American journalist Brian Bethel posted on an online messageboard describing his apparent encounter with a pair of creepy children who had solid black eyes. Since then, dozens of people have claimed sightings of similar children, but Bethel's case remains the most famous.

This is his story It happened on a warm night in 1996. Bethel needed to pay his internet bill, so he was writing a cheque in his car. "There was a knock on my driver's side window," Bethel says. "Two young boys, somewhere between nine to 12 years old and dressed in hooded pullovers, stood outside. "I cracked the window a bit, anticipating a spiel for money, but I was immediately gripped by an incomprehensible, soul-wracking fear. I had no idea why."

One of the boys asked Bethel for a ride. They wanted to see a movie, but had left their money at their mother's house. While Bethel mulled it over, the boy tried to reassure him. "It wouldn't take long. They were just two little kids. They didn't have a gun or anything." The reporter looked away for a moment. When Bethel's gaze returned to the children, his mind "exploded in a vortex of all-consuming terror". "Both boys stared at me with coal-black eyes. The sort of eyes one sees these days on aliens or bargain-basement vampires on late night television. Soulless orbs like two great swathes of starless night." As Bethel rolled up his window, one of the boys banged on the glass, saying "we can't come in unless you tell us it's OK. Let us in!" Then the journalist drove away.

Bethel isn't the only person with a creepy tale involving black eyed children. The internet is full of similar stories.Nobody has explained what these supposed black eyed children are, or why they knock on people's doors at night.

But on the off chance that these creepy kids are real, we're betting you don't want to meet one.