mr wiley yes why did you keep your daughter in a room mr wiley has no comment we haven't had time to discuss the charge we haven't even seen isolation is much more than being alone it means cutting out all human contact but what happens when that's all you know this is how some children are raised away from society estranged from social skills and with little to no knowledge about interaction when inserted into society these children have severe problems adapting therefore being known as feral children to understand the story better we first need to talk about feral children feral or wild children have been raised away from society in human contact since a very young age therefore they lack any social skills and their behavior is considered abnormal as a consequence of being isolated during the most crucial years of language development many don't know how to speak and communicate only using sounds there are many stories and myths about children being raised by animals children who hunt or even run on all fours however in the 20th century psychologists began digging deeper into the cases of children who'd been isolated as a way of abuse by adults this is a story we're focusing on today genie is a fake name she was giving this alias when her case went public psychiatrists who treated her decided this was the best way to protect her from the curious media who wanted to meet the girl who spent 13 years locked in a room but how did genie end up this way how did a baby end up being raised alone in a room just a few feet away from her family but not being able to communicate with them for that we need to dive deeper into her family history [Music] clark wiley genie's father was raised in foster homes in the pacific northwest after the death of his father and with his mother running a brothel he was neglected and ended up being passed on from foster home to foster home apparently he was given a feminine name as a child which he hated and changed as soon as he was old enough it's thought that the neglect from his mother and how he was bullied for his name made him resent her however during his early adulthood mother and son became close she was trying to make up for past mistakes and tried spending as much time as she could with him seeing as his mother was finally taking notice of him clark became extremely attached to her putting her above everyone else jeannie's mother irene was 20 years younger than clark as a child she sustained a head injury which resulted in neurological damage her eyesight was affected especially one of her eyes and her condition would only get worse with time when the couple got married neighbors and friends remember them being close and seemingly happy however behind closed doors clark soon became violent towards irene his severe beatings affected irene's vision even more until she was partially blind from one eye and heavily depended on clarke clark was controlling and rigid and it was only becoming worse over the years he didn't like children claiming they were noisy but after five years of marriage irene became pregnant however the beating didn't stop he continued to hit irene during her whole pregnancy despite this she gave birth to a healthy baby girl clark found his daughter to be very loud and couldn't handle her crying so he began placing her in the garage as a consequence at only 10 weeks old the couple's first born child contracted pneumonia and died a year later irene gave birth to a baby boy however the baby was diagnosed with an r8 incompatibility which is a disease where some of the mother's antibodies are passed on into the fetus's bloodstream attacking its own red blood cells the child died only two days after being born and so irene and clark got pregnant once again and this time had a healthy boy but clark hadn't changed his mind about children he hated hearing the baby cry so he'd forced irene to keep the baby quiet and encouraged her not to talk to him by the time he was four years old he had quite obvious linguistic development delays and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother for a few months in the short period he spent with her he made a lot of progress so it was obvious he was completely capable of learning he just wasn't being taught enough clark wiley had begun to isolate himself more and more and not only that he kept his family isolated as well preventing his wife and son from leaving if it wasn't absolutely necessary when their son was five years old they had another baby a girl this time genie jeannie wiley was born in 1957 she too showed signs of an rh incompatibility but after a blood transfusion she recovered although seemingly healthy she had a hip dislocation discovered at a checkup when she was only three months old so she was required to wear a splint for most of her first year of life this caused her to start walking later than other children she also showed some trouble introducing solid foods into her diet causing her weight to always be below average sometimes even showing signs of malnutrition these challenges at such an early age caused clark to think his daughter had a mental disability although genie had not shown any medical signs of any delays in mental development but clark was determined she was disabled and actually told his wife and son they should not speak to her and pay her little attention remember clark didn't like any of the hassle that came with taking care of children so he thought caring for a mentally challenged child was not something he was going to take part in the neglect caused her to continue dropping weight and delayed her development severely at 14 months old she too contracted pneumonia the doctor who saw her mentioned the possibility that she was indeed disabled in some way although it was never officially diagnosed it didn't even cross his mind that her condition was inflicted by bad parenting and neglect so with this theory from the doctor jeannie's father just confirmed what he'd been saying on the lung and began treating his daughter as if her condition were much more severe when genie was about to turn two years old a drunk driver hit clark's mother killing her almost instantly she'd been out walking with genie's brother at the time who suffered no injuries the driver only received a probationary sentence and with this news clark was completely destroyed he considered society had failed him and he even went as far as to blame the accident on his seven-year-old son just because he'd been walking with his grandmother he became paranoid and his isolation spiraled uncontrollably the family moved into clark's mother's house and quickly began losing contact with neighbors and family clark thought he had to protect his family from the dangers outside so he prevented them from leaving most of the time this feeling of protection was also mixed with the disappointment he felt from having a mentally disabled child which is what he'd established genie was so as well as preventing his family from leaving he began to lock genie away to keep her hidden soon enough genie was confined to a second bedroom in the house while the rest of the family lived in the living room clark had told him his mother's room was not to be touched and it remained just as she had left it the day she died clark slept