Portland Black Eyed Children

Report of BEK Encounter in Portland

I found this report online, but have not been able to contact the original poster to confirm any details. The fact is that Portland is a city of spooky things so a Portland Black Eyed Kids encounter doesn’t surprise me in the least.

harvestwind@home.com (Harvestwind)

Man..I came across this newsgroup by accident as I am moving to
Portland in a few months and I was just doing a little general
research about the city. I was stunned to read about the incidents
with the creepy black eyed kid’s because I had a similar incident
happen to me, while visiting Portland in August of 2000.

My girlfriend and I were staying at the hostel on Glisan Ave in NW
Portland. It’s a very nice place in a hip and fun, if a little
yuppyish section of town. Anyway, it was a Friday night, actually
early Saturday morning. April, my girlfriend, and I were up
socializing with another couple from England, sharing some laughs and
playing some songs..I had my guitar with me. Well, at about 2:30 AM,
we suddenly realized that there was no more beer left and none of us
really felt like calling it a night just yet. Well April reminded me
that I had bought a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir from a little
place called the City Market earlier in the day, but they were still
in the trunk of her car. So she tossed me the keys and I ventured out
to make the hike to where the car was parked.

There is a sort of a “good luck finding a spot to park” policy at the
hostel, so we ended up parking in a spot off a side street about four
blocks from the hostel. It’s not really a bad area, nightlife was
still winding down not too far away from the hostel, and I could hear
the random noises of revelry off in the distance. But as I walked to
the car, I found myself feeling very alone.

As I turned down the street to where the car was parked, a misty rain
filled the air, not really drops, but a kind of misty directionless
rain. The streetlights lit my path and reflected their dim glow in the
wet pavement. As I reached the car and slid my keys into the trunk
latch, I heard this voice call out. “Hey mister”. Thinking I was
alone, and not having seen anyone as I was walking down the street, I
was very startled, and I whirled around to be greeted by the face of
an adolescent who gazed at me intently from just a few feet away.

I was really unnerved and by reflex I jumped back then grabbed my
chest and said something like, “Jesus man, you just scared the shit
out of me”. The kid just kept looking at me undaunted. He appeared to
be between the age of 11-14. And he wore old jeans and a hooded
sweatshirt. His hair was black and his skin was tan. He had a
Mediterranean look about him. It was then that I noticed that his eyes
were all black. My first thought was that he was on LSD because I know
that that can dilate your pupils and give that type of appearance. But
this kid didn’t seem to be on a drug, he seemed very calm and
confident. It was kind of unnerving to have a kid act like that.

He said, without looking away, “I’m lost and scared, do you think you
could give me a ride to my mom’s house?” But this kid didn’t look
scared at all. Masked behind those youthful features, was the
expression of a wolf leering at me. I’m a fit 28-year-old man, and
what I felt was real fear. He kept moving closer and closer to me.

Quickly I broke eye contact…It was difficult though because those
eyes were compelling. Deep pools of black, they looked ageless in
contract to that young face. They stared at me reflecting the
streetlights. It was like gazing up at a star sprent sky on a clear
night.

“I backed off up onto the curb and stammered, “Uh no..Really I can’t,
I have to go..Sorry”. I kept looking at the ground because I had the
feeling that if I kept looking at his black eyes I would become
trapped like a fly in a spider’s web.

I heard him say..”Oh that’s OK, here come my friends.” I quickly
looked up past him down the road and I saw another young boy and a
girl about a block further down in the middle of the street. I didn’t
have my glasses on and I have trouble seeing clearly off that far. But
I’ll be damned if it didn’t look like they were floating towards us a
couple of inches off the ground.

I turned around to run and I heard a guttural growling behind me. I
ran faster than I ever ran in my life straight towards the hostel. I
kept feeling like they were right there, behind me..clawing at the
back of my neck….I will never forget that feeling as long as I live.
It was the closest I ever experienced to true terror.

When the hostel was in sight I finally looked back and I found myself
alone. I kept running though and didn’t stop until I was again with my
friends. They were all surprised to see me panting bending over. They
asked, “What happened?”, “Where’s the wine?”. I collapsed on the floor
and didn’t speak until I regained my composure. Suddenly I felt
ashamed that I ran from a group of kids. I never told them what
happened; I told them that some thugs tried to start a fight…

Obviously, at that point I no longer felt like socializing and I told
my friends that I wanted to retire for the evening. So April and I
went to our room. Despite the warmth I insisted on shutting the window
and closing the curtains. I didn’t sleep a wink..

I never told anyone what really happened until now. When I read that
story my blood ran cold and all my hair stood on end. I’m still moving
there this fall