The story is set in 12th-century Woolpit, Suffolk, during the reign of King Stephen. Two children—a boy and a girl—were supposedly found near the village’s famous wolf pits. They looked completely ordinary except for one extraordinary detail: their skin was green. They spoke a language nobody understood and initially refused all food except raw broad beans.
Eventually their green color faded as they adapted to a normal diet. The boy was sickly and died, while the girl survived and learned English.
She reportedly explained that they came from a strange place called St Martin’s Land, where the inhabitants were also green and where there was no bright sunlight—only perpetual twilight.
According to one version, the children had been following their father’s cattle, entered a cave, heard bells, and somehow emerged into our world.
And here’s the really interesting bit: this isn’t a modern UFO story invented in the 20th century. Two medieval chroniclers recorded versions of it: William of Newburgh, writing around 1189, and Ralph of Coggeshall, writing in the early 13th century. Ralph claimed his information ultimately came from Richard de Calne, the local man who supposedly took the children in.
