Strange tale of the green children of Woolpit.

Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:14 pm » by **Allreadydead**

This would have been No.3 in my 'Graveyard Gossip' Series, so I'll throw it out now, seems a shame to waste it! :mrgreen:

The Strange Tale Of The Green Children Of Woolpit.

This strange tale of what could be alien visitors, or humans from the inner world of Earth, appeared around the time of the English King Stephen (1135 - 1154) and was documented at the time, so I offer an introduction to this fascinating story:

One day during the reign of King Stephen (ad 1135-54), two children were found weeping and wandering, lost and forlorn, in the great pits used to trap wolves at the village of Woolpit, in Suffolk. Pretty normal looking children except they were green, and they spoke a language that was unknown to the folk of St. Mary's.

They were taken to Sir Richard de Calne, at Wikes (purely as amusement), but the children once there wept bitterly. They were fed bread and other food but they refused everything even though they were extremely hungry (the girl afterwards acknowledged this fact). Finally some beans that were freshly cut and still had their stalks attached were brought - the children madly tried to open the bean stalks as if they were the pods and thought that the beans were inside - but finding nothing they once again wept. Someone stepped forward and showed them that the beans were in the pods - the children were happy at this and fed on the raw beans with great delight. For a long long time that's all they ate. The boy was extremely unhealthy and died within a year of being found. But the girl grew strong and spent the rest of her life in the area. With time the green faded and she took on the appearance of any other normal "non green" human. She later on married a man from King's Lynn in Norfolk and learnt English.

Woolpit This enabled her to tell of how herself and her brother had come from a land called St. Martin's Land, where there was no sun, only a permanent hazy twilight. She said that they had been following their flocks (presumably of green sheep or something?) when they had entered an underground passageway and stumbled out, on the other side, into the bright sunlight of Woolpit.

This remains quite an interesting tale, in that it was first spoken of some 800+ years ago, and appears to have some merit to it - a rather strange and disturbing case of two young children, green in appearance and unable to speak the language of the time, appearing in a small english village. I loved the later tale told by the girl of "St. Martin's Land, where there was no sun, only a permanent hazy twilight" - Hollow Earth?

Can you imagine if we could discover the whereabouts of the boy's grave or the girl's final resting place? I wonder what the DNA of these two would show? and of course, if any descendents of the girl could be traced? An interesting story with lot's of possibilities for investigation - But for now, this is all we have!

Nevertheless, if it has wetted your thirst for more - there are plenty of really good references quoted below for further reading! :look:

Sources:
http://www.castleofspirits.com/greenmyst.html
http://www.mysteriouspeople.com/Green-Children.htm
http://www.helium.com/items/2035960-englishhistorytraditionfolk-ore-tale-story-green-children-woolpit-suffolkmysteryfolklore

:cheers:

Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:19 pm » by **Lakotawanagiyat**

is there any video or mp3 link of this story looks interesting.

Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:29 pm » by **Savvymalloy**

Ah the cave children of woolpit I remember first hearing this story back when I was a kid always fascinated me I have some good written material on the subject if I can be arsed one day I might transcribe some of it for here.

Cool post man thanks

:cheers:

Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:41 pm » by **Allreadydead**

lakotawanagiyat wrote:is there any video or mp3 link of this story looks interesting.

Upload to Disclose.tv

This vid gives the story a mention, about half way through, I didn't include it in the original post because I forgot !! :oops:

Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:44 pm » by **Stratosfear**

I'd forgotten all about the green children. Thanks for the reminder of some localish folklore/history.

Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:49 pm » by **Jeckk**

Interesting tale. I've had many dreams of the Earth thousands and thousands of years ago, and back then the sun was dim and the people had green skin. Finding their bodies would be very helpful.

Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:58 pm » by **Allreadydead**

jeckk wrote:Interesting tale. I've had many dreams of the Earth thousands and thousands of years ago, and back then the sun was dim and the people had green skin. Finding their bodies would be very helpful.

It's one of the few 'mysterious' ancient tales that could actually have some kind of resolution to it - by finding where those two strange children are buried and conducting an examination of the remains - a pretty neat detective case! and the findings could be fantastic......or totally disapprove the original story - but a great story it would make, nevertheless!

:cheers:

Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:01 pm » by **Allreadydead**

savvymalloy wrote:Ah the cave children of woolpit I remember first hearing this story back when I was a kid always fascinated me I have some good written material on the subject if I can be arsed one day I might transcribe some of it for here.

Cool post man thanks

That would be great - get typing! :flop:

Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:10 pm » by **Savvymalloy**

I shall set aside some time to do so after the weekend... Coursework tonight and tomorrow then Protesting Saturday :nwo:

Hopefully I won't be spending Sunday in a police cell ^^;

EDIT: Thought it was Friday today for some reason o_o

Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:12 pm » by **Flecktarn**

good read ,,a dna test would be good :flop: