Children are supposed to represent innocence. But across folklore, paranormal accounts and unsettling historical cases, the figure of the child can become something far more disturbing.
I’ll also share my own personal experience with a creepy child in a clinic.
Welcome to Episode 90 of The Storytelling Podcast, where we enter the world of creepy kids and explore the stories that blur the line between reality and legend.
WATCH THE EPISODE
Chapters
00:00 – Entering the World of Creepy Kids
01:20 – The Black-Eyed Children of Abilene
04:25 – The Phantom of Cannock Chase
07:00 – The Ancient Irish Changelings
10:30 – The Secrets of the Montauk Project
14:30 – The Vallecas Possession Case
18:20 – The Children’s Ward of Valongo
21:15 – My Personal Experience with a Creepy Child
28:30 – Final Thoughts
🎥 YouTube Visual Episode: https://youtu.be/I2Q6hxN5wCo
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Sources and further reading
The episode’s fact-check notes discuss the origins and credibility:
– Black-Eyed Children legend: Emma Cieslik, Death as a Child: The Modern Legend of the Black-Eyed Children, Atlas Obscura (2024): https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/black-eyed-children-urban-legend
Black-Eyed Children, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-eyed_children
– Cannock Chase ghost story: PBS, Monstrum: Don’t Let Them In! The Urban Legends of Black-Eyed Children: https://www.pbs.org/video/dont-let-them-in-the-urban-legends-of-black-eyed-children-oht8de/
– Celtic changeling folklore: C. F. Goodey and T. Stainton, Intellectual Disability and the Myth of the Changeling Myth, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (2001): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11466710/
Rose A. Sawyer, The Medieval Changeling: Health, Childcare, and the Family Unit, Boydell & Brewer (2023): https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2x4kp7q
Changeling, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling
– Montauk Project conspiracy theory: US Army Corps of Engineers, Camp Hero: https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Civil-Works-Budget-Information/Projects-in-New-York/Camp-Hero/
The Secrets of Camp Hero and the Montauk Conspiracy Theories, Roadtrippers: https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/camp-hero-montauk-conspiracy-theories/
On Montauk, article on the Montauk Project: https://onmontauk.com/2020/05/23/elementor-23599/
– Vallecas case: Cuatro, Expediente Vallecas: el único informe paranormal de la Policía en España (2018): https://www.cuatro.com/cuarto-milenio/expediente-vallecas-informe-paranormal-policia-espana_18_2627100016.html
Telemadrid, Caso Vallecas: el Expediente X español (2023): https://www.telemadrid.es/noticias/madrid/Caso-Vallecas-El-Expediente-X-espanol-que-culmino-con-el-unico-informe-policial-que-recoge-sucesos-paranormales-en-el-pais-0-2609439095–20231026075340.html
Archivo 13, Expediente Vallecas: el atestado de 1992 y los hechos documentados: https://www.archivo13.com/expediente/expediente-vallecas-el-atestado-policial-de-1992
– Sanatório de Mont’Alto: Ana Rodrigues, Mont’Alto Sanatorium – Valongo, academic research hosted by the Polytechnic Institute of Porto: https://recipp.ipp.pt/bitstream/10400.22/17470/1/Ana_Rodrigues_MEIN_2020.pdf
NiT, O sanatório abandonado há 50 anos em Valongo que parece cenário de um filme de terror: https://www.nit.pt/fora-de-casa/na-cidade/o-sanatorio-abandonado-ha-50-anos-em-valongo-que-parece-cenario-de-um-filme-de-terror
JornalismoPortoNet (JPN), A história de um Sanatório que chegou fora de horas: https://www.jpn.up.pt/2018/07/17/a-historia-de-um-sanatorio-que-chegou-fora-de-horas/