In 12th-century England, two green-skinned children appeared from nowhere, speaking an unknown language. The boy died. The girl survived, turned normal, learned English, and said they came from a land with no sun.
Sometime in the 12th century — accounts differ on the exact date, possibly during King Stephen's reign between 1135 and 1154 — two children emerged from a pit near the village of Woolpit in Suffolk. They were a boy and a girl, clearly siblings, and their skin was distinctly green. They spoke no known language.
The children were taken in by a local landowner, Sir Richard de Calne. They refused all food initially, eating nothing until someone brought raw broad beans, which they devoured eagerly. Over time they accepted other food, and as their diet changed, their green coloration gradually faded.
The boy was sickly and died not long after their arrival, shortly after being baptized. The girl survived, adapted to English food and customs, learned the language, and eventually married a man from King's Lynn. She was described as 'rather wanton and impudent' in her manner.
The girl said they came from a place called 'Saint Martin's Land,' where the sun never fully rose — a land of perpetual twilight. She said they had been following their cattle when they heard the sound of bells, followed it through a cavern, and emerged into Woolpit, overwhelmed by the light.
Two contemporary historians recorded the story: William of Newburgh around 1189 and Ralph of Coggeshall in the 1220s. Ralph claimed to have heard it directly from Sir Richard. Both treated it as a real event.
Explanations proposed over the centuries include: Flemish orphan children suffering from chlorosis (a nutritional deficiency that turns skin greenish); children from a subterranean civilization; extraterrestrials; or folklore about fairy encounters that was later recorded as a factual account. None of the explanations has been definitively settled. The village of Woolpit still uses the green children on its coat of arms.