Somewhere in the Skies - Brian Bethel: Black Eyed Kid Phenomenon

Episode Date: October 29, 2017

On episode 29 of SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES, Ryan speaks with Brian Bethel, arguably the first ever witness to come across the Black-Eyed Kids (BEKs) phenomenon. In 1996, Bethel was parked in a desolate parking lot when two young boys began to knock on his window, begging and pleading for a ride home. What happened next would completely terrify Bethel and change the rest of his life. Since this first account of these mysterious black-eyed children, thousands of stories have permeated through both word-of-mouth and online lore, sparking a phenomenon that has grown in both mystery and debate. Bethel recounts that harrowing night, how his story ultimately was leaked and went viral at the advent of the internet, and just exactly what he believes may lay behind the dark, soulless eyes of the black-eyed kids.  To hear bonus content with Bethel, including a disturbing ghost encounter and a separate case where a couple actually let black-eyed children into their home, consider becoming a Patreon subscriber today. To learn more, and to help SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES continue and grow, visit: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies Guest Bio: A mild-mannered reporter by day, by night Brian Bethel is a mild-mannered reporter (usually) home from work. He likes a variety of things, from computers to video games, from comic books to role-playing games, to reading to board gaming. He likes games a lot, come to think of it. He also enjoys writing, and he hopes someday to become not “the next” anybody but someone entirely himself. Feature Image by Sam Shearon Patreon Campaign: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com Order Ryan's Book by CLICKING HERE Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Instagram: @SomewhereSkiesPod Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte Episode Edited by Jane Palomera Moore SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES is produced by Third Kind Productions, in association with Antica Productions Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ordinary people are seeing extraordinary things in our skies. But how has it changed those involved? From author Ryan Sprague, Somewhere in the Skies, a human approach to an alien phenomenon, is a personal journey that also weaves together a story of stories, furiously pumping new blood into the heart of these mysteries, one experience at a time. Now available on Amazon in paperback and ebook.

For more information, visit Somewhere in the Skies.com. This is Somewhere in the Skies with Ryan Sprague. Hey guys, Ryan Sprague here. Before we get to this week's Halloween series finale of Somewhere in the Skies, I have one last listener's story to share with you. This comes to us from Luke, who witnessed, along with several others firsthand, a genuine demon possession. Have a listen.

Hey, Ryan, my name is Luke, and I want to tell a story about demon possession. I'm going to go ahead and read something I wrote for it just because I want to try to keep the story concise for everybody to understand it. So here goes. The story I want to share is about a small town where I went to high school. It happened in the fall of 1999, my senior year in deals with demon possession. Naturally, when one goes to a small school, 300 students, to be exact, everyone knows each other. And whether or not your close friends, you feel close.

I knew A for quite some time. She was also a senior, funny, sometimes aloof, and unfortunately had a rather unstable home life. Her sister was adopted, and that caused a chronic rivalry between the two. They lived in a gorgeous house on the water, their parents workaholics and alcoholics, and never around, and if around, fighting. Things got bad. I know this because A. started attending the youth group I went to once a week. It was a close group of friends, all of us genuine seekers lacking pretension, not there to beat people over the head with a Bible, just genuinely intrigued with the supernatural and facets of the higher powers we could. called God and Jesus. That's a story for another time as very incredible things started to happen,

things that dumbfounded even the occultist healers around town. As things got bad, ASOT answers. She was interested in God and even Jesus, but was still kind of testing whether she felt she could put her faith in them. She was a busty girl, like I said, funny, and sometimes even gruff, though with her gruff demeanor, a higher more naturally feminine voice, which was an ironic package. During this time, things bad with her sister, her parents fighting, A's allegations of familiar abuse, both physical and mental, she started dabbling with the Ouija board and other occultic ways of centering herself. As commonly experienced, she started encountering things because of this. Doors closing by themselves, lights turning on, footsteps, tormenting

nightmares. A stated at times she'd wake in the middle of the night and feel something sitting on her chest. I want to reiterate that all of us were friends with A. And though she She didn't fully jive the youth group's theology. She had a deep love and appreciation for the community she had become a part of. One night, I'd say at least a solid month after she started having these freaky things happen at her home. All of us were taking turns praying. One of us, I don't remember who, prayed that the scary things would stop at her house. As he or she was praying, A. opened her eyes and they rolled back,

and she started chuffing the direction of the person praying. It sounded like a dog, an angry one, protecting its terror. In between these moments, she'd come to and beg us for help, stating it felt like she was trapped inside herself. But then she'd go back down. And whatever it was, manifesting would continue to chuff, even at one time lunging, before being yanked back by two of our largest friends. Naturally, she needed space for this sort of thing. So me, the youth pastor, and another friend demanded A, come back to the surface long enough for us to talk with her. She came back, scared, sounded like someone struggling to stay above water.

