Over the course of several decades, numerous witnesses in Staffordshire, England, have reported disturbing sightings of children with dark eyes roaming the woodland and occasionally venturing into towns.

While comparable urban legends have been told across the world, the black-eyed children of Staffordshire have proven persistent, with many investigators citing the area as haunted. However, unlike the subjects of a typical ghost story or urban legend, these black-eyed children have been caught on camera.

Black-eyed children are generally described as having pale skin and dark, shaded eyes and as being between the ages of 6 and 16. They are often encountered in woodland or found on the doorsteps of residential homes.

The Staffordshire phenomenon is believed to have begun in the 1960s when a young girl was murdered. Skeptics deny that the mysterious sightings could relate to the haunted soul of this young victim, but investigators have presented a significant volume of evidence.

Sightings began to be reported in the 1980s, around twenty years after 7-year-old Christine Darby was murdered. The girl's spectral form has been seen by many walkers and even photographed by some, most recently by a drone.

In 2018, a local man encountered what he believed to be the same black-eyed girl. He later described the incident: “She appeared about a hundred meters in front of me. She stared right at me for about thirty seconds, then vanished without a trace.”

Paranormal investigators have captured footage and photos. Some even claim to have been assaulted by the ghosts, having rocks thrown at them while filming.

In the summer of 2021, a young couple was camping in the area when they heard something moving just outside their tent. Upon hearing footsteps, the teenagers ventured out. They encountered the black-eyed girl, giggling as she flitted about, quote "in ways humans simply can't move," from behind one tree to the next.

Later, the young woman recalled, “I’d read the stories in the news about the black-eyed child, but it wasn’t until the thing stood right in front of me that I could quite believe them.” The following morning, they found their tent surrounded by a perimeter of small, evenly spaced piles of stones...