One of medieval England’s strangest mysteries dates back to the 12th century, when villagers in Woolpit, Suffolk, reportedly discovered two children with green skin, unfamiliar clothing, and a language nobody understood.
According to medieval accounts, the children initially refused all food except raw beans. The boy eventually became ill and passed away, while the girl survived, learned English, and gradually lost her green complexion.
She claimed they came from a mysterious place called Saint Martin’s Land, where the sun never rose and everything was illuminated by a strange twilight. She said they had entered a cavern before somehow emerging in Woolpit.
The story appears in the writings of two medieval chroniclers, William of Newburgh and Ralph of Coggeshall, making it a genuine centuries-old legend rather than a modern invention.
Some historians have suggested the children may have been displaced Flemish immigrants, while others have proposed that malnutrition caused their unusual complexion. Neither explanation has been proven.
There is no independent evidence confirming the children actually existed, but their story has survived for more than 800 years.