We told her we could take her in a car and pray for her to give her the privacy needed. In the car, her abdomen started rolling. That's the only way I can describe it, like the deep ocean on a glassy day, the way it rolls softly. It was unlike anything I've ever seen someone do with their abdomen, and the demon started talking. It had a guttural voice, a deep voice that came from her throat or chest, a voice A cannot have made nor mastered enough to do in the region it was coming from. As we anointed A with oil and prayed, her body would jerk vicar. like someone turning a corner and a car too sharply, almost swerve from our touch.

And then A would stop and come back and ask us for help, but then sink back down. My youth pastor was exhausted and sad and wanted to help A, so he did a brave, brave thing I don't necessarily recommend, but may at times be necessary. He addressed the demon directly. Asked its name and why it was there. It told him, abuse, Ouija Board, dabbling with the occultic practices. I can 100% confirm also that demons have names. Its name, for you.

That name still gives me shivers. At this point, it seemed like something weakened, though. We prayed and asked it to go, and with one violent shake, a shake like I've never seen someone do before, it left, and A reemerged, teary, afraid, but lighter feeling. I haven't seen A since we graduated June of 2000, and I hope she's doing well, and has not been bothered by anything again. Thanks, Ryan. I hope you guys all got something from that retelling. If you have any questions, you know where to find me. Talk to you guys later and have a good Halloween. Wow. So, okay, despite your religious beliefs or stance on demonology, whatever Luke experienced that day must have truly been terrifying. We can only hope that the girl in question was able to rid of whatever seemed to consume her that unfortunate day.

Thank you so much to Luke for sharing this deeply compelling and personal account. It left me with visible chills. This is the last episode in the month of October, and a perfect end to our Halloween series of listener stories and special guests. Next week, we dive right back into UFOs. I hope all of you have a wonderful Halloween. And now, let's get to this week's episode. Welcome to Somewhere in the Skies.

I'm your host, Ryan Spray. Imagine sitting in your living room one night, reading a book. You begin to doze off the strain of the day slowly fading away as your eyes close. Suddenly, a harsh knock on the front door springs you to full attention. It's so late, you think to yourself. Who could it possibly be? You make way to the door and peer of the people. There's a dark silhouette of a small figure in your distorted view.

You open the door, assuming this is a child, And you're right, but what you notice next makes this anything but a normal encounter with an adolescent. Staring back at you are two eyes, but they aren't the average iris, pupil, or scolera that you're used to seeing. They are pure black, from lid to lid. Nothing, but the moon bounces light off of these deep pools of nothingness. You shudder, trying to take in this unusual sight before you. And that's when you realize that standing up. behind this child are two more figures. They slowly move forward, their eyes identical to this leader.

They wear simple clothes, perhaps a solid black hooded sweatshirt. It falls baggy over their unusually pale skin. The leader finally speaks. Can we come in? You stare at them, dumbfounded. Why would you let a child into your home this late at night? Where are their parents? They somehow answer you with blunt assertion. We're lost. We don't have anywhere to go. Please let us come in. You're sweating. You tremble. Adrenaline courses through your veins as you take stock of the situation. They continue staring at you with their soulless eyes. The debate wages in your head of whether or not to slam the door on them or let them inside. I mean, after all, they're just kids, aren't they? As the debate wages on, you can feel your heart pounding.

harder than ever before. Something about this situation is not only unusual, it's downright terrifying. Please, let us in. No matter what you do next, it feels like it's the wrong answer. You are left in your doorway, having just encountered what has been coined as an experience with the black-eyed kids. This phenomenon spans continents, and with each passing encounter, these strange children seem to become more and more aggressive. But what exactly is it that they want? And what happens if you let them in? While once thought to stem from online urban legend,

the black-eyed kids became a dark and disturbing sensation. Stories cropping up all over the world recounting terrifying tales of the children and their devious pleads for car rides or invites into homes, it was now harder than ever to separate fact from fiction. The Black-Eyed Kids soon falling into the same skeptical box as Slender Man and other legends thought to be created online. And it all seemed to have begun with a singular encounter that sparked an entire phenomenon. But as you'll hear today, this seems to be anything but urban legend.

