Two teenagers have recalled a terrifying encounter with the ' black-eyed child ' at a Staffordshire forest.
The young couple claimed a ghostly girl encircled their tent while giggling and moving "in ways humans simply can’t move" to hide behind trees.
There have been sightings of her around Cannock Chase since the 1980s, reports Birmingham Live.
While some dismiss the claims, others believe it is the tormented soul of a young girl who was murdered in the area during the 1960s. And some are even convinced it is an alien or demon.
Kylie and Ben say they saw the ghoul at Birches Valley during the summer of 2021.
The two teenagers - whose names have been changed to protect their identity - had been separated due to the Covid pandemic, so decided to camp illegally together in the middle of the forest.
The youngsters, who were 17 at the time, recounted their ordeal to supernatural investigator and author Lee Brickley.
Their tale is featured in his new book 'Haunted Cannock Chase: True ghost stories from the UK's spookiest location'.
It was around midnight when the teens heard something moving around outside their tent.
Thinking it could be a deer, they remained still and quiet, not wishing to spook it. But when they realised they could hear footsteps, they unzipped the tent to take a peek.
Both campers heard the sound of a small child giggling so they turned on their torches, lighting up the dark woodland to try and find the source.
Ben spotted it first - running from tree to tree, hiding itself behind the trunks and occasionally peering out towards the couple before finally stepped out into the clearing in front of them.
Kylie said: “I was absolutely terrified. 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.
"I knew instantly that we were dealing with the real thing because it moved in ways humans simply can’t move. It was like it could teleport from one place to another when it was moving around and hiding behind the trees."
Ben added: “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 frightened pair huddled together in their tent, waiting for the sun to rise. When they came outdoors at 7am, they found piles of stones evenly spaced around the perimeter of their tent and strange stick formations hanging from the trees, which looked like dreamcatchers.
Slightly shaken, they packed up and started the 15-minute walk back to Ben's car. Suddenly, Kylie spotted a small child with black eyes peering back at her from behind an oak tree and screamed.
Ben said he shouted "leave us alone" as the pair ran off towards his vehicle.
Author Lee has been looking into the spooky goings-on at Cannock Chase for the last decade and has released four books about his findings.
He believes he had his own encounter with the black-eyed child in Birches Valley back in April 2018.
Lee said: "She appeared about a hundred metres in front of me. She stared right at me for about thirty seconds, then vanished without a trace."
He also claims to have witnessed someone in an old soldier's uniform walk into the German War Cemetery, only follow them inside and discover they had disappeared.
Referring to why he believes there is so much 'supernatural activity' at the site, Lee said: "I tend to believe that Cannock Chase is somewhat of a paranormal portal area where beings and entities from the next world can migrate into our own.
"I believe the woods are haunted with many spirits of the dead, but there are also lots of monster sightings that happen here, and I think those creatures come from another, much darker place."
The 34-year-old, who lives in Cannock, spent roughly six months writing his latest book.
He said: "It contains the best and most interesting paranormal encounters reported to me during the last year - although many of them happened at various times during the last 20 years. "
The book is available to buy on Amazon at £9.99.
