The Green Children of Woolpit
It was only a matter of time before this strange sibling duo found their way onto the Astonishing Legends blog. Some see the Green Children of Woolpit, and its stories throughout history, as simply folklore. Some believe they are just a fairytale - a tale of human creation (or confusion). However, some see it as an actual occurrence. Either way, this mystery is sure to send shivers down your spine.
This story dates all the way back to somewhere around the 12th century, which is when it first begins making the rounds.The initial written recording of this tale is by Ralph of Coggestall Abbey, who died in 1228 AD. It is believed that the ‘true’ origin of this story (if you believe any of this at all) also occurred in the same century -- although there is not a lot of direct proof
In Suffolk, England a young brother and sister had seemingly lost their way. Depending on the tale, they either appeared randomly at the edge of a field or dangerously near a wolf pit. Either way, the villagers were quite surprised to see two small children alone. Oh, did I mention the children also had green skin
In addition to their green skin, some tales and retellings say they acted quite strangely and unusually, and were also dressed in unusually colorful clothes (although these details are not in every telling).
Some describe it as more of a tinge, while other accounts claim they were well and truly green. When they were taken into the home of Sir Richard de Calne, their strangeness only grew. The children did not speak English, and they refused almost every food they were given. Sir Richard, and the rest of their villagers, tried to make the children eat. However, they refused everything besides fava beans. As they stayed in the home, they began broadening their culinary horizons, began to learn English, and even lost their own green hue.
The children were christened; however, the brother died soon after and without fully learning English. Some stories describe him as seeming ill or sickly from the first day he was found. Despite his death, his sister began to grow and learn and eventually shared what little she remembered of her life before suffolk:
“We are ignorant [of how we arrived here]; we only remember this, that on a certain day, when we were feeding our father’s flocks in the fields, we heard a great sound, such as we are now accustomed to hear at St. Edmund’s, when the bells are chiming; and whilst listening to the sound in admiration, we became on a sudden, as it were, entranced, and found ourselves among you in the fields where you were reaping.”
She took the name Agnes and would also go on to describe what little she remembered of her homeland, which she described as ‘underground’. She called it St. Martin’s Land, and claimed it existed in perpetual twilight and there was a large river that separated St. Martin’s land from a different land.
There are some stories in which the brother lives, and also shares the same story (but it does not appear that there was any information added by the brother living).
Of course, there are a variety of theories floating about these two strange children. Two of the most common could not be on more different ends of the spectrum: aliens or malnourishment.
Given their green tone, strange food habits, and inability to speak English initially...it was easy for some to believe the children were accidental visitors from outer space, aka aliens. However, the same exact conditions also lead many to believe that perhaps the children were suffering from an extreme or specific malnourishment and even abandonment or abuse.
In John Clark’s paper, Small, Vulnerable ET’s: the Green Children of Woolpit published in the Science Fiction Journal he summarizes on the most infamous alien theories:
"The most developed of these extraterrestrial hypothesis is Duncan Lynan's. In a 1996 article entitled, Children from the Sky, published in the sf magazine, Analog. Lunan has summarized his painstaking study of medieval documentary sources and his reconstruction of the family history of Richard de Calne (he concludes that the green girl was baptized Agnes and later married one Richard Barre, a royal official), combining this with a completely science fictional solution to the mystery of the Green Children. His explanation posits a human colony on a distant planet, established there by aliens. This planet is trapped in synchronous orbit around its sun so that one hemisphere is bathed in perpetual fierce sunlight, the other forever frozen, and only a narrow twilight zone habitable. The broad river that separates the children's land from the bright land beyond serves as part of the temperature control system. Alien plants are genetically modified to be edible by humans, with a side effect of coloring the human skin green; and transport to and from Earth is provided by a matter-transmitter that is a combination of the quantum scanning and wormhole systems. To this Lunan adds the ever-popular Templar knights, involved in secret negotiations with extraterrestrials entities, and a twelfth century government conspiracy to hush the matter up."
So - what do you make of this strange, oddly believable tale of the Green Children of Woolpit?
Caz, thank you for this blongstonishing suggestion!
The blog image is by Rod Bacon and depicts English: The "green children" of Woolpit on the village sign. It is licensed under Creative Commons 2.0.