Today, I speak with a man who ignited that spark and ultimately exposed what would be known as the Black-Eyed Kids. Brian Bethel is a professional writer living in Texas. He is known as the first witness to ever fully detail an encounter with the black-eyed kids when his written statement was leaked at the advent of the internet and subsequently went viral. Today we talk all about his harrowing experience and what has happened since that terrifying night. So, without further ado, here's my conversation with Brian Bethel. Guys, thank you for joining me today. At this point, everyone has heard of the Black-Eyed Kids,

whether it's in movies, television, YouTube, online forums, or now even in comic book forums. So what people may not know is just when and how the entire Black-Eyed Kids phenomenon really came to light. And that was in 1996 with a very disturbing encounter by yourself, Brian. So I'd love to really attack this from the get-go and was wondering if you could basically just run us through what happened that night. Well, here's the thing.

It was a pretty mundane evening. And this is back in the early days of the internet with dial-up internet. And also electronic bill pay and such like that wasn't common either. So I was going analog here and taking a check to my internet provider, which was on North First in Abilene, Texas. And so I went there, and there's a used to be first-run theater. Now it's actually a, well, for a while it was a second-run theater, kind of a dollar theater, and now it's being closed and renovated by a church.

So that's interesting. But anyway. That is interesting. Yeah. So I was using the line of the theater marquee. I'd driven there and was using the line of the marquee to write my check. And it was just about finished. I was going to put in this drop slot that they had.

And all of a sudden, I hear this knock on my window. And I look over, and there are these two boys, probably about the age of 9 to 12, and wearing pullover hoodies and jeans, really kind of nothing untoward about them immediately. one of them as sort of olive-complected skin, still a little pale, and curly hair, kind of a mousy brown, he's the guy referred to in the story as the spokesman. And then there's another kid in the back, and he is pale-skinned, freckles, red hair. They start talking. I crack the window a bit.

I think, okay, they're probably going to hit me up for money. and the spokesman, as I refer to him, says, hey, mister, we forgot our money. We want to see the movie, but we left our money at home. Can you take us to our mom's house and we'll get our money and then we'll come right back and that'll be all we need? It's not far away. We just need a ride. And, you know, that sounds kind of reasonable.

I mean, kids do do things like that, although it's kind of strong. strange for them to approach someone they don't know to necessarily ask this, but I mean, I'm there and available, I guess. But immediately, there's this fear response, this just absolute terror at the idea of even being near this pair of kids. It's completely inexplicable. I don't understand it. I can't even begin to comprehend where it's coming. from, and yet there it is, and it's palpable and it's terrible. I just find myself absolutely in utter fear and to some degree even awe of these two kids, and it doesn't make any sense at all, but it's there.

And so I try to rationalize this or catch my breath or whatever and then say, you know, well, yeah, I don't know about that. I'm just here to do this one thing and sort of leave. And I don't know where you live exactly and all that sort of thing like that. And, you know, just kind of trying to feel this situation out because there's just something wrong with it. And so finally, the spokesman, I guess, kind of starts to get a little irritated. you know he keeps he's kept going on you know look man it's not far away all that sort of thing and then i could tell he's starting to get a little irritated and then he says and i'll always

remember this and look mister we're just two little kids we don't have a gun or anything which which is not comforting i mean i yeah i mean i i don't know if that was meant to be comforting or threatening or what but but that is not a comforting thing for someone to say and And so at that point, this fear has just mounted to an absolute fever pitch, and I cannot understand why. And so I think, okay, we've got to apply some logic here. So I asked them, what movie are you guys planning to see? And they say, we're going to see Mortal Kombat. Okay.

And so this places it in time, of course. but I had already looked at the theater marquee, and I knew that that was showing. And so I asked them, okay, well, what show are you guys wanting to see? And I look up at the marquee, and I see that, you know, it starts at 9.30, I think it was. And I look down at my clock in my car, and it's already somewhere around 9.50 or so. And so by the time I take these kids anywhere and bring them back, even in a town the size of Avaline,

where you can get pretty much anywhere in 15 minutes, they're going to miss a tremendous part of this movie. I mean, there's no reason for them to even try to see it at this point. And so understanding that, I look over at them, and this is where I guess it all happens. And I don't understand why. I've tried to figure out why. I don't know if it was just simply breaking their gaze or looking away or what happened exactly.

