Black-Eyed Kids in Ohio

Author’s note: This is a story about a man’s encounter with Black-Eyed Kids. “Noetic” is not his name; he asked for anonymity.

Although Noetic saw the teens as he stepped outside the Ohio data center where he worked, he wasn’t ready for what happened.

“It freaked me out,” Noetic said.

Noetic works as the weekend computer engineer from 11:30 p.m. to noon. While he works, he’s in the building alone, but has never felt uncomfortable until the weekend of July 31, 2010.

“Our building is pretty secure,” he said. “I have a camera display of our parking lot, both front and back, as well as the front doors and back which is all displayed on one of my monitors.”

However, he was outside when he saw the teens.

“There is a bar and a small plaza directly to the right of our building, and a small apartment complex across the street,” he said. “So it is not out of character to see someone walking through our lot going to the bar, or crossing the street to get to the apartments.”

But it was 5 a.m. As he stood outside the building and lit a cigarette, the smoke curling into the morning sky, he saw two teens around 14 to 16 years old standing in the parking lot of the plaza; the boys immediately frightened him.

“I had a bit of a unnerving feeling from them because from the moment I walked out from of the building all they appeared to do was stare me down,” he said. “I am sure this is a bit normal, five in the morning and a guy suddenly coming out of a quiet, empty building, perhaps I scared them a bit.”

Noetic stood at the door, smoking his cigarette, birds beginning to sing as the light of dawn grew around him.

“I smoked my cigarette while keeping a eye on them,” Noetic said. “I finished up and went back into the (building).”

Ten minutes later the intercom buzzed.

“I look over to the monitor and it's these two kids,” he said.

Noetic hit the intercom button and asked them what they wanted. One of the boys looked into the camera and beaconed Noetic to come to the front door.

“I hit the talk button and tell them I am busy I don't have time for games, they need to leave the property,” Noetic said. “Instead they just sort of hang on right in front of the door.”

Noetic tries to ignore the boys staring at him from the TV monitor, but he can’t. He goes to the lobby and looked at the boys through the front glass; the type of glass where people in the lobby can see out, but people outside can’t see in.

The boys were dressed like normal teens; shorts, dark hoodies, and tennis shoes.

“The one thing that set these kids apart from other kids, they had deep, completely black eyes,” he said. “This really set me back. I felt like as if they actually were able to see me.”

Noetic pushed open the lobby door, ready to tell the boys to leave or he would call the police. He never got the chance.

“One kid looked at me and said almost instantly, ‘That will not be necessary sir, we simply need to use your phone, can you let us in?’” Noetic said. “I do not let anyone in.”

When Noetic told the black-eyed teens to leave, they didn’t behave like normal teens.

“The one talking to me didn't like that one bit and went on to tell me, ‘No, you’re going to invite us in,’” Noetic said. “By this time, the other kid is just giving me this weird twisted little grin. Something was off. I almost instantly felt this. ‘Threatened’ is the best word I can use.”

The black-eyed teens stood their ground, waiting for Noetic to invite them in.

“I have never been at a loss for words, but at this point I actually was maybe even a bit taken by the kid’s bluntness,” he said.

Noetic again tells the boys he will call the police, pulls his cell phone from his pocket and closes the lobby door. He walks back to his desk and watches them on the monitors.

“The one ended up going to the back door and just stood there staring at the camera in the back while the other, who was talking to me, stared at the camera in the front,” Noetic said.

By this time it’s near 6 a.m. Noetic hit the intercom button and told them the police are on their way.

“He just smiles and tells me, ‘I need to use the phone, let us in,’” Noetic said.

Then the boys moved. They met behind the building and stepped into a blind spot in the security system, a spot from which there is no exit. They had disappeared from Noetic’s monitor.

“If you go in this blind spot, there is nowhere to go. You have to end up back on camera again,” Noetic said. “If they would have jumped the fence, I would have seen them on camera. I saw nothing.”

Noetic didn’t move from that spot until the police arrived. He sent the officers around to the blind spot, but the boys were gone.

“The few things that still stand out in my mind is those freaking eyes, how he talked and carried himself as well as just that weird, weird feeling,” Noetic said. “I best quoted from the movie The Crow, at the time talking to that kid, ‘I felt like a little worm on a big (expletive) hook.’”

Copyright 2010 by Jason Offutt

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt, P.O. Box 501, Maryville, Mo., 64468, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s newest book on the paranormal, “What Lurks Beyond: The Paranormal in Your Backyard,” is available at Jason’s blog, from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.