Many people are familiar with mythology. Every single culture in the world has had their own mythology, all with their own creatures and wonders, and this is for a reason. The people who made and shared mythology lived in a time when natural phenomena, as well as the human condition, were misunderstood. Myths offered a sense of control and of understanding of not only the world, but themselves. When a group passes down their mythology to the next generation, they share important revelations about the group’s origins, history and who they, as a people, are. These are all important parts of preserving any culture and it is no wonder that, despite the huge amount of time between now and when they were started, myths have continued being passed down in humanity’s collective consciousness.
The days when myth was regarded as reality are long past, though. Much has changed. As the world has continued to develop, science has taken the place of mythology when it comes to giving explanations. Myths that were once regarded as sacred facts have slowly turned into stories passed down; widely regarded as untrue, but still a large part of certain cultures. However, many of the tales shared down generations, especially those in which multiple cultures have similar creatures, might actually be rooted in truth.
It sounds impossible for mythological creatures to exist, and that is because it is; but even though the stories told about the creatures may not be true, that does not mean that those stories were not based on real events. After all, as the saying goes, in every lie there is a bit of truth, and sometimes there is some truth in the events behind the myths surrounding changelings.
The basic accepted premise behind changelings seems to be as such: a child, usually an infant, is secretly swapped by fae. Stories vary: the reasons for the abduction range from love of the human’s beauty to reinforcing the fae’s stock to paying the Devil. No matter the reason, though, the fae take the child and then leave something behind – sometimes an infant fae, sometimes an elderly fae, and sometimes an inanimate object – as a substitute. This substitute is what is known as a changeling.
Changelings had many telling characteristics assigned to them through the many stories describing them. Depending on the story, they exhibit a variety of behaviors, including but not limited to: being colicky, eating too much food, being too intelligent for their age, not being intelligent enough for their age or a change in personality. Often, the parents of such changelings were told to harm it, or even burn it; most advice was to significantly hurt the changeling in some way to drive it out, with only a small number of stories in which harming the changeling harmed the real child as well.
Many tales end with the human child being returned after the parent harms the changeling or causes the changeling to incriminate itself.
There are a couple of lesser known and researched theories about the origins of changelings, namely that they were based on depression and that children were actually switched, though not by the fae. The argument for changelings having been an explanation for depression mainly comes from an essay named “Changelings,” by folklorist D. L. Ashliman. In this essay, he argues that the myths surrounding changelings reflected the unexpected changes in behavior that often occur in mothers and wives with depression. He also points out that in several tales of changelings, the fae do not only abduct babies but also newlyweds and new mothers. In this case, the myths surrounding changelings acted as an explanation of postpartum depression, albeit an incorrect one.
Yet another theory is that the tales of changeling were actually based on the memories of invaders of various European regions. In this case, it is said that the people originally from the regions, who had been driven into hiding by invaders, would exchange their sickly children for the healthy children of the occupying invader. This theory would explain several prominent changeling characteristics, including why changelings are always so hungry and sickly and the personality changes associated with changelings. This theory originates from a book written by Carole G. Silver titled “Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and the Victorian Consciousness.”
Although the theory of misunderstood depression and switched children hold merit when it comes to why this myth originated, the most prevalent answer, with the most evidence by far, is that changelings were a way to both explain and excuse odd behavior and physical conditions – behaviors and conditions that we now know are the result of physical disorders, illnesses or mental disorders.
When it comes to disorders, there was no list of what being a changeling would not explain. One Icelandic tale, named “The Changeling Who Stretched,” describes a child rapidly growing to adult size, the possible result of a genetic disorder named Progeria. In Progeria, the child appears normal at birth, but the disorder causes children to age rapidly, starting around two years old. Whether it was or was not Progeria, the outcome was the same: the boy was labeled a changeling.