But I look over and I see this pair standing there and I finally notice what's wrong. What's been tickling at the back of my brain to make me so frightened of this. And it's their eyes. And they're just black. just absolutely totally coal black but reflective of course and could actually see

the theater light reflected in them but here's the thing I mean that would be extremely disturbing okay but it's what I saw in them or rather what I didn't see in them that I found to be just the thing that pushed me over the edge

because when you look in someone's eyes, you can see kind of, and I'm going to try to not get too metaphysical here, but I mean, you can see the thing inside of them that animates them and gives them life and light

beside, under those eyes and whatnot. And I looked into the eyes of these kids and I couldn't see anything. It was looking, it was like looking into a void. It was like a fragment of space. It was like

a fragment of space. without any stars. And there was nothing in there. There was absolutely no light reflected back at all. And so at that point, I just go into a complete panic. And I know that my intuition has been serving me, and I feel immediate fight-or-flight response, and I have to get out of there.

I have to get away from them. And so I tell them, look, I'm sorry. I just remembered something. I can't do it. I hope you guys find a ride. Really sorry about this, kind of stammering and all that sort of thing. And I know at this point that I'm not hiding anything at that point. And so I roll up the window as fast as I can.

And about the time I get it rolled up, the spokesman, keeping in mind that the kid in the back never says anything throughout this entire encounter starts slamming on the window, just absolutely beating on it. And he is furious. I can tell that he's just absolutely furious. And the kid in the back actually has this what the hell is going on kind of expression. And it's like this is not the way this is supposed to go, almost is the way I've interpreted it. But the kid in the front just absolutely starts hammering on the window.

I will never forget this. I mean, this is burned into my brain forever. what he says. And he says, Mr. we can't come inside your car unless you tell us it's okay. Let us in. And at that point, I mean, I'm just gone. Okay? I mean, I throw this,

I throw the car into reverse. I get out of there as quickly as I can. Before I get out under the street, I steal a glance into my rearview mirror, and they're gone. They're just absolutely gone. They're not there. And the way that this parking, lot is designed, there's no way they could have run neither left or right, and there weren't enough cars there even where they could have, I think, successfully hidden behind one or anything

like that in that extremely short time between my parking space and getting onto the road. And I remember driving back as fast as I possibly can is just this huge blur of fear and self-preservation almost. Yeah. And I get to my apartment. I literally run from my car to the apartment door, jangle my keys, get inside, lock the door, and literally just kind of collapse onto the floor. I mean, just absolutely terrified and out of breath and my mind reeling at what I've seen

and not understanding it. And finally, I calm down, and I give a friend a call, and I talk about the experience. And this is kind of the, I guess, if there's a Twilight Zone twist ending, I guess, this is sort of where it comes in. He was kind of hanging out with a girl at that point who proclaimed to have some sort of psychic ability or whatever.

And he put it on speakerphone so they could hear the story as I was relating it. This is an old friend of mine from college, who's open to different things. And the girl stops and she said, well, wait a minute, did these kids, and this is way before I even get to that point, have all black eyes? And I say yes. And she says, well, it's a good thing you didn't let them into your car. You would have been killed.

Wow. So, I mean, right there, man, it just shows that whatever this phenomenon are, whatever these kids are like this has been happening long you know possibly longer before your incident clearly which we'll definitely get into but sure oh that that's terrifying and the idea that this friend knew of the threat that these children pose uh i can't even imagine like what you were going through after having this kind of a corroboration that this is a real true phenomenon what you saw was clearly not lucidory this was not something that like you you made up in the moment or was possibly a prank by these kids which a lot of skeptics like to throw in there which again we will get to but uh after you got

home you recalled this to a few friends uh i know that you recounted this in written form now this is another big part of your story and how this all got out so i would absolutely love if uh if you could explain to us how your story got out to the public, how it went viral. Could you sort of run us through this second part of it? Certainly. Yeah, we, back then, of course, the web was a bit more primitive than it is now. And I was a frequent kind of reader of what was called Usenet, which is, I guess, if I had to describe it, it was sort of a threaded message conversation sort of thing, kind of like Reddit, but not like Reddit, I guess. in a way.

And I was also a member of several email list serves just kind of devoted to different topics. And one of those, because of a previous experience and previous interest that I'd had in that arena, was devoted to ghost stories. And I kind of, this was a very small list serve. I mean, and so the feeling was almost kind of more of a small family than just a bunch of anonymous strangers after we'd been talking for quite some time. And so I kind of hemmed and hawed about this. And I mentioned a little bit about it earlier.

