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- [00:00]
Lindsey Graham
There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad free. Listen with Wondry plus in the Wondery app as a member of Noiser plus at noiser.com or in Apple Podcasts. Or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts@intohristory.com it's early on January 8, 1800, in the village of Aviron, a district southern France. In a tiny workshop, a middle aged man leans over the hearth to light a fire. He's a cloth dyer by trade, and he has a long day's work ahead of him. But first he wants to make himself a little more comfortable. It's a cold morning, and even inside the workshop it's barely above freezing. As the fire takes he smiles with pleasure, flexing his fingers in its heat. Behind him, the workshop door creeps open. A gust of cold air scatters the flames in the heart. The dyer scowls, thinking it's just the wind, and he turns to kick the door shut. But then he cries out. Crawling through the door and into the workshop is a small boy. At first glance he looks to be around 9 or 10 years old, but he's so thin it's hard to tell. A mass of dark, matted hair covers his head. His nails are long like claws, and his naked body is caked in dirt. The child stares up at the cloth diar, the two of them saying nothing as they warily eye each other. But then the cloth dyer catches the boy's eyes, dark to the workbench, where an apple gleams in the firelight. There. Man picks up the fruit and offers it to the boy, but again he just stares. So the dyer holds out the apple, urging the boy to take it. But still the boy doesn't speak and doesn't move. Eventually, the dyer puts the apple on the ground and rolls it across the workshop floor. Now the boy moves. He snatches up the apple and takes a large bite. Then another, and another. He eats the entire thing, seed, stem and core, but he never takes his eyes off the man. The cloth dyer stares right back at him. This child is like nothing he's ever seen before. He's not really a boy at all. He's more like an animal. The discovery of a feral child in the south of France will shock the entire country. After the boy is taken into safekeeping, there will be much debate about his future. Many experts of the time will consider him subhuman and incapable of learning. But one physician won't give up on the wildling. His efforts won't just ensure that the boy is properly cared for. His work will also deepen science's understanding of language and human development, an impact that will continue long after the so called Wolf Boy of Aviron emerged from The Wild on January 8, 1800.
- [02:57]
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- [03:57]
Lindsey Graham
Audio hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondry's American Scandal. Our latest series tells the story of the Challenger space shuttle disaster which killed seven astronauts, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, after NASA ignored a fatal design flaw. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [04:19]
Jean Itard
From.
- [04:19]
Lindsey Graham
Noiser in Airship I'm Lindsey Graham and this is History. Daily. History is made every day on this podcast. Every day we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is January 8, 1800. The Wolf Boy of Aviron It's January 9, 1800, in Aviron, France. One day after the discovery of a feral child. Constantin Esteve, a local government official, enters the house of an old widow and is ushered into her parlor. This widow usually leads a quiet life, but yesterday she was asked to take care of the child who was found in the local clothdyer's workshop. Ever since, her house has been busy with people coming to look at the boy. But unlike the others, Constan isn't just here to stare. In the parlor, Constan sees the boy sitting on his haunches by the fire. He's still naked and covered in the filth of the forest. The widow apologizes, saying that she's tried to wash and clothe him, but the boy won't let her. Constance crouches down near the fire too. And the boy shuffles back warily as Constance tries to inspect him. The boy's thick, long hair and claw like fingernails suggest that he's been living alone for years. Then Constance stands up and declares to the baffled widow that this child must be the Wolf Boy of local legend. Three years ago and around 50 miles from Abyron, locals first spotted a naked child in the forest. He evaded all attempts to capture him and the peasants began calling him Wolf Boy. But a few months ago he vanished. People began to think he was dead until yesterday when he appeared at the cloth dyer's workshop. And now that the boy has been rescued from the wild, it's Constance's job as the local government commissioner to decide what to do with him next. First, Constant inquires whether there are any families with missing children in the area. Two fathers who have lost their sons are asked to meet the boy, but both say the child isn't theirs. So with no one coming forward to claim the boy, Constan decides to send him to the local orphanage. It's a good choice because the director there also happens to be an amateur biologist at the orphanage. Pierre Joseph Bonnetaire undertakes the first medical examination of the