Your Gray theory is interesting, but I can't really see the BEKs being "an alien in a child suit" (like the giant cockroach in an Edgar suit in "Men in Black"). Aside from grey aliens, black eyes are also said to be a trademark sign of demonic entities. I think it goes more in that direction.

I've been very interested in the BEK stories and have read about them quite a bit. I also remember that in the case of the man/lady(?) who did let them in initially, they said to him/her: "We're here to COLLECT."

Collect what? Blood, like a vampire? The victim's soul or life energy? More likely, methinks.

But let's keep throwing theories around; as I said, the topic really interests (and scares) me.

Of all the things this site has to talk about, "Black Eyed Kids" does less for me than anything else I think. I'd rather talk about tooth fairies and reptillians.
Maybe BEK just need to take a nap?

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. I am not by any means stuck on my theory, I just came up with it to explain what I see as the paradox of BEKs.

BEKs intrigue me because, unlike other urban legends and mythology, they don't make sense! Reading the encounters, it seems obvious that the BEKs want and/or expect to be trusted and accepted, and get frustrated when they aren't. I think in one of the first reported encounters, one said something like "Come on mister, let us in. We won't hurt you, we don't even have a gun." Other encounters state, or imply, that the BEKs grow increasingly demanding and annoyed when the person hesitates, refuses them, or appears to be afraid.

And yet, there are the black eyes and the terror. How could any "intelligent" being expect to be trusted and accepted while exuding fear and terror and displaying the anomalous and startling, if not outright frightening, all black eyes? It just doesn't make sense. This is why I think that the all-black eyes and the terror are experienced only when something is going wrong, not when everything is going according to plan.

If BEKS display the black eyes and give off terror because they can't help it, then what do we have? Human children who have been turned into demonic entities? Or entities who have somehow been forced into bodies resembling human children? Either is an alarming thought to me, but if neither is true then we must assume that BEKs have some choice over how they look and appear as children in order to be more easily trusted and not be seen as threatening. This, however, leads us right back to the question of why, then, the black eyes? If they can choose to appear as children in order to be perceived as innocent and non-threatening, why then not appear as a child with "normal" eyes?

The terror and fear can possibly be explained as being generated by the human witness rather than the BEK; old instincts which kick in to warn of danger even when the conscious, logical mind does not perceive the danger. But for me personally, the black eyes defy explanation unless they are not actually supposed to be seen.

Thoughts?

From what I have read, they often seem to have cast their eyes down when they first appear at someone's door/car, etc. Only later, when they realize they won't be let in and get frustrated, they perhaps "lose it" and look directly at the person.

And yes, my theory is that maybe they can change their appearance but can't help what their eyes look like.

And also yes, I think that overwhelming fear might be a built-in human warning system that alerts us when we're near demonic entities of some sort.

Just my conjecture, of course, but it would make sense to me.

Perhaps they can't disguise their eyes because the influence that they exert / hope to exert over people comes through the eyes. You see this in abduction reports - from what I recall - people talk about being forced to look into the entities' eyes, being unable to avoid it, feeling as though they are looking into infinite darkness and something happening to their mind when they do so.

[edit on 30-8-2008 by skjalddis]

I have seen one of these so called BEK's.

It was back in c.1984 and myself and my father were taking our dog out for his nightly walk a short but simple loop of a local road in the housing estate we lived in at the time.

It was evening and dark and we walked along the route the dog was off the lead and my father in front I was behind but not too far and glanced back to see another "teenager" apx my height etc behind me some 20 / 30 feet behind. As we walked further I kept looking back and sure enough the other person seemed to be gaining ground and getting closer.

I didn't think much of it until the third time I looked round and the other person had stopped still under a streetlight almost as if waiting for something I have no idea why but I stopped and walked towards him assuming he was following us.

I got within 6 feet of him and he looked up from the ground fully illuminated by the street light above him and stared directly at me, there was nothing but a gaunt expression on his face and no eyes except for deep black patches where they should have been.

At this I ran up the street past my father around the loop and back into the house. I didn't mention anything to my father.

After many years I saw an expression on the face of a character in a film that reminded me of that night.

28 Days Later : Jim enters the church and climbs the stairs and views the bodies below upon saying "Hello" two of the infected spring up and stare in the direction of Jim the expression on the face of the infected was akin to the same emotionless stare that the "child" gave me that night.

Excelents: Thank you for sharing your experience. It begins to seem that BEKs have been around much longer than we tend to think, but either the sightings were not reported or the reports were not connected.

Dave420: Doesn't half - or more - of the stuff on ATS fit into the same category? I tend to believe that people are seeing something, and solid black eyes is a rather startling feature to be mistaken about. I enjoy my speculation and theories and hearing about peoples' experiences. Anyway, thank you for your reply.