on a recliner irene slept on a dining room chair and their son was left to sleep on the floor jeannie's room was dark with blacked out windows and the only objects jeannie interacted with were her crib a chair and some curtains during the day genie would be strapped to a child's toilet with a makeshift harness clark had made himself at night he'd tie her to a sleeping bag and put a metal cover over her crib meaning genie never stood up and can barely move her arms or her legs while most children aren't beginning to run climb fall over and get up again genie wasn't able to get up on her own two feet like we mentioned earlier clark didn't like children making noise he kept a plank in the room and if genie ever made a sound he'd beat her with it he also began imitating a dog's behavior growling barking and even scratching genie if she cried or made any noises genie was fed mainly baby food and liquids and was always fed by her father or her brother under his father's orders irene's sight was worse than ever so she wasn't allowed to feed genie according to researchers jeanne was probably fed very quickly and if she choked or complained in any way her father would take away the food or even rub it on her face knowing this her mother would try to smuggle food in for her in the middle of the night but most importantly genie was never spoken to the house was mostly silent anyway clark despised noise and prevented his wife and son from even talking to each other speaking to genie was explicitly prohibited any conversations we had were always away from jeannie's room so for the year she was locked away genie barely heard any words spoken to her and definitely never learned how to speak herself although genie suffered the strongest form of abuse the rest of the family was subjected to clark's ways as well he frequently beat his wife and son especially if they made noise or try to speak to genie clark kept a diary where he detailed his abuse and authority over his family they were forbidden to leave the house unless it was necessary genie's brother was only allowed to go to school and when he came back he had to confirm his identity before being let back in due to clark's severe paranoia to make sure he wouldn't talk about his family with anyone at school clark would threaten his son beat him and manipulate him into being terrified to speak about any of the abuse going on as he got older genie's brother also took part in being violent towards his sister under his father's orders he'd also threatened genie if she made any noise or would take food away from her although he wasn't locked up he was also an abused child and this kind of parenting was all he knew the neighbors knew they didn't leave the house much but they had no idea of the extent of what was going on behind that door many didn't know of the existence of genie the neighbors believed the couple had only one child came home from work and the police was here and they came to question us that's when we found found out you know what happened and you know that they had a little girl nobody knew nobody knew before everybody was shocked and just unbelievable when the doors to the house were finally open nobody could even possibly imagine the truth of what had been going on inside after a lifelong of threats and violence irene finally confronted her husband about not being able to even call her parents jeannie was 13 years old at the time and her brother who was already over 18 had run away from home genie's mother was finally able to leave and immediately took jeannie to her parents house at this point irene was nearly blind and decided to apply for disability benefits she took genie with her while she was requesting the paperwork jeannie immediately caught the eye of a social worker passing by the social worker initially thought jeannie was autistic but after speaking with jeannie and her mother for a few minutes she was in shock to find that the girl was actually 13 years old after evaluating the state she was in the social worker contacted the authorities and jeanne's parents were arrested and she was taken to the los angeles children's hospital genie was put under observation by therapists and psychiatrists specialized in child abuse they began trying to find out more about what led to genie's state but they could only rely on what their mother told them since genie wasn't taken 20 doctors after the age of two james kent was the psychiatrist assigned to the case and although he had frequently worked cases of child abuse he stated this was nothing like he'd ever seen before genie was very small for her age only 4 feet and barely 59 pounds her skin was extremely pale because of the lack of sunlight and since she never learned how to chew because she was never given solid food her baby teeth hadn't fallen out she had two full sets of teeth in fact when given solid food she couldn't chew it and ended up spitting it out and trying to break it down with her hands jeannie had barely any muscle on her legs and her bones were very weak since she had never learned to walk properly and her limbs were usually restrained as a consequence she couldn't stand up straight and always walked with her hands placed in front of her arms close to her body similar to how a rabbit would place its front paws her rib cage was smaller than average and her hips were not developed correctly contributing to her difficulty in standing or walking she was also incontinent as she had never been toilet trained she had either been tied to a toilet or forced to use diapers for 13 years her vision initially seemed fine but she wasn't able to focus on things more than a few feet away from her since she had always been in a small room and never in open spaces on a mental level doctors determined genie's cognitive abilities were equal to a 13 month old but she quickly began responding to stimuli and showed interest in objects she did however show detachment from other humans she was not afraid of anyone but she treated them as objects as well even her mother and brother who she was more familiar with didn't seem to trigger any emotional response genie responded to sounds as well as she had never been exposed to anything but the silence of her home therapists particularly noted that she was afraid of cat and dog sounds possibly because of the form of threat her father used whenever she made any noise in terms of communication therapists determined she was highly antisocial she avoided physical contact even from her mother and had no sense of property as she would reach for anything she found interesting her communication consisted in making noising by pushing objects to attract attention but no verbal or body language she only seemed to respond to her name but barely any other phrases so doctors couldn't determine how much of it she knew before or she had learned during her time in observation after studying her for weeks linguist came to the conclusion that she was physically able to speak but as a consequence of being extremely isolated and never exposed to language she simply hadn't acquired a first language and had only learned to get attention through the noises she could make with external objects this explains her lack of non-verbal body language as well since she barely communicated