
We assume that it really isn't a creature that had a human childhood. This is not the person's real name, but when we think about what a genie is, a genie is a creature that comes out of a bottle or whatever but emerges into human society past childhood. The girl was given the name Genie in her case files to protect her identity and privacy. The social worker soon discovered that the girl had been confined to a small room, and an investigation by authorities quickly revealed that the child had spent most of her life in this room, often tied to a potty chair. Could a child reared in utter deprivation and isolation develop language? Could a nurturing environment make up for a horrifying past? Genie's story came to light on November 4,in Los Angeles, California.Ī social worker discovered the year old girl after her mother sought out services for her own health. Genie's case was one of the first to put the critical period theory to the test. She spent almost her entire childhood locked in a bedroom, isolated and abused for over a decade. Wiley would come to live with many of the team members who observed her which was not only a huge conflict of interest but also potentially begat another abusive relationship in her life.There have been a number of cases of feral children raised in social isolation with little or no human contact. For those four years, Wiley became the center of these scientists lives. Associated Press Clark Wiley center left and John Wiley center right after the abuse scandal broke open.Īn abuse case was immediately opened against both parents, but Clark Wiley would kill himself shortly before trial. Genie Wiley, the Feral Childįather is angry. In her own words, Genie Wiley, the Feral Child recalled. Clark Wiley would hit her with a large plank of wood for any infraction.


No one was allowed to interact with the girl who was mostly locked in a blacked-out room or in a makeshift cage. The end to the complicated relationship they shared fanned his cruelty into a bonfire, giving him entre into the dubious pantheon of the worst child abusers the country had ever seen. He hated the noise and stress they brought along. He was a former assembly-line machinist raised in and out of brothels by his mother.

Oglesby was a Dust Bowl refugee who had drifted to the Los Angeles area where she met her husband. Wiley was born in to Clark Wiley and his much-younger wife Irene Oglesby. She was given the name to protect her identity once she became a spectacle of scientific research and awe. Her intense trauma proved something of a godsend to scientists of various fields including psychology and linguistics, though they were later accused of exploiting the child for their research on learning and development. Wiley was separated from any form of socialization and society for the first 13 years of her life. There would be no fairy godmothers, no magic solutions, and no enchanted transformations.

Unfortunately for Wiley, hers is a dark fairytale with no happy ending. The story of Genie Wiley the Feral Child sounds like the stuff of fairytales: an unwanted, mistreated child survives internment from an ogre and is rediscovered and reintroduced to the world in an impossibly youthful state.
