Were Changelings Autistic Children?

Miss_Kitt

Illuminator
M
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
3,876
It recently occurred to me that the myth of "changelings" might have its roots in autism. Changelings were supposedly the result of faeries (or other human-like mythical creatures) replacing a human baby with something that looked like it, but behaviorally was horrible and sometimes inhuman. In some versions of the myth, the changeling was able to be 'chased away' if it could be made to admit that it was far older, and had knowledge than a child could have; or if it admitted it was inhuman.

Given that some autistic children seem pretty normal in their infancy--which has helped give some sense of truth to the "the vaccines must have done it" myth, since the timing of the noticed impairment roughly lines up with a busy point in the vaccination schedule -- it suddenly struck me that a frustrated parent might indeed feel like their darling baby had suddenly become an alien. For some variants on the autism spectrum, a child actually regresses from previously mastered activities.

I'm not sure if this belongs in this sub-forum, or the History segment; but we don't really have a sociology area. I would appreciate input from anyone who is more knowledgable on the subject of both ASDs and European folklore to chip in with their thoughts on this, and also on where I might look to see if this idea has already been explored.

Always having these odd juxtapositions in my brain, Miss_Kitt
 
I suppose it's plausible; but I don't know how likely it is. I had always considered changelings to be purely folkloric; like the ability of fairies to charm a man into dancing with them seemingly for a night while unaware that a century or so is passing - nobody could identify a person this is supposed to have happened to. I figure that, like stories of Banshees, people spread matter-of-fact tales that such-and-such a family in such-and-such a village had a changeling in such-and-such a year; but I don't think it's something actual living children were ever accused of.
 
I love folklore, and changelings have always interested me, but I've never looked into it very deeply.

If you're looking for examples of stories about changelings, I can recommend:

Changeling Legends from the British Isles
German Changeling Legends
Scandinavian Changeling Legends

Personally, I think changelings myths could have been motivated by several different things, from birth defects to autism to mothers who have difficulty bonding with their newborns, or even cases of prosopagnosia or Capgras delusion. But again, I haven't looked into it yet. ;)
 
Were Changelings Autistic Children?

No, they were not. They were superstition and mythology, badly represented by the historians of their time, and wholly inconclusive to modern analysis.]

Anyway, why autism? Why not any number of other pathologies, from paranoid schizophrenia to mundane orneriness?
 
theprestige,

I am surprised you think it's impossible that the myth could not have had at least some of its roots in a known natural phenomenon. Certainly we are dealing with folklore, but some folklore spins out of real experience. And mundane orneriness or mental illness would certainly be on the list of possibilities.

But autism in several of its variants involves a child that truly seems normal up to a year and a half to about age three, and then are just not progressing normally--in some cases actually regressing. That would be more unusual than just a child that failed to thrive or was fussy from the start, both of which would be pretty common in the world.

It just seemed to me a striking coincidence, which is why I started this thread.

Stay calm and skeptic on, my friend. No need to be in attack mode.
 
My GUESS would be that it doesn't have its _roots_ in autism or other birth/developmental defects.

However, as the mythology was established, it seems quite plausible that a mother would interpret an autistic child as a changeling. Googling a little, it seems like a fairly common hypothesis.

It's not much different from interpreting mental illness as demons or seizures as revelations.
 
Miss_Kitt said:
theprestige,

I am surprised you think it's impossible that the myth could not have had at least some of its roots in a known natural phenomenon. Certainly we are dealing with folklore, but some folklore spins out of real experience. And mundane orneriness or mental illness would certainly be on the list of possibilities.

But autism in several of its variants involves a child that truly seems normal up to a year and a half to about age three, and then are just not progressing normally--in some cases actually regressing. That would be more unusual than just a child that failed to thrive or was fussy from the start, both of which would be pretty common in the world.

It just seemed to me a striking coincidence, which is why I started this thread.

Stay calm and skeptic on, my friend. No need to be in attack mode.
Click to expand...

