I am looking for a children’s short story read in mid-‘70’s about children in old-time village where once a year parents put protection on doors and windows. Naughty kids look out window at night and see villagers crouched naked on rooftops with shining silver eyes.
I probably got this at a scholastic book fair, it may have been in a book of short scary stories and the poem “Little Orphant Annie” may have been in the same book.
I have the vague impression it was set in Puritan times. The kids were curious about all the superstitious things the parents were doing to protect the doors and windows. They were to go up to bed and keep the windows covered and not look out but curiosity got the better of them. They peeped out and in the moonlight they could see the forms of villagers they knew crouched on various rooftops, then heads turned towards them, and the eyes were reflective. I don’t believe it ended well for the children. It creeped me out as a child.