If there’s not enough in the news to scare us senseless until Halloween, this tale out of England may do it. A woman in Cannock Chase recently reported seeing a black eyed child after hearing screams while on a walk.

There are many stories of encounters with black eyed children with the most famous being that of Brian Bethel, who reported in 1998 of seeing “those darned black eyed kids” in Abilene, Texas. While many of the stories are vague, anecdotal, anonymous and extremely similar, that hasn’t stopped the fear of black eyed children from spreading.

This one comes from Cannock Chase, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a location with a long history of paranormal phenomenon, including Hellhounds, werewolves, big cats, UFOs, Bigfoot and Pig-Man. While the woman who spotted the black eyed child has not been identified, she told the story to Lee Brickley, a paranormal writer and investigator who also lives in Cannock.

We instantly started running towards the noise. We couldn’t find the child anywhere and so stopped to catch our breath. That’s when I turned round and saw a girl stood behind me, no more than 10 years old, with her hands over her eyes. It was as if she was waiting for a birthday cake. I asked if she was OK and if she had been the one screaming. She put her arms down by her side and opened her eyes. That’s when I saw they were completely black, no iris, no white, nothing. I jumped back and grabbed my daughter. When I looked again, the child was gone. It was so strange.

Lee says the encounter is similar to the first black eyed child sighting in Cannock Chase in 1982 by a relative of his. While other reports are generally of groups of black eyed children knocked on doors of houses or cars and asking if they can come in, Lee says the Cannock Chase sightings are different in one peculiar way.

Only on Cannock Chase do the sightings consistently happen during the daytime.

Theories on black eyed children range from extra-terrestrials, demons and ghosts to pranksters with full-sclera black contact lenses to drug-induced mydriasis, a dilation of the pupils that can be accompanied by strange behavior.

Whatever the cause, it will be some Halloween this year in Cannock Chase.