The Sleeping Girl of Turville

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“Young Girl Sleeping” by Bernhard Keil (1624–1687)

In 1870, in the English town of Turville, an 11-year old girl named Ellen Sadler went to sleep one day and didn’t wake for nine years.

Strange illness? Elaborate hoax? The views of historians are mixed. We think our writers can come up with better theories. Magic? A bad deal with elves? Alien visitation? What happens next?