Dale’s Daily Data: The Green Children

There’s a couple of versions of this story – both involving young children – a boy and a girl, brother and sister.  The first one in the 12^th century in England and a very similar story in 1887 in Spain.  In both cases the two small children were found alone in rural areas.  In both cases they hadn’t been reported missing.  No one ever claimed them as their children.  They were in poor health and in both cases the children had a hard time communicating because they spoke a language nobody had heard before.  They wore strange clothes and in both cases the children had a green tint.  The children in Spain were found by field hands who heard their cries.  They were huddled near the entrance to a cave.

They were given medical treatment and cared for, but they had a hard time eating anything and the boy soon died.  The girl survived and over time she was able to describe what happened to them.  She didn’t remember having parents.  All she could remember was that she and her brother had lived in a place without sunlight – but always had dim light.  When she was asked how they ended up in the cave she said they heard a loud bang and were pushed through “something” and suddenly were in the cave. One theory is that the children’s green color could have been the result of anemia because of a poor diet.  But the mystery of the green children was never solved.

SOURCE: About.com