Terrifying Tuesday: The Black-Eyed Child(ren) of Cannock Chase
- paranormalovertone
- Jan 23, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 8, 2025
On our first Terrifying Tuesday, we travel to Staffordshire and the purportedly “most haunted” area in the UK; Cannock Chase.
The home of many creatures, cryptids and spooky things in general, by far the most famous paranormal, supernatural or ethereal occupant of Cannock Chase is without doubt the Black-Eyed Child(ren).
Sightings have been rife for many years, the children aren’t the kind of apparitions to go years or even decades without being seen, they have been a common sight for those unfortunate enough to encounter them since the 1980s, and the children certainly aren’t afraid to make their presence heard or seen.
The most recent encounter which gained a lot of media attention from local and national news, was that of a young teenage couple illegally camping at Birches Valley.
During the Summer of 2021, with the Coronavirus pandemic still rife across the globe, the teens decided to steal a night together, away from home.
Around midnight they became aware of noises outside their tent, after all it’s a massive area of woodland and mixed landscapes… Maybe it was a Badger, a Deer or even a Fox? They remained quiet so as not to spook whatever animal was nearby, though it was they who were spooked as they realised the sounds which were all around their tent, were actually footsteps.
Determined to discover who had disturbed their romantic retreat, the pair unzipped their tent, exiting to the gloom and entering the foreboding darkness of the forest.
As their torches turned on with that satisfying, comforting “click” we all know, it was another, more uncomfortable noise which next permeated the air, the sound of a child’s giggling. Scouring the woodland with their torches, they eventually spot it, they spot her, darting from tree to tree, weaving between the foliage. Using the trees as cover, the spirit occasionally peered from behind the trees, giggling all the while, until she stopped in a clearing not too far from the tent.
“I was shining my torch right at her and she just stood there staring at us with her head slightly dipped. That’s when the giggling started to get louder and louder. It really sounded like it was coming from all around us even though I could see she was right in front of us. It was really disorientating for a few seconds. Then she bent down for a moment as if adjusting her shoes, stood back up, and ran off down a nearby path through a dense section of trees.”
The panicked pair returned to their tent and huddled together awaiting the sunrise. When they eventually exited the next morning, they discovered piles of stones evenly distributed around a perimeter surrounding the tent and strange stick formations hanging from trees almost like dreamcatchers.
Having packed up the tent and their belongings, starting the 15 minute walk back to their car they were hoping to put the previous night behind them, that hope was soon dashed by a pale face with black eyes peering at them from behind an oak tree.
Unsurprisingly and now fully spooked, the pair sped back to the car as quick as their legs could carry them, back to their car, back to civilisation…back to safety and familiarity.
As mischievous but deeply unsettling as the giggling would be in the dead of the night, that isn’t the only noise the child is known to make.
Again, during the light of day, an unnamed woman and her daughter were walking across the Chase when their hike was interrupted by the blood curdling screams of a child.
“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.”
Nobody is sure who the child is or why they are on the Chase in the first place. There are two main theories which people believe have the most credence, the first is that the child was an unfortunate victim of a mass diphtheria outbreak which occurred locally during the 1800s – the symptoms of diphtheria would also explain the sunken, sullen, dark eyes.
The other oft-posited theory is more morbid in its nature as it works on the belief that the Black-Eyed Child is one of the victims of a serial killer, (I’m not going to name him here, if you are interested in the cases, information is easily found but I always feel more attention should be paid to the victims and not the infamous) who murdered (at least) 3 young girls; Margaret Reynolds, Diana Tift and Christine Darby between 1965 and 1967.
One thing is for sure, regardless of who the child or children are – I hope they are able to find their peace and rest soon.
If you would like to learn more about the Black-Eyed Child or the other goings on at the Chase, Cannock local Lee Brickley has written a series of books about the local area which you can find here.
For now though, just remember: if you go down to the woods today, you might get a big surprise.
Goodnight…
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