Bridget Cleary was an Irish woman who, in 1895, was killed by her husband who believed she was a fairy changeling. In folklore a changeling is a fairy which is switched with a human infant. In many cases a changeling seemed like the only rational explanation for the unknown diseases etc., which might afflict a child.
Although her age, for she was 26 at the time, perhaps makes Bridget’s case unique, it was with such illness that her troubles began...