Plat Eye

 


The Plat Eye is a ghostly undead monster from America Folklore. It's found along the gulf coast, into Georgia and up into South Carolina. The legend of the plat eye was told primarily among African Americans.

The plat eye is a ghostly predatory beast, usually a large cat. Its most distinguishing feature is its single large eye, which glows red. Often all a person will see of the plat eye is its glowing eye staring at them from the darkness. The plat eye's body is pale white or grey, like a lifeless corps. Often its flesh is rotten and its guts are hanging out, furthering the undead appearance.  

The plat eye can shape shift into the forms of a headless human, a sickly black calf or a black dog. The plat eye can also appear and disappear at will.

Plat eyes haunt bayous and crossroads after midnight, and are never seen in the light of day. They fade out of existence in the sunlight. The plat eye surrounds itself in mist and appears out of the fog.

Plat Eyes are the restless spirits of people who died violently or didn't receive a proper burial. Because of their tragic death plat eyes are turned into beings of pure malevolence and compelled to endlessly hunt down victims. It will torment their victim into a state of panic and chase them off the road, deep into the bayou where they become hopelessly lost. When the target has no hope of escape, or gives up in exhaustion or despair then the glow of the plat eye's eye will expand to surround the victim, who is then consumed. The victim is devoured body and soul. The soul is then traded to the devil for the plat eye's own freedom and the spirit of the devoured person becomes a new plat eye in its place. Those who do escape the Plat Eye are driven to madness.

Who the plat eye targets varies depending on the version of the legend. Either it hunts down sinners and those with guilty consciences. Other versions it hunts down pure and innocent people, often children. Regardless of who you were though, if you travelled the roads alone at night you were at risk of meeting the plat eye.

These days the legend of the Plat Eye is barely remembered. When it is the creature is often depicted as a ghostly black dog, similar to the black dog spirits found throughout England. It's unfortunate that the unique details of this legend are being forgotten.


  

  

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