Historians Are Stumped About Children With Green Skin Who Appeared In An English Village
The job of the historian isn’t always an easy one. Digging up sources can be extremely tricky, and then there’s the need to meticulously fact-check whatever you find. It’s rarely simple! So, spare a thought for those experts tasked with trying to figure out the truth behind this bizarre tale. Two separate historical records out there tell us something odd about the English community of Woolpit in the 12th century. Basically, according to the texts, a couple of unknown kids showed up to the village out of the blue one day in 1150. That was weird enough, but here’s the kicker: these children had green skin...
Green skin and other weird traits
That’s pretty difficult to wrap your head around, but it gets stranger. The records also state that, not only did these children have green skin, but they also exhibited other bizarre traits, too. Apparently the language the two youngsters communicated in was really odd and totally indecipherable to the locals, plus they were both said to share an aversion to most types of food. As in, they were actually disgusted by the edible items on offer to them. What on Earth was going on with these two?
Accepting the kids into the community
The villagers of Woolpit, despite presumably being completely freaked out by all this, still accepted the kids into their community. And from there, it’s said, they soon began to adapt to their new home. They started to gain a more healthy, natural-looking skin color, with the green hue fading away. And they even picked up the English language, which meant they could communicate with the villagers properly. So, what exactly did they have to say for themselves?
The children’s backstory
Well, the kids’ backstory — as they themselves told it — merely posed far more questions than answers for the villagers to grapple with. The kids asserted that they originated in a place called St. Martin. So far, so normal. This place was apparently very far away, and the people who lived there barely ever came into contact with light from the Sun. Could that be the reason for the children’s greenish hue? And more to the point, where on Earth was this St. Martin place? How had the kids ended up here, in Woolpit, and why?
A story that takes us to weird places
The villagers, it seems, couldn’t answer these questions, while contemporary historians today are still struggling with them. This is one of the stranger stories one is likely to encounter, and pinning down any solid answers can be a maddening endeavor. Do we know anything at all about St. Martin? Why does it apparently receive so little sunlight? Is it even on Earth? This is a story that takes us to some pretty weird places, but every possibility needs to be considered.
