After a series of strange incidents, it culminates in a knock at the door. The Irish woman sees a girl at the door and then realizes that she has black eyes. Was this a Fae?
I received the following account:
"I'm telling this story for the first time. The only other people who know about this are my immediate family members. I know it sounds completely fabricated and I have no way to prove any of it. But it happened. I'll do my best.
I'm originally from Ireland. I moved to the States roughly 20 years ago. This story takes place in County Clare, Ireland when I was about 15 years old.
One afternoon I was walking through the woods near my home. I was alone. I was a loner in my youth, and I would often stroll the woods until I found a tree to sit beneath and write. Writing has always been my hobby. My point is that I was very familiar with these woods. I felt safe there.
On this particular day, I was walking a path to a specific tree that was my favorite to sit beneath. The sounds of the woods were all around me. There was a gentle breeze, and while I couldn't see the birds I could hear them. It was comforting.
And then it all stopped. Everything became unnaturally still. The air was still, the birds stopped twittering, and I no longer heard a single thing. I had never experienced this before. It was as if I had suddenly become deaf. There was just nothing. No sound, no movement, no breeze.
At this point, I had started to become anxious. I wasn't yet afraid but I started home anyway. The feeling in the woods was not what I was used to. I was no longer comforted, so I decided to go home.
It was then that I saw movement from the corner of my eye. Nothing I could pinpoint, but a dark shape that was just...there. And then it wasn't. Everything else was still that eerie calm. I started to walk faster, and then the black shape again. This time on my other side. Now I was afraid. I began to run. I still heard nothing but I was sure something was chasing me.
When I reached my home I ran inside and slammed the door, fully expecting my mum to yell at me for slamming. But she wasn't there. In fact, nobody was home. That was a bit odd but not unheard of. Finally gaining some sanity I decided I needed tea. Now. So I began to boil the water for tea. And then there was a knock at the door.
I jumped. My heart rose to my throat. Nobody knocked in these parts. It was a small village where everyone knew everyone else. Everyone was family. There was no knocking. There was a friendly "Oy there" and then people came in, so a knock was strange.
I crept over to the glass in the door and peeked out. I noticed two things right away that terrified and confused me. The first was a child. A girl of maybe 10 or 12, looking not at me but at her feet. The second thing scared me to my toes. It was getting dark. How was that possible? I had left to go on my walk in midday. The sun had been fully out and I had been gone no longer than 40 minutes. How then was it dark? I looked at the clock. It was almost 7. How? How had I misplaced five hours? The knock came again and I jumped again. I didn't open the door.
I called out, "Oy there. Can I help ya?"
The girl didn't look up. She said "I need to come in. Please let me in" She had no accent. She wasn't Irish. There was no lilt to her voice. She sounded American.
I called out again, "I can't let you in. But I'll ring someone if you need help."
The child still didn't look up. She said, "No, that won't work. I need to come in"
At this point, I had had enough of the strange scary child. She was freaking me out. I wanted my mum. I wanted my dad. I wanted to know where five hours of my life had gone and I was so frightened at this point that not even tea was going to help. So I did what any teenage girl would do when faced with a situation such as this. I screamed and ran to my bed. I covered myself with my blanket and waited for my mum to come home. These were pre-cellular phones and I was not going to risk going to the kitchen to phone someone. Plus I had no idea who I would call. The girl was still knocking on the door. But she never moved to a window or to the back door. She stayed at the front door.
After a while, I got my nerve up to go check again. It had been silent for a bit. I went to the door and looked out the glass. The girl was still there. But she was no longer at the door. She was sitting on the fence. She was no longer looking down. She was looking right at me. And in the fading light, it looked like her eyes were pitch black. I screamed again and ran back to the safety of my blanket.
Eventually, my mum came home. I told her what happened. She decided that it was my overactive imagination but she did call down to the shops and the pub to find out if anyone in town had American family visiting or if anyone knew who the girl was. Nobody did. My grandmother told me I had survived an encounter with the Fae (fairies) and that I was lucky. She was the only one who ever believed me.
I never saw the girl again. I never missed time again. I never felt the absolute stillness in the woods again (when I got up my courage to go back)
After I moved to the States and years later I heard of black-eyed children. My story seemed to coincide with that. But that's ridiculous, right? I still have no explanation. Demon? Faerie? (The Fae are said to be evil and will kidnap children and the woods were near a faerie hill) ghost? Black-eyed child? I don't know. But it happened. I swear to that." IM
.jpg)
Your financial support of Phantoms & Monsters and our other pursuits is much appreciated. Please click the banner above. Thanks.
.jpg)
