Here was a child who had never been socialised, who had been raised almost entirely outside of culture. But it wasn’t just media that swarmed on the story. The girl’s story was told in newspapers and TV bulletins around the world, and later sparked an Emmy-winning documentary, Secret of the Wild Child. According to The Guardian he left behind a note that read: “The world will never understand”. Irene escaped with Genie in October, and stayed with her parents until she wandered into that social services office, unmasking the horrors that had happened in her home.īoth parents were charged over their treatment of the girl, but on the day of their trial, Clark took his own life.
He was reportedly only allowed to leave for school, but was otherwise trapped until fleeing at the age of 18. Irene and their boy were reportedly beaten and forbidden from contacting family or having any visitors to the home, ABC Newsreported. He growled and barked at her like a dog, and if she made a noise, he beat her with a wooden stick. She was never toilet trained, and was fed almost entirely on liquids meaning she never properly learned to chew. She was tied to a potty chair during the day and locked inside crib with a wire cover overnight. The girl had been imprisoned in the second bedroom of her family home by her father, Clark Wiley, for over 12 years after he speculated she was mentally disabled.Īccording to researchers, he didn’t speak to her, and instructed his wife, Irene, and five-year-old son to do the same. The case of the “wild child” became known to the world as one of the most horrific examples of child abuse and neglect ever uncovered in the United States. She was 13 years and eight months old, and this outing was one of the first she’d made in her entire life. This waif-like girl in her office was not six nor seven. With what she was told that day, with what she’d seen, she picked up the phone and dialled police. The social worker gently probed the woman about the little girl. She seemed unsteady on her feet, her limbs jerked, she held her hands in front of her body like a rabbit. She looked six, maybe seven, but she didn’t appear to be able to speak. Plagued by cataracts, the woman was seeking a disability pension but had mistakenly arrived at the office next door.Īs a social worker approached to help, she was struck by something about the young girl slouching at the woman’s side. On November 4, 1970, a woman wandered into a social services office in Temple City, California, with a child clutching her hand.
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