Changelings: The Devilish Doubles
Fairies have remained prevalent entities in folklore for many different cultures, and across many different regions of the world. Most commonly, they are referenced as being a part of European folklore, particularly from areas of Britain and Scandinavia. While each culture has its own idea of what fairies are, how they behave, and what their motives may be, a certain kind of fairy tends to be pretty similar across the board: changelings.
Changelings are a type of fairy that are believed to kidnap human children and take their place in the family home. Some believe that not only children are in danger of being snagged by the fairies however, and that they are drawn to any beautiful humans regardless of their age.
Motivations
There are several different theories that have evolved in the effort to explain why changelings decide to kidnap and take the place of human children. A common belief is that when fairies are near the end of their life and they begin to wither and die, they can regain their youth if they are cared for by mortals and are fed human food. By switching the human child out with an elderly fairy, that fairy is given a chance to replenish its life force.
Another explanation is that fairies abduct human children to raise as one of their own, to then treat them as breeding stock. This may be done in order to keep their bloodlines alive without inbreeding. A third idea, which was prevalent in Scotland is that fairies once struck a deal with the devil granting them some advantage that only evil could provide, and in exchange they must sacrifice a living child to him every seven years. It is believed that rather than sacrifice one of their own, fairies prefer to take a human child to offer as a tithe to the devil. A more straightforward and practical explanation is that fairy children are wild, temperamental, and awful to raise. In contrast, human children tend to be more gentle and easier to care for. Therefore, fairies will sometimes trade their children with humans simply because their own kids were driving them nuts.
Methods
Most beliefs surrounding changelings suggest that someone can be captured and replaced with an impostor at any time. This implies that all children are in perpetually in danger of fairy abduction, as well as particularly pretty adults. Most often, this switch-aroo will take place in the night, while the victims are asleep. If people report seeing or otherwise interacting with fairies, or “the little people,” it is likely to mean that they have been marked as a target and may be taken away very soon.
The impostors who’ve taken the place your child or loved one aren’t always fairies. In some cases, the child may be replaced with an inanimate object, such as a block of wood or a large stone which would be enchanted to look and act like a human child. This was more likely to be believed in cultures that had no reason to expect that the fairies themselves would have any reason to live among the humans, but that they only needed the mortal child.
Signs and Symptoms
There are many details that parents and family members would recognize in their loved ones that would be evidence that they had been replaced by a changeling. The first telltale sign that someone is a fairy double is a sudden change in their personality. They may become more aggressive, start to misbehave, or become uncharacteristically morose or solemn. In infants, one sign is that constant crying, or being persistently fussy. Because fairies were known to have bad attitudes, it could follow that if someone suddenly adopts a negative personality, they may in fact be a fairy.
Sudden and prolonged illness was another way to recognize a changeling. If an unexpected and unidentified illness befalls someone, especially an infant or a child, it is likely that they were an elderly fairy disguised as the individual. Other signs include an infant’s features changing or them looking old or haggard like an old man/woman, looking pale or sickly, unbridled hunger which leads the individual to eat or feel hungry constantly, sometimes eating the family into poverty, and a child being “suspiciously intelligent.”
Preventative Measures
The most common method used to prevent fairies from abducting a child was to leave something made of iron in or around the infant’s crib. It is widely accepted that fairies can be harmed by contact with iron and that they will avoid it at all costs. It was hoped that by placing iron near the child, it would deter fairies from targeting them. The iron was often in the form of tongs or other tools. Some would also leave a bible in the crib or bed with the child, and depending on the individual’s religious beliefs, this could also keep fairies at bay.
In Ireland, it was said that if someone envied new parents or a baby, it would make that family a target for the fairies. It became taboo to speak any words of envy concerning the beauty or temperament of a child, or of the relationship between its parents, even for the home or lifestyle. In some areas, it was also believed that all infants were in danger of being taken away until they sneezed for the first time. This led to a tradition of holding pepper beneath a newborn’s nose in an attempt to force it to sneeze as soon as possible.