Dogpile is my friend and sitteth at my right hand (where my mouse is):
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/s...&q=changelings+actually+autistic+children&ql=

If you go to that dp page it has several listings for sites that quite agree with your thoughts and quite disagrees with someone not that prestigeous. Including WikiP but not at all limited to it. Well thought Miss Kitt!!!

Oh, for this search, my terms were changelings actually autistic children
 
Thanks for the tips, fuelair and Baffled! I have been very irregularly online of late, having neck/nerve issues that limit my screen time AND mean I'm on pain meds... but I'm thinking a lot about stuff I usually don't.

I will be following up on your links starting hopefully tomorrow, tonight just touching base before taking another round of meds and sacking out.

Here here for modern medicine, but that don't mean it always works quickly or completely. (And for the record, this might be easier if I didn't dislike being stoned. But it's sort of like, "Just shoot yourself in the head twice a day, doctor's orders--sometime next week, it will have been worth it.") Thanks again, MK
 
Miss_Kitt said:
theprestige,

I am surprised you think it's impossible that the myth could not have had at least some of its roots in a known natural phenomenon.
Click to expand...

On the contrary: I think it's entirely possible.

Where you and I part ways is on the question of whether it's productively attributable to a specific pathology as catalogued by modern medicine.

You like to think that maybe it is.

I like to think that it probably isn't.

I also like to think that if we're going to consider a specific pathology (e.g., autism, as opposed to epilepsy, paranoid schizophrenia, bad parenting, childish contrarianism, etc.), we should give good reasons why we're considering this particular pathology over any other.
 
Last edited:
I found the "trick the changeling into doing/saying something that proves it isn't really a child," to be very interesting.

A friend of mine has an autistic son. He's virtually silent most of the time, and the things he does say are usually difficult to understand or awkward. But he builds remarkable LEGO mansions/fortresses, taller than he is, with attention to color and detail that seem beyond a child of his age (6 or 7). It makes me wonder if one might see their "dumb" child doing something very "clever" or gifted, and think they've "caught him" in an act.

I think it's likely autism played a part in the myths, but probably many abnormalities, diseases, and storytelling/confabulation all contributed as well.
 
An interesting question, Miss Kitty!
I'd never thought of it before and find the idea of some connection between changlings and autism rather intriguing.
Off to learn more.
 
It does seem a bit like the Indigo Children thing, where autistic children's strange and sometimes violent and asocial behavior is caused by not being human. And Indigo Children is a modern thing.

Would be interesting to know what people really used to think autism was way back then.
 
Just autism? I imagine the changeling myth could have been used as an excuse to get rid of children who exhibited signs of any number of different developmental disorders.
 
Miss_Kitt-
I recall, at least 45 years ago, my grandmother saying she thought "fairy children" in old Scots stories had probably just been mentally handicapped.
The term "autistic" was not in common use at that time, but she clearly meant the same thing you do.
"Away with the fairies" (at least in Scotland) has always meant anything from dreamy and inattentive to seriously mentally ill.
I have wondered if the Thomas the Rhymer / Rip van Winkle effect is a fictionalised version of someone being comatose for years and suddenly emerging from "fairyland" to find decades have passed.
 
The correlation between the supposed characteristics of changelings and the characteristics of many autistic children is better even than between the early and modern understandings of, say, Medieval Leprosy and modern Leprosy. Further the other conditions mentioned as possible sources of the myth don't correlate well. The schizophrenias don't match up well with the supposed characteristics of changelings because the age of onset is too late--adolescence at the very earliest, and usually early adulthood. As far as I can tell, changelings are pretty much invariably changed as babies or toddlers. Epilepsy doesn't match up at all, because the "real child" will almost always come back between seizures. Down Syndrome doesn't match because the child will be a bit different at birth and furthermore, kids with Down's have a notable tendency to be easygoing, which is completely unlike a changing.

That said, one other common condition that fits pretty with a few of the changeling myths is colic. My recollection is that some of the stories have changelings who are distinctive mostly for crying all the time. Also, the parent can sometimes get the faeries to re-exchange the child. Colic is mostly a condition of infancy, which fits what I recall, and it goes away spontaneously, which is perfect for having all kinds of myths arise about how to cure it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom