True stories of feral children - Ft. Yacine Belhousse

You all know Tarzan and Mowgli, two fictionnal feral children. But did you know that there are many ocurrences of such wild children throughout History?

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Sources :
Interviews and conferences with anthropologist Lucienne Strivay who did her thesis on feral children:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-x8684hAls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgT9FEmvkX0
https://savoirs.ens.fr/expose.php?id=2329
Her published thesis :
Lucienne Strivay, Enfants sauvages. Approches anthropologiques, Paris, Gallimard, 2006.

Philosopher Dominique Lestel who challenges the definition of species and the possibility of integrating a new species for feral children:
https://savoirs.ens.fr/expose.php?id=2345

Psycholinguist Franck Ramus, about the views of cognitive sciences on feral children:
https://savoirs.ens.fr/expose.php?id=2331

Jaine Chemmachery, on the inspiration that led Kipling to create Mowgli and the thought process through which he writes his stories.
https://savoirs.ens.fr/expose.php?id=2350

Psychiatrist Thierry Gineste, on Victor d’Aveyron and the work of Itard :
https://savoirs.ens.fr/expose.php?id=2330

American professor Julia Douthwaite, on Marie-Angélique Le Blanc :
https://savoirs.ens.fr/expose.php?id=2355

An interview of Ivan Michukof, the child who ran away with dogs in Moscow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSifkl8WQQw

Finally, Lucien Malson's book "Les enfants sauvages" Paris, 10/18 Poche, 1964.
The book is really old and is now harshly criticized (such as in the above-mentionned conferences), but I used it to get certain specific facts about Victor. The analyses, on the other hand, are clearly outdated.

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- 1731 -

In an orchard, near the village of Songy,

the inhabitants came across a strange wild girl.

Frightened, they set a hound on her.

"Kevin, attack !"

But not only did the young girl not flee,

she also waited calmly for the dog, and killed it, in one fell swoop of her club.

"Oh my god ! Noo, Kevin !"

They ended up catching her, but the child was a real weirdo.

She didn't speak, walked on all four

and yet run very fast, swam very well

loved climbing trees, and catching rabbits to eat them raw.

Some think that she was a Native American

offered to a Frenchman at the age of 6.

And who, upon landing in Marseille, successfully escaped,

before living for about ten years in the wild.

Yes, Marie-Angélique

That's how they named her

is one of the most famous case of feral child

Feral children have been reported since Antiquity

They were abandoned or lost

and have spent a lot of time away from human communities.

Which means that they grew up differently

and were sometimes raised by animals

such as the Ardennes wolf child found in 1563

He got lost in the woods when he was around 9-month old and was adopted by a pack of wolves.

And when he was found again, at around 7 years old,

the she-wolf protecting him was shot so they could catch him.

Effectively infuriating the child.

Yet, he was captured and tamed by force

and exhibited as a circus freak from city to city.

Eventually, he was re-integrated to the village where he became a shepherd

because the sheep under his care are miraculously spared by the wolves.

"Yeah but, when I reached puberty, it didn't work anymore.

So, i joined the army !"

...where he died.

There are many examples of feral children

acting like wolves, bears, dogs, goats, sheep, pigs, baboons, chimpanzees

tigers, leopards, jackals, gazelles and even, chickens!

Yeah, each to his own, right?

"Hey, it's not like we had the choice!"

But they are often found alone, like little Marie-Angélique,

whose story I shall resume.

She was brought to a convent, to learn about religion, sewing, house chores

like all nice little girls back then.

And also to speak, read and write, which is quite extraordinary for those children.

The young girl was brought to courts all over France so that people could have a good laugh.

Which resulted in some unreal situations.

Such as the time when she put in the guests' plates

living frogs, recently caught in the castle gardens.

"Sweet Jesus, Marie-Angélique ! That's no way to behave! No way to behave."

The young girl fascinated people.

Linnaeus even included her in his Linnaean taxonomy.

"Yeah, I don't really know what to do with this hybrid.

I put her with the missing links, it didn't work,

I put her somewhere else, didn't work.

Seriously, what even is this thing?"

Yes, those children give rise to a lot of questions and can be objects of study.

Such as Victor de l'Aveyron, a 10-to-13 years old child, captured in 1800 in the Lacaune woods.

He was studied by doctor Itard who tried to educate him.

"I managed to make him progress but I threw in the towel after 6 years.

Then I entrusted him to his governess to make sure he doesn't end up in an asylum.

However, my methods were used to develop tools used a lot for pedagogical purposes."

- Yeah, but once you hung me from the fourth floor to punish me."

- Down Victor! You're not supposed to know how to speak."

Weird and disturbing, the fate of these children has hardly ever been all roses.

Exhibited as circus freaks.

Sometimes with their legs trapped in splints to force them to stand up

brutal changes of diets...

Marie-Angélique lost all of her teeth and almost died.

Well, you name it.

Anthopologist Lucienne Strivay highlighted that only in Western societies, where nature and culture are separated

were those children called feral.

While in other places, or other times, they are not necessarily seen as abberations.

In the end, this mainly makes us wonder about our relationship with Nature.

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There are many many more stories about feral children.

Feel free to share one in the comment section.

And because there is so much more to be said about this fasctinating topic

I put a lot of interesting links in the description.

See you the on Wednesday 6 May at 12pm for the next episode!