It is said that John Ssebunya, also known as ‘The Ugandan
Monkey Boy,’ ran away from home when he was three years old after witnessing
his father murder his mother. He fled to the Ugandan jungles where he was said
to be taken care of by green African monkeys. In 1991 he was found hiding in a
tree by a woman named Millie who was a local tribeswoman. After spotting him
she went back to her village to alert the men who then went into the jungle to
capture John. While they were eventually successful, John and the monkeys,
which had become his protectors, fought back, throwing sticks to defend him. In
the end he was captured and taken back the village.
Once back in the village he was cleaned up but his entire
body was covered in hair called hypertrichosis, a condition that brings about
excessive amounts of hair in places that there usually isn’t hair. Also since
he was living in the wild he had contracted a case of intestinal worms that
were said to be over half a meter long once they exited his body. He was full of
injuries- mainly his knees from imitating how a monkey walks. He was then given
to Paul and Molly Wasswa who ran an orphanage, and the two taught him how to
speak, though many believe he knew how to talk before running away. Today he
sings with the Pearl of Africa children’s choir and exhibits little to no
animalistic behavior.
The story of two young girls, Kamala and Amala, is one of
the most famous cases of feral children. Kamala was 8 years old and Amala was
said to be 1 ½ when they were found in 1920. Both girls had spent most of
their lives abandoned and alone. The two were found in Midnapore , India Bengal jungle. The
local villagers were scared of the said spirits and called in a Reverend,
Joseph Singh, to get to the bottom of it all. To see what was really going on,
Singh hid in a tree above the cave and waited. When he saw the wolves exit the
cave he waited and then saw two hunched over figures peek their heads out of
the cave. He wrote down what he saw, describing them as “hideous looking with
foot and body like a human being.” He said that the girls ran on all fours and
had no real traits of being human.
Singh eventually captured the girls, though he had no
experience in rehabilitating them. The girls slept curled together, growled,
tore off their clothing, ate nothing but raw meat, howled, and were physically
deformed. The tendons and joints in their arms and legs shortened, making it
impossible to walk upright. The two also had no interest in interacting with
humans. Some say that their senses were impeccable, especially when it came to
hearing and seeing, but even their sense of smell was sharp. Amala eventually
died due to a sickness, which then caused Kamala to go into a long-stage of
mourning. Singh thought she would die but she did not and he started a
rehabilitation program to help heal her- she eventually learned to walk upright
and say a few words. She died of kidney failure in 1929.
3. Victor of Aveyron
Victor ‘the Wild Boy of Aveyron’ is another name on the list
that you may sound familiar. Some say that he could be the first documented
cause of autism, but he is definitely a well known case of a child that was
left alone in the wild. At the end of the 18th century, several people saw
Victor wandering in the Saint Sernin sur Rance woods, which is located in
southern France .
Victor was captured a first time and somehow escaped. It wasn’t until January
8, 1800 that he was caught again after coming out of the woods on his own,
though he was spotted several times in 1798 and 1799. At this time he was said
to be about 12 years old. His body was covered in scars and he was unable to
speak a word. He was taken back to town where he was generally accepted, though
once the news spread, many came forward wanting to examine him.
A biology professor, Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre, decided to
examine Victor, taking off his clothes and putting him outside in the snow.
Victor began to run around in the snow, showing no ill-effects of the cold
temperature on his bare skin. It is said that he lived in the wild for about 7
years, so it is no surprise that his body was able to take such extreme
weather. Roch-Ambroise Cucurron Sicard then took over and decided to try to
teach the boy, though he soon became frustrated at his lack of progress. Though
he was probably born with the ability to talk and hear, he never did so
properly after being left in the wild. He was eventually taken to the Paris
Institution des Sourds-Muets where he lived with Mme Guérin and died at the age
of 40.
2. Oxana Malaya
In 1991, Oxana Malaya, who lives in Ukraine , was
found and considered to be a feral child. At the time she was found, she was
only 8 years old and is said to have lived amongst dogs since she was 3 years
old. She was kept in a kennel in the backyard of her home. Because of this she
picked up common behaviors that dogs exhibit: barking, growling, and even
protecting the pack, so to speak. She even walked on four legs as a dog does
and sniffed out her food before she ate it. When authorities came to rescue
Oxana, the other dogs growled and attempted to attack them while Oxana barked
and growled as well. Because of her lack of human interaction, Oxana had no
vocabulary except the words “yes” and “no.”
She was of course put through intensive therapy to attempt
to help her to learn necessary social and verbal skills. She was able to learn
how to speak, though therapists say she has deep issues with attempting to
communicate and express herself emotionally. Today she lives at the Baraboy
Clinic in Odessa
and spends a lot of her time tending to the cows at the hospital’s farm, though
she has expressed that she really feels best when she is around dogs.
1. Genie
If you ever take a Psychology class or get into a
conversation about feral children, Genie’s name will probably come up. For 13
years she was locked inside a room and strapped to her potty chair, other times
she was bound in a sleeping bag and put inside a crib. Her father, the one
behind the abuse, would hit her with a stick if she ever spoke and he would
bark and growl at her to keep her quiet. He also forbade his other children and
even his wife from speaking. Because of this, Genie had a very small
vocabulary, consisting of about 20 words. The phrases she did know included
“stop it” and “no more.” She was discovered in 1970 and today she is considered
to be one of the worst cases of social isolation known. She was often thought
to be autistic until doctors found out she was really 13 and was a victim of
abuse.
She was taken to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles where she
was treated for years. After some treatment, she was able to answer questions
in one-word answers and she learned how to dress herself. However, she still
held onto her learned behavior, including a “bunny walk” where she held her
hands up in front of her as if they were paws. She also scratched and even
clawed at things. Though she was moved around a lot, she found home with her
therapist David Rigler for 4 years, who worked with her daily. He and his
family taught Genie sign language as well as ways to express herself without
speaking; drawing was a method. Genie then went to live with her mother, and
then abusive foster parents, which then caused her to become mute again and
afraid to speak. Today she is living somewhere in Southern
California .
Source : http://top5s.net
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