the child snatchers

Type:                    demon 

Powers:              i. Sense Theft —  able to steal sight from other beings 

                               ii. Aura Choking —  able to constrict the throats of good people with their auras

                               iii. Portal Creation —  able to create doorways to other locations or dimensions 

Magic:                   To vanquish, use a potion made of shisandra root. 

Details:                Grimlocks are brutal, albino demons with whirling, psychedelic eyes and black trench coats who dwell in the sewer system. Violent and aggressive, they usually operate in pairs. 

Grimlocks will snatch a child so that they may steal his eyesight, which in turn allows them to see the golden auras which surround good people. They are then able to throttle the life out of these individuals by choking them with their own auras. The stolen eyesight will only last 24hrs and thereafter the grimlocks will consume the child. 

A pair of grimlocks had been active in San Francisco since sometime in the 1980's when they had kidnapped two boys and stolen their eyesight. One of the boys, Brent Miller, was found days later wandering the streets and blind. The other boy was never seen again. 

A decade or so later, the grimlocks snatched a boy named David Hatcher when he wandered away from his birthday party in the park to retrieve a ball. Prue witnessed his kidnapping and tried to intervene but was momentarily stunned when she channelled her power through her hands instead of her eyes. This gave the demon a chance to escape with David. 

Unbeknownst to Prue an opportunistic reporter named Eric Lohman had also seen her power. 

Phoebe tracked Brent Miller down, who was now a wealthy programmer for the visually impaired. Initially, Brent refused to talk about his ordeal because he had been ridiculed for it in the past, but Phoebe convinced him that she had seen some monsters of her own and that he could trust her. 

Phoebe had a premonition of Brent, as a boy, escaping his captors in the sewers, and with Brent's help she was able to determine where David might be. 

Meanwhile, Lohman had gone to both Prue and Andy about Prue's magic and both refused to comment, which only confirmed Lohman's suspicions and made him all the more hungry to expose her. She and Piper had to outsmart Lohman when he tried to trick them into using their powers in public so he could catch it on tape. 

While Prue brewed the necessary potion for vanquishing the grimlocks, Piper and Phoebe went down into the tunnels beneath the city to see if they could locate David as they were running out of time to save him and his eyesight. Whilst searching, the pair were startled by a rat and Piper fell into a hole, knocking herself unconscious. Phoebe covered the hole with a scrap piece of cardboard before running to get help. 

Prue got Phoebe's call, gathered the potions and tried to leave for their location but found herself hindered by Lohman who'd tampered with her car. He forced her to confess on camera that she was witch. He then fixed her car and followed her to the tunnels but he managed to get separated from the others and was subsequently killed by a grimlock. 

Unbeknownst to Prue, Andy had also shown up at the tunnels after he was informed of the location by Brent. 

Piper was starting to come to and unknowingly alerted a grimlock to her presence. He immediately noticed her shining golden aura and began to choke her with it. Prue and Phoebe arrived just in time and Prue sent a large pipe flying into the grimlock, knocking him down and he quickly took off. 

Prue then raised Piper from the hole with her power before helping her to the entrance. Andy meanwhile had found Lohman's body and had begun to inspect it when a grimlock attacked him out of nowhere. The Halliwells happened upon them and Prue was forced to use her power to save Andy, telekinetically throwing the grimlock off him, and in doing so, finally confirmed all of Andy's long-standing suspicions. 

Prue pocketed Lohman's tape and Andy took Piper up to the street to recover. Prue and Phoebe continued the search for David but were startled by a grimlock and managed to vanquish him with the potion. 

The pair found the grimlocks' nest and split up to find David. Phoebe found him and another boy locked in a crude, makeshift cage. She alerted her sister but as Prue turned around she was attacked by the remaining grimlock and dropped the potion! 

 It shattered on the floor, spilling the contents into a puddle. The grimlock incapacitated her by restricting her golden aura around her neck, forcing Prue to her knees as she battled to breathe.  

Luckily, Phoebe surprised the demon from behind and walloped him across the head with her flashlight. He turned to focus on her, giving Prue the reprieve she needed to recover. She swept her hand toward the grimlock in an upward motion, telekinetically gathering the potion from its puddle and sending it splashing into the grimlock's face, vanquishing him within seconds. 

 Upon vanquishing the demons, David's eyesight was restored and the sisters reunited him with his mother, though they were concerned that he would out them in his police report. 

Brent arrived at the station and surprised Phoebe by revealing that he too could see once again. He thanked Phoebe and then offered to speak to David so that he would keep the Halliwell's secret. 

Status:                Vanquished 

Episode:             S1E19   "Out of Sight"