Other stories fit the descriptions of genetic disorders such as Williams Syndrome and Down Syndrome, which both affect intelligence, personality, physical appearance and internal bodily systems. Autism is thought to be one of the most described disorders in stories of changelings, most likely due to its prevalence, with now about 1 in 100 children being estimated to have it. There are times in which the recorded behavior the supposed changelings had were similar to autistic stimming. Kayley Whalen, in her article about changelings, also compares changeling’s supposed resistance to learning things like math and speech as similar to that experienced by those with dyscalculia, dyslexia and ADHD.
Children with mental and physical disorders were not the only ones, though. Babies and children with prolonged illnesses were also believed to be changelings; now, their symptoms would be associated with cystic fibrosis, phenylketonuria (PKU), Prader-Willi syndrome, cerebral palsy, Hurler syndrome, Hunter syndrome or spina bifida. One characteristic associated with changelings, a never ending appetite, might have been the result of the ravenous hunger associated with Prader-Willi. Instead, it was often believed that infants who wasted away due to illness were either the changeling themself wasting away or the inanimate object the fae left wasting away.
Another belief was that a Changeling was put in place of a very sick or dying baby so that the mother would never know the heartache of losing her child. Then, the actual infant would be taken to a “safe place.” This could act as a mercy for parents of said infants or young children; instead of having to think about the fact that their child was sick and died, they could console themselves with the thought that it had not been their child that had died, but a log or a changeling.
Sometimes, though, the child may have not even had anything wrong with them in the first place. As folklorist Susan Schoon Eberly says in an essay, “the individual case was made to fit the superstition, and thus, we possess no standardized data respecting the appearance of a changeling, where any child who may seem troublesome or a burden to their parents might be considered a changeling.” There were, perhaps, some children who went against the social standards of the time or were just sick and were considered changelings despite not having any of the diseases associated with being labeled as one. It did not matter, though: the deadly outcome was the same.
Although some parents may have used the thought of changelings to help quell extreme grief at a sick infant’s death, many others were not so kind. Unfortunately, the myths surrounding changelings were often not used just to explain and excuse odd behaviors, but to also explain and excuse the child abuse, infanticide or homicide that came next. Children who were believed to be changelings had many fates, the most violent of which involved trying to burn the changeling out via oven or fireplace, which usually resulted in their death. Even the parents who believed their children had been replaced with a log or sticks were told to throw the child into the fireplace, in order to get rid of them so the real baby would return.
Another rather violent method involved just killing the child; one such case ended with four year old Michael Leahy, who was unable to walk or sleep, being drowned by his grandmother in 1826.
The killing did not end with children, though. In what is now considered to be an example of a witch hunt, Bridget Cleary, an unusually independent woman for the time, was killed by her husband, Michael Cleary, with the help of her father and four other men in 1895. In a less violent but no less heartbreaking case, a pair of parents were placed on trial after their sickly ten year old died of exposure from being left outside on Christmas Eve in hopes that they would be switched back. Although some more violent and public cases, such as Michal Leahy’s, Bridget Cleary’s and the ten year old’s, resulted in trials, many less public or violent deaths were never reported.
The ten year old’s story was one of the most common; abandoning a child outside or on top of a hill, where they would inevitably die from exposure, was one of the most used methods when it came to getting rid of supposed changelings. Due to the quiet and isolated nature of the killing, mixed with the high mortality rate for people back then, it is likely that a majority of the people that died due to the myths of changelings were never even noticed, much less their killers punished. Today it is unknown how many children and women were quietly killed due to changeling myths, although the number is thought to be fairly high among folklorists.
Although it is fun to speculate about the origins of myths, it is very important to always remember the very real victims of said myths. “The unfortunate reality of this,” Austin Harvey states in his article about changelings, “was that there were no changelings, and the children in these stories had not been stolen and replaced. The truth is that in pre-industrial Europe, peasant families needed strong children who could work the fields, and it was far easier to justify infanticide if your ‘unfit’ child was in fact a changeling.”
