Feral Childs Cases : Can Man Survive Outside of Society ?
This perspective, both fascinating and revulsive, is maintained by a whole series of accounts and observations which date back to the most ancient times. One of the most famous case is, in the 18th century, that of Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc whom was found erring in the French countryside.
The wild girl of Champagne
In September 1731, in France, a ten-year-old girl entered the village of Songy, not far from Châlons-sur-Marne. She is barefoot, dressed in animal skins and a piece of wedge serves as a hat. Armed with a club, she manages to kill a dog thrown at her by a peasant. After her capture, it is discovered that she has very developed thumbs and that her skin, under the filth, is white in color. Witnesses find her a physical type close to that of the Eskimos.
For a while, the feral child remains silent. Her diet then consists mainly of small animals that she catches and eats raw. Over time, the little girl eventually learns to speak and details of her past life are finally known. Thus, it appears that she had for companion, during her wild life, another child: a negress, apparently - whose skull she broke during an argument.
However, some peasants say they have indeed glimpsed before - and tried, in vain, to capture - a black girl. The wild child also recounts being taken in for a while by a woman who gave her clothes. Previously, it seems that she lived naked. That the girl managed to survive in the wild in the 18th century French countryside is more of an endurance record (unfortunately accompanied by mental deterioration) than a true mystery.
The real enigma: the origin of the two childrens
The savage is unable to say anything about her life before her arrival in France, if indeed she was of foreign origin. She only retains the memory of a large animal living in the water, and that of having crossed the sea twice. The aquatic animal could constitute a small additional proof of her belonging to a tribe of Eskimos, the latter being famous for their whale and seal hunts. Her black companion and the indication of a double sea crossing support the idea of a North American and not a North European origin.
Perhaps these two childrens were only “memories” brought back, then lost, by a French traveler who returned from the New World? ... Anyway, the wild girl of Champagne made enough headlines at the time for the great Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus to include her among the nine specimens of Homo sapiens ferus, a sub-species of humanity created by him in his work Systema Naturae, published in 1758.
Can we return to “civilization” without damage?
Thereafter, the “benefits” of civilization seem to have a most harmful effect on the young girl. She is not getting used to the diet of those who adopted her. She loses her teeth and often falls ill. Uninspired doctors see it as a rebellion of her wild nature and practice bloodletting to weaken it ...
The feral child then almost perishes for good, then everything ends up returning to order. She is placed in a Parisian convent, a frequent fate of lost children, before and after her. Entering “normality”, her trace is then lost …
“Me, Tarzan!”
The American Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) created, in 1912, with Tarzan of the Apes, a character who left literature to reach the status of modern myth ... and that of a registered trademark! Largely inspired by the African adventures of British writer Henry Rider Haggard (the most famous of which is King Solomon's Mines), the “ape-man” saga nevertheless takes place in a purely imaginary Africa, hence the accuracy is totally absent. This Africa is the place of fantastic adventures during which Tarzan meets lost civilizations and where dinosaurs are reduced to the size of 50 centimeters, etc.
Other cases of lost feral childs
Miss Leblanc (France)
A teenager of about 14 years old was found in September 1731, four leagues from Châlons, in Champagne. She did not speak, had bare feet and her body was covered in rags. Taken in by the Lord of Songy, she learned French, acquired “good manners” but remained unable to tell her story. After the death of her protector, Miss Leblanc, as she is called, entered the convent of the Nouvelles Catholiques, in Paris, to become a nun.
The Wolf-Children of Midnapore (India)
On October 9, 1920, two young girls, one about 8 and a half years old and the other 1 and a half years old, were discovered in the jungle, with a wolf. They crawled on all fours and emitted animal-like sounds. They are called Kamala and Amala and they are admitted by Reverend Singh to the Midnapore orphanage.
Amala, the youngest, died in 1921. Kamala could only say a few words. When she died in 1929, her mental development was that of a 2 to 3 years old child.
Over-Yssel's daughter (Netherlands)
In August 1717, a 19-year-old wild girl was discovered in the forest of Kranenbourg. Taken from her parents at the age of 16 months, she had lived, perhaps since then, alone in the forest. Her skin is brown, hard and covered with hair. She never manages to speak but learns to spin wool and carries on this activity until the end of her days.
