Mysterious Cases You've Never Heard of

I made a part 3 for those that are interested!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

originally posted by: research100
a reply to: Mandy555

I have heard of all three stories!...have always loved mysteries... the stonehenge hippie story sounds like the first episode of a British series called quartemass..,,I will check out the part 2 thread!

I saw that when it was first on!!!

I was at school, we all walked around saying ley, ley, ley...

Brilliant stuff for its time.

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986 I liked the one with the green children. And as I am fantasy writer too, I might just snaky steal the concept for a short story, or such

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

Or so the story says. We have no idea what she actually claimed. It's also possible if she did actually say that she lied.

originally posted by: PhyllidaDavenport
So from what I've dug up, it seems the most popular explanation was in 1998 by Paul Harris of Fortean Studies 4 in which he theorises that these children were in fact children of Flemish Immigrants to England who's parents were killed in the uprising against the immigrants culminating in the Battle of Fornham in 1173. These children were orphaned and escaped to the woods where they lived for some time but short on food which caused them to suffer from chlorosis which causes a green tinge to the skin apparently. As they spoke no English they were considered unusual and strange when found by locals. Seems feasible

I remember looking into this a few years back. You can only consider this a valid theory if you completely discount the testimony of the Woman the green girl grew into. Her and her brother had been tending to their fathers herd before they got lost, that and the fact she claims to come from a place where everyone had green skin. The one thing I never managed to uncover was if the lady in question remained green her entire life...

a reply to: djz3ro

Is there any actual proof she is more than a story?

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: djz3ro

Is there any actual proof she is more than a story?

Sort of, she is meant to have taken the name Agnes Barre, married and bore children. There is record of an Agnes Barre, she seems to have appeared from nowhere, no maiden name (Barre was her married name) and, although coming from nowhere she was important enough to marry one of Henry II's trusted ambassadors and Henry III is said to have visited her on her deathbed. Duncan Lunan (whose name I've remembered because some people I went to school with misremember my name as Duncan and Lunan Bay is a beach near where I grew up) has written a book about the affair, you can read more on that here.

Agnes was unquestionably human: she had two children, and I’ve traced one’s descendants for over a century, and the other’s down two lines of descent to the present day. If she’s the green girl, then as well as the permanent twilight in the land she came from, she said all the people were dyed with the same green colour – and after we dismiss pseudo-medical explanations, dye is the only explanation for it that makes sense. William of Newburgh said she gave many other details about where she came from, to those who were inclined to be curious, but it would be tedious to set them down – curse him!

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

Did you know the Green Children of Woolpit story was reapeated almost verbatim in Spain in 1887? All details are almost the same except the girl died 5 years later and rather than travelling through a cave it was a whirlwind that propelled them to their destination.

a reply to: djz3ro

Or it's made up.

The dates don’t fit: the civil war ended in 1154, Ralph didn’t go to Coggeshall until the late 1170s, and Richard de Calna died in 1189. The circumstantial evidence suggests that the children arrived in 1173, shortly before the Flemish invasion of East Anglia, during the rebellion against Henry II led by his sons and their mother. Perhaps the witnesses deliberately confused the two troubled periods, to put William of Newburgh or his enquiry agents off the scent!

The best stories have elements of truth.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: djz3ro

Or it's made up.

The dates don’t fit: the civil war ended in 1154, Ralph didn’t go to Coggeshall until the late 1170s, and Richard de Calna died in 1189. The circumstantial evidence suggests that the children arrived in 1173, shortly before the Flemish invasion of East Anglia, during the rebellion against Henry II led by his sons and their mother. Perhaps the witnesses deliberately confused the two troubled periods, to put William of Newburgh or his enquiry agents off the scent!

The best stories have elements of truth.

I think there probably were two children found in the woods (the green skin could even be a result of Arsenic poisoning, which one theory delves into. Also the Woolpit version is only one of two in the UK (though the Woolpit sign, installed the year I was born, has the Green Children featured on it)

Chroniclers (news writers of the time) have stated that the events took place within the reign of King Stephen (1135-54) or King Henry II (1154-1189); it depends on which version of the story you read. There are two versions, one in Suffolk and one in Norfolk, only a few miles apart.

so it happened between 1135 and 1189.

There also seems to be some evidence that, when the children were found, Henry II sent some men to keep an eye on the situation, at least if Duncan Lunan's findings are true.

originally posted by: djz3ro

so it happened between 1135 and 1189.

If the first version is true the second version is false.
If the second version is true the first version is false.

That leaves us with the possibility BOTH versions are false (but based loosely on something that did happen perhaps).

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04

originally posted by: djz3ro

so it happened between 1135 and 1189.

If the first version is true the second version is false.
If the second version is true the first version is false.

That leaves us with the possibility BOTH versions are false (but based loosely on something that did happen perhaps).

definitely the most likely scenario to be fair...

a reply to: djz3ro

It's definitely very interesting though.

Lol....sounds like they from way up north. Like Shetland or Lapland, but the green color makes them sound Irish. Did Celts only paint themselves blue? Maybe the Irish used green instead? Anyway, since it's a hand me down account, it's probably blown way out of proportion.

originally posted by: djz3ro

originally posted by: PhyllidaDavenport
So from what I've dug up, it seems the most popular explanation was in 1998 by Paul Harris of Fortean Studies 4 in which he theorises that these children were in fact children of Flemish Immigrants to England who's parents were killed in the uprising against the immigrants culminating in the Battle of Fornham in 1173. These children were orphaned and escaped to the woods where they lived for some time but short on food which caused them to suffer from chlorosis which causes a green tinge to the skin apparently. As they spoke no English they were considered unusual and strange when found by locals. Seems feasible

I remember looking into this a few years back. You can only consider this a valid theory if you completely discount the testimony of the Woman the green girl grew into. Her and her brother had been tending to their fathers herd before they got lost, that and the fact she claims to come from a place where everyone had green skin. The one thing I never managed to uncover was if the lady in question remained green her entire life...

I'd say it most likely would have been dye as in every version I've heard, the girl did eventually loose her green skin and become pink/normal coloured.

From what I can gather the common themes between all versions of the story are: The boy and girl were found outside Woolpit, the boy died, she grew up and lost her green skin eventually, she also had children, also her account seems to be consistant across all versions. (I live locally to this so have heard many variations on the tale)

originally posted by: LABTECH767
a reply to: starwarsisreal

They most certainly did, Tolkien for example took much of his inspiration from folk lore but these were much older legend's.
If you think about it the celtic british tribes painted there skin on woed then ran into battle almost naked, blue woed and today we know that woed was actually an antiseptic so it probably protected them during battle from infection setting into there wound's, if there were a tribe whose woed was more green they too could have inspired these legend's especially if they clung on well into saxon time's.

But this was an historical event, not a legend. There are too many details provided by witnesses to dismiss this as a legend that never really happened. For example, the two children speaking a language no one else could understand. No tribes with foreign languages lived in Britain in the 12th century. So your attempt to rationalise anomalous historical events has no plausibility, quite apart from failing to explain all the other mysterious pieces of information about the two children, e.g., everyone else in the land they came from had green skin, which would not have been the case if they were merely children who had got lost and had become ill.

a reply to: micpsi

Yeah, so why did she fade?

Thanks, interesting stories, but I did hear of them all already unfortunately..

Cheers though

Thanks, interesting stories, but I did hear of them all already unfortunately..

Cheers though

Thanks, interesting stories, but I did hear of them all already unfortunately..

Cheers though