they want. I'm not gonna do anything. They're not coming in. Mackenzie Hrubey: They're not coming in. Casey: You can ask for money, I might ask for money back. But Mackenzie Hrubey: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Not happening. Yeah. So what'd you think? Are you petrified? Good. Good. It is creepy. good. I like you. Casey: Not happening. No, thank you. I liked it. I liked it. It's creepy. But no, I liked this one. I like all of them. Who am I kidding? I like you. Huh. Mackenzie Hrubey: So listeners, please give us what your ranking is on a scale of one to five believability scale. We'd love to hear. We also want to hear about any of your black eyed kids encounters out there in the wilds. Casey: Yes, please let us know. And again, sorry for the delay on this episode, but it's here and you can listen to it now. Mackenzie Hrubey: And we hope that it was worth the wait. So happy Halloween. Casey: Yeah, happy Halloween a almost a weekly. But who cares? It's still Halloween. Mackenzie Hrubey: It's fine. Casey: It's fine. God, you're insane. Mackenzie Hrubey: Trying to get all four suckers at once. Casey: Alright, guys, you know where to find us. Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, all at Field Notes from the Unknown. Next week, Mackenzie probably won't be able to talk because all her teeth will be falling out since she hasn't gone to the dentist. So stay tuned. Mackenzie Hrubey: It'll be fine. It'll just be a little bit mumbly, but we'll keep captions. You'll be fine. Casey: Stay tuned. Mackenzie Hrubey: Until then. Casey: That's all we got for you. So we'll see you next week, guys. Bye. Mackenzie Hrubey: Love you, bye. Casey: I liked that.