Medieval Aliens — The Green Children of Woolpit
Were These Children Our First Contact?
In the history of strange and bizarre tales, the story of the Green Children of Woolpit is one that has captivated and puzzled historians and enthusiasts for centuries. The tale dates back to the 12th century, during the reign of King Stephen, in a small village in Suffolk, England called Woolpit.
The Village of Woolpit
Woolpit is a small village and civil parish located in Mid Suffolk, Suffolk, England. It is situated about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Bury St. Edmunds and around 6 miles (10 km) southwest of Newmarket. The earliest recorded history of Woolpit dates back to Anglo-Saxon times when it was a royal manor in the kingdom of East Anglia. The name “Woolpit” comes from the Old English words ‘wulfpyppas’, meaning ‘wolf pit’ or ‘wolf hollow’. The village has been associated with St. Edmund, the patron saint of England, since at least the 13th century. Importantly, it was also one of the most densely populated villages in England at the time.
Wolf pits were meant for trapping animals for food and protection. They were common until the medieval times in most villages in the area. It is unclear how the wolf pits were constructed in Woolpit but in some cases naturally occurring sinkholes and caves were used, a detail that may be related to the strange story.
Close Encounters of the Green Kind
According to the chronicles, two children, a boy and a girl, appeared near one of the wolf pits, which gives the town its name. Their skin was tinged green, and they spoke an unknown language and wore strange clothing. The children were discovered by reapers who were harvesting crops. Initially, the children refused to eat any food offered to them, but they were eventually enticed to eat beans, which they consumed voraciously.
The children were taken to the village, where they were cared for by a local landowner, Sir Richard de Calne. The townspeople urged them to be baptised and around the time of the baptism, the boy became ill and died, but the girl survived. She learned to speak English and was eventually baptized.
The girl explained that they had come from a land called St. Martin’s Land, where everything was green, and there was no sunlight, only a perpetual twilight. She described their journey to Woolpit as following the sound of bells, which she compared to the sound of the bells of Bury St Edmunds abbey, whereupon they wandered through the darkness until they emerged into the daylight of Woolpit. The girl lived in Woolpit for many years, eventually marrying a man from King’s Lynn, a nearby town.
Strangely Well Documented
There are two distinct sources of the stories, one by William of Newburgh, a 12th century historian collecting stories about revenants, and another by Ralph of Coggeshall, a monk of Coggeshall Abbey. Neither of them seem to have known about the others material so it does not seem like they had a common source unless that source was Richard de Calne. There are also slight differences between the two sources.
According to William’s account, the children were reportedly unable to explain how they arrived in Woolpit. They had been attending to their father’s livestock when an unexplained loud noise occurred, akin to the sound of Bury St Edmunds abbey bells according to William. Subsequently, they found themselves near the wolf pit where they were later discovered. In contrast, Ralph’s version has it that the children got lost while following their father’s cattle into a cave. They then used the sound of bells as a guide and eventually emerged in our vicinity.
Because of the two distinct sources and the lack of skepticism by historians near the time of the event, it appears that the story is true, at least on the surface. This has led most modern scholars to consider it to be
An Outlier in the World of Folklore
The story of the Green Children of Woolpit has also been analyzed by 20th-century scholars of folklore, who have identified various elements within the tale that resonate with other popular narratives of the time. One such element is the entry into a different reality by way of a cave, a theme that seems to have been quite popular in medieval folklore. Gerald of Wales, the medieval historian, tells a similar story of a boy who, after encountering two pigmies, is led through an underground passage into a beautiful land with fields and rivers, but not lit by the full light of the sun.
However, the specific motif that refers to the green children is poorly attested. E. W. Baughman lists it as the only example of his F103.1 category of English and North American folktale motifs: “Inhabitants of lower world visit mortals, and continue to live with them”. Madej has similarly argued that the tale of the Green Children was part of a popular skein of imagination, “originating in the territories of England and Wales, that of passing through a cave to another world”.
The eating of beans has also attracted the attention of folklorists. K. M. Briggs observes that “the habitual food of the children was beans, the food of the dead”. She had made the same observation about the food of the dead in her 1967 book “The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature”, but John Clark casts doubt on the supposed tradition that Briggs is referring to, commenting that “an identification of beans as the food of the dead is unwarranted”. However, he agrees that “beans are in many cultures associated with the dead”, and Madej argues that not only had broad beans “been the symbol of death and corruption since the ancient times … they were also associated with opposite phenomena, such as rebirth and fertility”.
Possible Explanations
One important fact about the location of Woolpit is its proximity to another town named Fornham St Martin, which lies just north. It is difficult to not see that as an important detail since the children claimed to have been from Saint Martin’s land. It is also worth noting that many of the people in St Martin were Flemish, a language that may not have been recognized by the people of Woolpit. However, considering the proximity of the villages and the length of time the children were there, it’s difficult to imagine someone somewhere not recognizing the language. The girl goes on to live rather far away, by comparison, so it seems like someone would have commented on it.
The children were notably found at the “time of the harvest”, meaning in the late fall. This has a strange correlation with Martinmass, which we sometimes call “Old Halloween” and it was celebrated by children in Germanic speaking cultures, as well as other areas in Europe. Saint Martin was often viewed as the saint how bestows gifts on children. In nearly all traditions, children went from house to house gathering gifts by the light of lanterns they were carrying and they were typically following a man on horseback, similar to the notion they were following cattle. In some places, such as Sicily, they were given fava beans, which seems strangely correlated to their preference for broad beans.
There is a disease caused by nutritional deficiencies known as hypochromic anemia, which is generally caused by not having enough B6 and iron in the blood, and it causes the person to appear green in color. It is also, importantly, characterized by a lack of appetite. Even more pertitent to the story, medieval medical explanations for the condition were the lack of sex. According to the 16th century German writer ___, it was called “the disease of virgins” and the remedy was “to live with men and copulate. If they conceive, they will recover.” This may explain the villagers mission to find a husband for the girl.
Since the story has been discussed thoroughly from the time of the events that took place, there are countless other explanations ranging from aliens to fairies. There are many correlations to fairy lore at the time but there are no other stories of fairies traveling to this world and staying. Now the story is in the remote past and there are no remains of either of the children, so speculation will continue. Regardless, the story of these medieval aliens is peculiar and unique in the history of the world’s folklore, an outlier in the chronicles of the world.
