Victor, The Feral Boy...!

For today let's talk about feral children. One in particular, Victor of Aveyron.

While many cases of feral children are actually cases involving child abuse or abandonment, there remains many reports from around the world of actual feral children found in the wild. Unpleasant, but factual.

Victor of Aveyron

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In the early 1800s, a young French boy was spotted living in the woods. The wild child was clearly fearful of people. Eventually, however, he emerged on his own. Lacking language, preferring uncooked food, and covered in scars, it was obvious that he had been wild for most of his life.

A physician named Jean Marc Gaspard Itard took in the boy, naming him Victor. Itard studied Victor for five years. Although the only words Victor ever learned were lait (“milk”) and Dieu (“God”), he did make great progress in learning empathy–one of the traits that Itard believed separated humans from other animals.

Sadly there are more modern versions of feral children even in this day and age. Google it and you'll see what I mean.

Coffee out on the patio on this fine Spring day!