with anyone she never learned how gestures facial expressions or movement can also be a form of communication genie also showed inappropriate sexual behavior in public during her therapy which led doctors to believe that there had also been some form of sexual abuse during genius time locked away however this could never be proved as genie's mother never confirmed it so after weeks of therapy observation in several tests doctors concluded genie had not been born in any way mentally disabled that she was not autistic and that her intelligence at the time of birth would have probably been average her mental abilities at the time she was found were due to the abuse and isolation her father put her under her physical condition was also entirely a consequence of the neglect and abuse inflicted on her at the most crucial moments of development and growth for children jeannie made incredible progress in the short period she spent in hospital she began understanding when she was being talked to began showing emotions such as curiosity and began paying attention when someone was speaking she also began putting on weight and going to the bathroom on her own slowly becoming in control of her bladder she also began to recognize the doctors who were treating her and would show happiness when they arrived even trying to make them stay when it was time for them to leave after months she acquired enough vocabulary and understanding of emotions to express happiness or fear she also slowly became more affectionate and began giving hugs to the people she trusted the most she still had a hard time being in crowds but when taken away from them she would calm down after spending a few months in recovery at the hospital jean butler genie's special education teacher at the hospital began fostering genie for some time the hospital didn't approve of this decision as they thought it could interfere with the study but regardless genie moved in with jean in her journals jean wrote about the progress genie made while at home with her she began expressing anger or frustration through words instead of attacking herself and she was also much more talkative in general her language improved greatly however although her intentions were good butler's care did interfere with the overall study and therapy genie needed and she refused to cooperate with some of the specialists jeannie needed to see the other doctors thought butler was keeping genie's progress to herself in hopes that it would one day make her famous the authorities decided she was not the best fit to gain full custody of genie and the child was moved to a different home genie then began living with david wrigler one of the therapists working the case mrs wrigler was a social worker and had a degree in human development so the couple were both trained to observe genie's progress although it was meant to be temporary genie ended up spending almost four years with the wrigglers and their children during her stay with the wrigglers jeannie continued developing her verbal communication they focused on teaching her more vocabulary and at one point jeannie talked briefly about her childhood meaning she had a recollection of the events that happened to her in her early years this is how jeannie described how her father would beat her father hit arm big wood genie cry not spit father hit face spit father hit big stick father is angry father hit genie big stick father take peace would hit cry father make me cry father is dead and she was right clark wiley was dead [Music] after genius discovery by social workers both parents were arrested eventually the charges against irene were dropped as examinations determined she was under abuse as well specialists stated that neglect towards her child was caused mainly because of the abuse she endured from her own husband as well as the visual impairment she suffered from clark however was charged with child abuse a few days before one of his court appearances he committed suicide by shooting himself in 1975 jeannie turned 18. her mother had been frequently visiting her during her time spent on foster homes building a relationship with her irene's attorney john miner was genie's legal guardian although jeannie was still living with the wriglers when she turned 18 jeannie moved back in with her mother into her childhood home legal guardianship was eventually transferred to irene however jeannie's mother found it hard to cope with her behavior and quickly asked for help from the health department without consulting her therapist she placed jeannie in a series of different foster homes she also sued the hospital therapists and workers who had participated in genius studies after the release of the dissertation genie a psycholinguistic study of a modern day wild child saying she did not agree with the content and found a lot of it offensive the lawsuit never went to trial and was eventually dismissed from 1977 to the early 90s jeannie was placed in many foster homes where she was abused causing great impact in all of her improvements from the years before around 1993 she moved into a facility in an undisclosed location in los angeles where she was finally doing better and taken care of and was allowed visits from her mother and the wrigglers who stayed in contact with her regularly not much is known after that there have been some articles and reports done on her story and journalists have been able to contact her a handful of times but not much else is reported she is living a simple life in a private facility and her privacy is still respected jeannie's mother died at the age of 87 in 2003 her brother went on to live his own life after running away from home he refused to read anything about genie and only saw her once after leaving he died in 2011 without having seen a sister for over 40 years and that's the story of jeannie wylie a child who was robbed of her life forever because of her father it was later discovered that clark thought genie would die very young due to her condition but if she managed to live past the age of 12 he'd let jeannie's mother seek help and special care for her psychiatrists think clark may have been enduring this abuse and isolation in hopes that genie's condition would become more severe and she would eventually die naturally once rescued there was amazing hope at the progress she made during her first few years of recovery and therapy however her constant moving around foster homes and the lack of stability meant genie never reached her full potential her case although groundbreaking for the test and studies is considered a failure because of the outcome doctors and therapists blame the many problems caused by local laws and the process involving her placement and custody which was in no way prepared for the care she needed so although genie managed to escape her prison the consequences from the abuse were so severe she now has to live with them for the rest of her life thank you so much for watching this video i really hope you enjoyed it and if you did please give it a thumbs up also if you enjoy this kind of content i really hope you subscribe i put out videos like this all the time and i'm working on a few new ones for the next few weeks so i'd really like to see you in the next one until then goodbye