And finally, I decided, you know, I'm just going to, I'm just going to write about this and kind of share this with these individual people. And I know that they're not going to look at me askance. They've talked to me about this kind of a little bit already, and I want to just give everyone the full story, and then we can have a discussion about it and try to think about what they were and that sort of thing. And so I waited a while. The actual post didn't get sent, I think, until around July or August of 97. But I remembered everything. I mean explicitly.

So I sat down and I wrote this over just a couple days and just sort of looked at it and made sure it was to my satisfaction and then I sent it along and caused a lot of avid discussion on that. And then they said that, well, you should, you should kind of maybe share this on the, a lot of us posted on the alt. dot folklore. ghost stories usenet category. And so I said fine. And so I posted that

and sometime later. And from there is apparently where it kind of began to propagate. This was originally supposed to be just for a very small and select group of people

who then kind of encouraged me to share it with a wider group of people and now it's almost completely out of my control me. And so the reason that I wrote it is because, well, professionally, I'm a writer. And that's how I express myself. That's how I feel I express myself best.

And I'm one of these people who would write, even if I wasn't paid to do it. I often do, actually. I sit down and just sort of write things to clear my thoughts and whatnot. And so often write. is kind of a cathartic thing for me. It's it's, it's, I think it's kind of a, an almost sacred thing in a way. And so I, so I put this down and I shared it with these people and it got out. And boy, howdy did it get out? Because so even in the early days of the internet, things still went viral. Right. And we didn't really have that terminology for it. But, but this is, but that's exactly.

what happened with it. And to my surprise, I started getting almost immediately email feedback and other discussion on this with people who were curious, of course, and tend to ask the same five questions or so. But then there were people who started to say not only, you know, I believe you or what else happened or what have you, there were people who started writing back and saying, I saw these things too. And that was actually not something I was expecting, to be perfectly honest. I mean, I didn't know if this was some bizarre, singular thing or what have you. But then the flood gate kind of opened. And it was remarkable on one hand, and frightening, of course, on the other, because all these people were all of a sudden in a secondary manner confirming what had happened to me. And on one hand, that's great, because You want that kind of, that kind of validation is wonderful. But on the other hand, it opens up this kind of frightening Pandora's box of, well, what are these things and what do they want? Exactly.

And I love to ask you that question, Brian. Before we get to the propagation of the black-eyed kids and the stories that have followed and the stories that possibly came before, what in your heart of hearts do you believe you witness that night? and ultimately became the story that you would tell. What were these kids? What do you think? Well, this is the big question, isn't it? Well, here's the thing, and I would be lying if I could say that I know, because I don't know.

I have heard 10,000 theories and have entertained 10,000 theories myself, everything from demons to of course the alien hybrids which you know i'm sure some of your listeners uh lean that direction uh just all just all kinds of things and dark fairies extra dimensional beings all you know just every every type of concept has been something that i've looked at and and and kind of stroked my chin and whatnot and said well what are these all i can tell you is that i believe that they were A, not human, and B, of malevolent intent, and not human to such a degree as to somehow, it seemed to me, subtly warp reality around them, kind of like the way that, you know, a black hole kind of warps things around it in a way. I mean, they seem to kind of have this

almost, I don't know, here words kind of fail, I guess. I've been asked before if I've experienced any other anomalous feelings when I was around them. And there was kind of this sense of almost time slowing a little bit. I didn't hear traffic. I didn't hear other sounds that I would expect to hear in the background. It was sort of like everything just sort of zeroed in on this pair. And I guess if I had to say where I lean, I don't really lean towards. the alien explanation, I tend to lean towards some sort of extraditional, ultra-terrestrial,

perhaps kind of entity, I guess would be the terminologies. But beyond that, I'm as stymied as anyone. I've heard all kinds of folklore and all kinds of things like that that could possibly enter into the mixture. But the most honest answer is simply I still don't know. I think that's the best answer to someone like you could possibly give. I mean, if we were to say for certain what these things are, I mean, who are we to make that assertion? You know what I mean? What I think's interesting is that even to this day, your story, Brian, has never changed. And I think that's very important. And I think that's what shows that something truly anomalous, credible, and actual happen to you. Now, many skeptics and, and, you Many people who hear this story will say, oh, just a bunch of teenagers with contacts. Now, I know you've heard that a million times, and I'm sure you're rolling your eyes right now. But in terms of that, when the skeptics come to you with something like this, what do you say to their skeptics? Now, I know what you felt in the moment.