child. The Wolf Boy has not gone through puberty yet, but he has his adult teeth, so Pierre concludes that he must be around 10 years old. The boy also doesn't speak and doesn't seem to understand anything that is said to him. Pierre takes this as proof that he must have been abandoned in the forest since he was very small, perhaps as young as three or four years old. Growing up with that level of hardship and isolation, it's little surprise that the boy struggles in the orphanage. He refuses to sleep in a bed and he tears off any clothes that are put on him. He only seems happy when he's outside, and it's not long before he tries to run away. He doesn't make it far before he's apprehended, but the attempted escape makes Pierre realize that he can't care for the boy properly at the orphanage. He needs to find a permanent home for the child that can better cater to his complex needs. So in July 1800, six months after his discovery, the boy is put on a coach to the French capital, Paris. Although the boy can hear perfectly well, it's the city's school for the deaf that takes him in. Principal Rochamboires Sicard is a renowned scientist and teacher, and it is hoped that he will be able to succeed in instructing the boy where others have failed. But Rochamboirs is not really interested in teaching the wolf boy to speak for the child's own sake. He's more interested in using the boy as a kind of scientific experiment, one to investigate the differences between humans and animals and between civilized society and the wild natural world. But Rochamboise is left disappointed by his new student. The boy proves totally unresponsive to instruction, and Rochamboise eventually grows so frustrated he gives up on the child. He shows little interest in the boy from that moment on and just lets him roam the hallways of the school unsupervised. The child is now less a scientific experiment and more a curiosity for school visitors to gawk at. And if anyone questions the boy's treatment, Rochamboise haughtily declares that he has proved himself little more than an animal and is incapable of learning. This judgment from such an esteemed scientist means the boy seems destined to spend the rest of his life excluded from civilization. But one man will break the consensus. Determined to rescue the boy from a life of miserable confinement, a young physician will take the so called Wolf child of Averon into his own home. And there he won't treat the child as a science experiment or a freak show. He won't ask the boy to prove that he's a human being. Instead, this doctor will treat him like he already is one History Daily is sponsored by Acorns. Studying history is studying survival. And at the heart of survival most of the time is money. It's always been a challenge. From bartering livestock to trading crypto, saving and investing feels aspirational. Something you want to do, but just not right now. In fact, last year, Save More Money was the most popular New Year's resolution in America. So how do you start for real? Acorns makes it easy to start automatically saving and investing so your money has a chance to grow for you, your kids and your retirement. You don't need to be an expert. Acorns will recommend a diversified portfolio that fits you and your money goals. You don't need to be rich. Acorns lets you invest with the spare money you've got right now. You can start with $5 or even just your spare change. Head to acorns.com historydaily or download the Acorns to start saving and investing for your future. 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- [10:33]
Jean Itard
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- [11:12]
Lindsey Graham
It's August 1800 in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, eight months after the discovery of the so called Wolf boy of Aberon, 26 year old Jean Itard strolls along a gravel path lined with flower beds and neat lawns. A few years ago, this was part of a royal palace. Now the French monarchy has been overthrown and the garden has been opened up to the people of Paris. Strolling through the garden, Jean spots a familiar figure dressed in a simple nightshirt. It's the Wolf Boy of Aveyron. Every day, staff from the nearby School for the Deaf bring him here for exercise and fresh air. Jean is excited to see him and moves a little closer. He's a newly qualified physician and has just been appointed as the school's doctor, so he's eager to meet its most famous resident. Jean stands a short distance away and watches the boy play on the grass. Although the staff with him occasionally shout instructions, the boy seems to pay them no attention. Frustrated, eventually, one of the staff roughly grabs a boy, who responds by baring his teeth and snarling. It's behavior that matches what most Parisians are saying about the boy, that he's little more than an animal. Over the past several decades, French philosophers had developed new theories about the nature of humanity. Thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau and Rene Descartes have suggested that humans do not have some form of divine gift that separates them from animals, but instead, humans have language and empathy, and that's what makes them exceptional. The Wolf Boy, though, seems