Others still, have been of the belief that a standard baptism ritual could prevent a child’s abduction by fairies or any other malicious entities.
Chasing out the Fairies
Unfortunately, there were never any simple solutions to dealing with a changeling. The most peaceful known methods of getting rid of one seem to have entailed a long list of complicated and often nonsensical rituals and tasks. A Welsh account of a changeling invasion tells a story of a woman who was tricked into checking on her cattle when they began making sounds of distress. As she was checking on the cattle, her children were left unattended and upon her return, it was clear to her that one of her sons was no longer himself. She believed him to be a changeling and so she sought the guidance of a local spiritual leader who instructed her to perform a long series of tasks which included cooking a live chicken which hadn’t been de-feathered, and using an eggshell to brew beer. The idea behind these strange tasks was that the fairy would be so confused, shocked, or even appalled by this weird behavior that it would make a remark that gave away its true identity.
The idea of confusing a changeling so much that it reveals itself presents an air of whimsy that people prefer to associate with stories of fairies and otherworldly creatures. Sadly, the more common means of chasing off an unwelcome fairy interloper was to simply beat it viciously. It was believed that if a fairy were subjected to constant or savage physical torment, or in threat of being killed, it would leave and allow the original person to return. If the fairy did not leave of its own accord, it was likely that the other fairies would come and take it back, for they would be unable to bear watching one of their own suffer.
When these methods proved ineffective, it was widely accepted that killing the fairy by fire or by drowning would allow the kidnapped human to return the following day. All that one needed to do was to confirm that the suspect was indeed a changeling and then set them aflame or hold them beneath the water, thus saving the life of their loved one who would then be able to return from the fairy world.
Cases of Suffering and Abuse
Belief in fairies, changelings, and other “pagan” entities remained strong throughout the UK, even following widespread Christian conversion. Although the majority of the population eventually followed Christian values and disavowed any belief in the supernatural or witchcraft, fear remained strong of those who practiced magic, and of those who consorted with or who may have been magical in nature. The Early Modern Witchcraze spread through the UK in the 17th century, and throughout that period and the decades following it, persecution of anyone who was believed to be non-Christian was rampant. This cultural fear led to many accusations of witchcraft, but also of people consorting with fairy-folk and of putting people in danger of being taken and replaced by changelings. It also prompted more concern over the existence and presence of supernatural beings in the mortal world.
As one can imagine, with such widespread belief and fear of fairies, changelings, and associated forms of witchcraft at the time, many people were accused of being changelings during the 1800’s and earlier. In many cases, the results were relatively harmless. Children were baptized or exorcised of evil forces and were believed to have been purified or returned to their homes, having been swapped with the changeling who had tried to take their place. Unfortunately, because it was so widely believed that physical abuse was the best way to chase away a changeling, many people — especially children, were forced to suffer brutal abuse when they seemed to be acting differently, or if they grew ill.
Modern Understanding
Many of the traits and descriptions of changelings can now be explained by certain medical conditions, mental health problems, or cognitive disorders. For example, phenylketonuria is a genetic disorder that affects the metabolism, and it is very common among people of Irish and English descent. This disorder has many symptoms that express themselves much like those of being a changeling. It was said that if a child looks like an old man, they may be a fairy. An infant appearing old can also be caused by progeria, a genetic disorder that causes children to age very quickly, making them lose their hair and appear old within the first few years of their life. The signs of being a changeling weren’t only physical however, and many of the behavioral changes that were associated with being switched out with a fairy could have simply been cases of depression, of impaired cognitive development, the onset of anxiety, or from simply having a difficult personality.
Changelings have remained a significant cultural and religious staple among people throughout the world, but particularly for those in western Europe. They may be a manifestation of the anxieties inherent in parenthood, such as the fear of having your child taken from you, going missing, or being harmed. Fairies have been a scapegoat for missing persons cases, sudden deaths, and unexpected illness. It is a rational explanation for someone who believes that these mischievous and even malevolent, otherworldly entities are living among us. What is even more frightening than these creatures, however, is the brutality that the belief in them has pushed humans to adopt.