Many of us have felt when we've had a UFO sighting or a shadow person encounter, anything. Anything unusual that bends your perception of reality. Other things kick in, you know, things slow down. down, things speed up, you don't hear certain things, all of this. What do you say to the skeptics who say, these were kids playing a prank on you? Well, I have several things to say to that. If indeed they did don some contacts or have some contacts on or something like that, I find that to be highly suspect because, first of all, this was 21 years ago.

and this was not the sort of thing that just a couple of kids would probably have on their person. Contacts like that were expensive. They were specialized. You had to order them. I did this. I mean, I went and looked up to see how much a pair of these contacts would cost. And the cost was extremely, in my opinion, prohibitive for a couple of kids who just wanted to play a prank on me. Beyond that, I mean, all I can say is really what I saw and what I felt.

And the one thing I will say is that as a journalist, I am trained to notice details. And I understand from interviewing people for years that it's very easy for people to misinterpret data at some sort of a scene. You can go up and ask them, okay, well, what color was the car in the hit and run? and some people will say it's green, and some people will say it's yellow, and that guy over there says it's red. And that is a real thing. That can happen. You know, witnesses don't always properly correlate contents of what they've seen. But from my perspective, one of the things that we do is we train ourselves to do that. We're supposed to notice details. We're supposed to be able to recount things exactly as, they transpired.

And even then, at my, I was fairly young at that point. I'd had all of that training. I'd already worked as a professional for a while. And just, I don't know. All I can say is that I believe that's what I saw. And I've even gone back to the movie theater, actually, with friends around the same time. and park in the same place and said, okay, you stand over there

and I'm going to look up at the theater marquee and I'm going to see if we can recreate this somehow where my eyes didn't adjust properly and what I saw wasn't what I thought I saw wasn't really what was happening. So you stand there, I'll be here, I'll look up at about the same time and all that. Can't recreate it.

I mean, and I've done this probably two or three times, actually, since then, just to try to satisfy for myself. If there was ever a point where I could recreate this, I would get on the internet and say, hey, guess what? I think this is what happened. And I'd be happy to do that. If I got an email from some guy who would probably be in his 30s now, who said, hey, that was my friend, Justin and I and Justin forgot our money and we remember you and you were in a particular type of

car or something like that or some other detail that only someone who was there would have known. Then again, the same thing. I mean, it would be like, okay, mystery solved. But I don't think I'm ever going to be able to do that. And I don't think I'm ever going to get that email either because I don't think that that's what I was seeing and experiencing. I think honestly that I experienced something truly anomalous, and I've recounted it to the best of my ability, and with all of the same journalistic ethics and integrity that I would with anything else. And I, you know, so I stand by the story, and I guess my deal to them would be,

I'm sorry that you don't believe this. I know that from a lot of people's perspective, The only way that they're going to believe it is if it happens to them. And then my response to that would be, I sincerely hope you don't have to go through that. Exactly. A lot of people, you know, say, oh, I want to see a UFO. I want to see black-eyed children. Until you're there in the moment, man, I would assume, no. No one would ever want to go through something like this.

And the other good point you make is that they weren't there. When I interview people about their UFO sightings, their abduction experiences, of course, I'm always going to have that small sliver of judgment or hesitancy when I hear it. But when it comes down to it, man, just like you said, as a responsible journalist, you can't make that first judgment immediately because we were not there in that moment. So I think that's very important to keep in mind. Yeah. And it's interesting that you mentioned that. I've had people actually contact me and say, okay, well, we're going to go to that movie theater. What should we do?

And my mind boggles at this, and I just write back to them and I say, look, I don't think that you understand what you're asking for. I don't think you're going to understand what you find if you actually have that experience. But moreover than that, I don't think anything's going to happen because that's not the way that this happens. I mean, the most convincing and interesting stories to me are the things that happen just on a clear. day, so to speak, where people are not expecting or looking for anything anomalous. When you're going on the ghost hunt or you go hang out in Roswell or something like that, you know, you're going there with an expectation that's pretty much going to not be met most of the time, I would argue.

And so I tell them, well, look, I would, if you have any sort of faith about, you. you, I'd take maybe some sort of icon that means something to you may help, may not, I don't know. Other than that, good luck sitting in a parking lot for a couple of hours with nothing occurring around you. That's a wonderful point. Well, Brian, in terms of, let's go back to the parking lot for a minute. This is very fascinating part of the BEK lore, as it is now, with all of these stories that are propagated. idea that they need to be invited in. And you mentioned that they said that. They can't come in your car unless you invite them in. Now, in all the years that have passed and all the stories that have come from this initial experience that you had, have you ever come across a story that you find credible where someone has invited them into a car or into a home? Has anything like that ever come to your attention?

