The Online Urban Legend of BEKs

Stories of Black Eyed Kids as we know them today began in the late 1990s, with journalist Brian Bethel sharing what is commonly held to be the first modern reported encounter on a “ghost-related mailing list.” They quickly became a phenomenon on early internet message boards, and as technology advanced into the 21st century, the mythology of the subject was adopted by and eventually itself influenced by creepypastas—the easily shareable fictional horror stories that have blurred the line between fact and fiction. The legend of Black Eyed Kids continues to grow, and intrepid investigators must be aware that one cannot believe everything one reads on the Internet.