Martin Luther and the changeling

The Story of a Changeling at Dessau

Eight years ago [in the year 1532] at Dessau, I, Dr. Martin Luther, saw and touched a changeling. It was twelve years old, and from its eyes and the fact that it had all of its senses, one could have thought that it was a real child. It did nothing but eat; in fact, it ate enough for any four peasants or threshers. It ate, shit, and pissed, and whenever someone touched it, it cried. When bad things happened in the house, it laughed and was happy; but when things went well, it cried. It had these two virtues. I said to the Princes of Anhalt: "If I were the prince or the ruler here, I would throw this child into the water--into the Molda that flows by Dessau. I would dare commit homicidium on him!" But the Elector of Saxony, who was with me at Dessau, and the Princes of Anhalt did not want to follow my advice. Therefore, I said: "Then you should have all Christians repeat the Lord's Prayer in church that God may exorcise the devil." They did this daily at Dessau, and the changeling child died in the following year.... Such a changeling child is only a piece of flesh, a massa carnis, because it has no soul.

It seems likely that this Changeling was a child with autism.

Changelings from the Devil

Changelings and killcrops are laid in the place of legitimate children by Satan in order to plague mankind. He often pulls certain girls into the water, impregnates them, and keeps them with him until they deliver their children; afterward he places these children in cradles, taking the legitimate children away. But such changelings, it is said, do not live more than eighteen or nineteen years.

The Killcrop of Halberstadt

A man who lived near Halberstadt in Saxony had a killcrop who had sucked his mother and five additional wet nurses dry. Further, he was eating a great deal and behaving very strangely. The man was told that he should take the child on a pilgrimage to Hockelstadt to praise the Virgin Mary and to have him weighed there. The peasant followed this advice and set forth, carrying the child in a basket. But when he came to a bridge over some water, a devil in the water beneath the bridge called out: "Killcrop! Killcrop!" The child in the basket, who had never yet spoken a word, answered: "Ho! Ho!" This startled the peasant. The devil in the water then asked: "Where are you going?" The killcrop said: "I'm on my way to Hockelstadt to Our Dear Lady, to have myself weighed there so that I may grow." When the peasant heard the changeling speak, the first time this had ever happened, he became angry and threw the child into the water, basket and all. Then the two devils came together, shouted "Ho, ho, ha!," played with each other, rolled around with each other, and disappeared.

Satan plagues mankind with such changelings and killcrops by substituting them for real children. Satan has the power to exchange children, placing a devil in the cradle in the place of a child. This devil will suck and eat like an animal, but it will not grow. Thus it is said that changelings and killcrops do not live longer than eighteen or nineteen years.

It happens often, that babies are exchanged during their first six weeks, and that devils lay themselves in their place, making themselves detestable by shitting, eating, and crying more than any ten other children. The parents get no rest from such filthy beasts. The mothers are sucked dry and are no longer able to nurse.... However, changeling children should be baptized, because they cannot always be recognized as such during their first year.[1]