It's hard to say. I've read a few things where people say that they invited them in and that they felt sick afterward or felt like or felt drained or something like that. There's one that's circulating around on the internet that I find really interesting where it's a husband and a wife who allegedly let them in and he suffered some sort of burns or illness or something like that akin to radiation sickness. I mean, I mean, I'm not. I think people have probably seen that one floating around out there. It's really, that's really interesting. And the thing is, I don't know that I've ever heard. I mean, I knew one fellow who lived in Portland, Oregon, who claimed that not he let them in, but that another guy did in his presence. And the guy was supposedly in a car accident and was killed.

but that's completely apocryphal to me. I have not done the background research necessary to confirm that, and I don't even know the name of the reporting party, who I haven't been in touch with in a decade or so, but I don't know the name of the victim, and so I would have to have that to even begin to start to drill down to see if there was any truth to that, and that's not been something I've done.

So honestly, there are stories out there of people letting them in. Now, a couple of them have potential UFO ties and men and black and that sort of thing because I think in the one with the fellow with the radiation sickness and that sort of thing, they hung out there. And then, I believe, a black car or something like that drove up. someone came to get them and whatnot, and so we get into MIB territory, I guess, there. But as far as definitive, this is what happens if you let them in, no, because I think for the most part, if you let them in, we don't hear from you.

Yeah, that's a very good point. And I don't even want to go down that rabbit hole. A little too scary for my taste. Pop culture. This B.Ks have become such a part of horror movies. of, you know, literature, of everything we can possibly think of at this point. You know, anyone with an iPhone can go shoot a small YouTube video about their encounter with the Black Eye Kids. Even a comic book, you know, has recently come out from Aftershock Comics. What do you think of the rise of the BECs within pop culture as opposed to the actual phenomenon happening? Well, let me tell you about that, about my first encounter with that comic book.

We had a bookstore here until fairly recently called Hastings. It's a chain that's common around here. They closed the whole thing recently. But they sold everything books, comics, DVDs, all that sort of thing. So I walked in one day, my wife and I, and we were just going to hang out in the coffee shop there. And I read comics. Well, I tend to read graphic novels. I prefer to call them.

but they're comics. You didn't mean. So, so anyway, I walked over there and right next to the Betty and Veronica and Captain America, I see B-E-Ks. And it's, I took a step back and I said that that can't be. And I picked it up and sure enough it was. And again, I kind of felt reality bend a little bit because it's like, okay, when is this going to end? I guess in a way. And it was the first issue of it, and I bought it.

And to be honest, I haven't even cracked the thing because I'm worried I'm a character in it. I wouldn't doubt that. But, yeah, this started, I guess, probably 15 years ago, where we started seeing these, whenever we want to represent an alien, whenever we want to represent a vampire or someone who's possessed or something like that, in movies, TV, other popular media, as you say, there are the black eyes.

And I'll say this, and I've told people this before, every time I see that, no matter what it's in, if it's in a movie or just something on TV or what have you, even a video on YouTube or something like that, and I see the eyes and whatnot, there's still that twinge of fear that starts, even now. Okay. And, yeah, they have absolute, this image has absolutely proliferated in popular culture. There is no doubt about that. And I don't know if the story, these early stories are the origin or if it's just some sort of almost archetypal thing that's manifesting itself through art and literatures. these things often do.

So I look at that and I just, I do marvel at how much it has spread through pop culture and horror and all of that sort of thing. And I both find it interesting and also a little bit terrifying, I guess. I mean, I don't really know how to explain that. I mean, it's terrifying personally, but also it's just, it's kind of like these. these images are in front of people, and even to some degree images have power to them. And I often wonder kind of what's going on there, and that may be adding too much to it. But I certainly find it at a personal level sinister at the least.

Yeah, it is interesting. It's like feeding the beast, man. This idea of the topa, you know, you can wish something into, into existence. And you have to wonder, the more we talk about the VECAs, the more that people spread these stories, are we manifesting the phenomenon? It's a question I ask on my show all the time. We may never know that answer, but I guess my next question for you would be sort of confessional time on your end. If you had the chance to go back to that night, would you have done anything differently? Or would you wish that this thing never,

happened to you, Brian? Well, it's interesting. I don't think I would wish that it had never happened, which you would think would be a kind of a logical thing, but I mean, I've had other anomalous experiences before, and this is probably the crowning one, certainly, but everything that you encounter like this teaches you something about yourself, I think. And at the time, I was actually going through kind of a period of, I guess, a whole lot of internal wrangling with certain issues, I mean, of everything from spirituality to self. And not that I think that these things were necessarily a manifestation of that, but in the way that synchronicity and whatnot tends to work, I guess, and I'm a big believer in that, you know, the meaningful coincidence. I think that it was

necessary that I experienced this, just at a personal level. If I could go back to the time and actually do something different, I would hope that I could maybe with conscious thought, temper down some of that fear response, although I'm not sure that I actually could. I mean, just simply the way that it all worked out. But I would, I mean, I'll admit that. that I have an insatiable curiosity to know what they were and what they wanted and that sort of thing. So if there was any way to even glean the barest extra shred of information about that, I certainly would have welcomed that.

But then again, I mean, you know, it happened the way it happened, and I think that it happened naturally. My gratitude for it is that for whatever reason, whether it was something my brain was unconsciously doing to help me quote unquote break the spell or whatever or just fortune. I mean, I think that when I looked away, that's when whatever this connection that was forged between me and these entities sort of either broke or weakened enough that I was able to see capital R reality, I guess. So that's the thing I would hope wouldn't change. And really it kind of had to happen in the chronology it did for all that to transpite.

So. Yeah, it seems like you, you pierced the veil and you caught a glimpse of something, whatever that something might be, we may never know. But I think that's okay, you know, that drive to, that curiosity to want to know what happened to you, but maybe never getting that answer. That's something I struggle with all the time. You know, will we ever know if UFOs have visited the planet, you know, aside from the question of, is life out there?

Have they been here? Have they communicated with us? and what is going on with all of this, all of these topics that we find interesting. That's what keeps me going, even though I'm, I've kind of accepted that we may never know. So as depressing as that may sound, it also keeps me going. So in terms of that, Brian, what do you do we know? If people want to learn more about what you're doing, what you're working on, is there somewhere we can find you and your work?

If you want to find my professional work, that's pretty easy to find, on the internet, although if you really want to read local city council coverage, I'm not so sure, a separate email account for people who want to talk to me specifically about BEKs. And just trying to quest around for a name, I called it BEK Reports at gmail.com. So that's BEK spelled out, Reports with an S at Gmail.com. And I am happy to talk to people. listen to their experiences and whatnot. There was kind of a point in time in the past where I sort of took a break from all this, I guess.

But kind of a few years ago at the encouragement of my wife and some other people I decided to jump back in. And any stories and any information people want to share is extremely welcome. Well, I'm happy you did jump back in, Brian, because it's clear something truly strange happened to you. and terrifying and just otherworldly. And I can tell you right now, man, I'm glad that I wasn't in your shoes or in your car that night. So I have to thank you for breaking this all down for us today and for joining me on Somewhere in the Skies.

Thank you very much. All right. Well, this week's main episode has come to an end. But the stories of the B.E.Ks certainly haven't. Join me on a special bonus episode available to Patreon subscribers at the monthly $5.5.5. level where I recount two BEK encounters that stretch much, much further back than the 1996 encounter with Brian Bethel. Also, you'll hear a story Brian told after the interview

about a ghostly encounter that preceded his black-eyed kid experience. Also, Brian mentioned a story in the interview about a couple who did indeed let the B.E.Ks into their home. What happened next was terrifyingly recounted in a letter written to Greg and Dana Newkirk of Planet Weird. You'll hear that letter in this bonus episode. To hear all of this incredible bonus material to learn more and to become a Patreon subscriber,

head on over to patreon.com backslash somewhere skies. Many different rewards await you at different monthly levels of patronage. So, be sure to check it out now at patreon.com backslash somewhere skies. Contact me personally with guest suggestions, topics, or to tell a story, head over to somewhere in the skies.com and use the contact tab. We're on Twitter at SomewhereSkies and Instagram at SomewhereSkies pod.

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We will finally be diving back into UFOs next week with a very special episode about one of the most bizarre and hotly debated alien abduction cases to date. I'll see you here next Sunday, and remember, keep your feet on the ground, but never stop searching somewhere in the skies. And for the love of God,

Please don't ever let a black-eyed kid into your car or home. You've been warned. Where in the skies is produced by Third Kind Productions, in association with Antica Productions and the Antica Podcast Network. To learn more, visit anticaproductions.com.