to show neither of those qualities. But as a staff member from the School of the Deaf wrestles with the boy in order to control him, Jean notices something a thick line of scar tissue running around his throat. This scar makes Jean wonder if there aren't physical reasons why the child can't speak. And if that's the case, the boy might not be a lost cause. He just needs to find an alternative way to communicate. So back at the school, Jean offers to take charge of the Boy's education Principal Rochamboise Sicard is only too happy to let Jean take the problematic child off his hands. So over the next few weeks, Jean splits his time between his regular duties and compiling a special training program for his most unusual student. John suspects that the boy acts like an animal greatly because he's treated like an animal. So Jean decides to treat him like a small child. Instead, he takes him to his own home and gives the boy a Victor. He arranges for Victor to be cared for by a nurse named Madame Gayron. She essentially becomes his foster mother, feeding, washing and clothing the reluctant boy with great patience. Over time, she wins Victor's trust and gently begins encouraging him to complete these simple tasks for himself. Meanwhile, Jean tries to teach Victor the basics of speech and language. And after six months, Jean proudly reports that Victor has made some progress reading and understanding two basic phrases, but he still can't say them. Despite Jean's best efforts, Victor cannot overcome his struggles with speech. The best he can manage are a few guttural sounds, but nothing that consistently matches an identifiable word. Jean begins to to suspect that the wound on Victor's neck has permanently damaged his larynx, so he can't form intelligible sounds. But speech is only one of the defining characteristics of humanity identified by philosophers. The other is an understanding of emotions. And here, Victor makes clearer progress. When Madame Gayron bursts into tears after the death of her husband, it's not Jeanne who moves to comfort her first. It's Victor surprising everyone in the house by giving Madame Guerin a hug. But despite his improvement, Victor will still be considered subhuman by most Parisians, and he'll never be accepted by mainstream society. Instead, he'll remain in the care of Madame Guerin for the rest of his life. By the time of his death from pneumonia in 1828, the once famous Wolf Child of Averon will have almost been forgotten. But his impact on the man who treated him and the medical advances he inspired will continue to change the lives of others for decades to come.
- [15:20]
Jean Itard
They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Raiden was found dead in a camp canyon near LA in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But Things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, the Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime the Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of the Cotton Club Murder early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.
- [16:31]
Lindsey Graham
It's 1825 in Paris, France, 25 years after Victor was discovered in Aviron. Now 51 years old, Jean Itard shows a well dressed noblewoman into his office. The Marquise de Dampierre takes a seat, nervously straightening the folds in her dress. Then, gently, Jeanne begins asking her questions. But as she answers, the Marquise blurts out several shocking swear words. She clamps her hand over her mouth, her eyes welling up with tears. Haltingly, she explains that she can't help it. These awful words just come out of her. And she begs Jean for help. Following his treatment of Victor, Jean gained a reputation as one of France's top experts in language development. It means that Jeanne's medical practice has become a successful business. Today's patient is a prominent noblewoman, but Jean is at a loss. He can't understand what may be causing the marquis's outbursts. This is one case where he can't help his patient. But Jean makes sure he writes down his observations carefully and adds them to his large catalog of medical records. Decades later, these meticulous notes will help others finally find an answer to the mystery of the marquise's illness. In the 1880s, a young physician named Georgill de la Tourette will rediscover Jean's notes on the Marquise. They will help Georges understand the disorder he's studying, one that will eventually be named after him, Tourette Syndrome. John's careful work will continue to help patients long after his death. But it is one of his earliest cases that will remain his most famous. And in the 20th century, scholars will raise questions about Victor's story. They'll doubt any child as young as four could survive in the woods alone. And instead, they'll suspect that Victor suffered from a developmental disorder and was likely physically abused before being abandoned. But by helping to transform the science of language development, the impact Victor had was the same. However. He came to the cloth dyer's workshop that morning after years alone in The Wild on January 8, 1800. Next on History Daily. January 9, 2007. Steve Jobs stuns the technology world when he unveils Apple's newest product, the iPhone from Noiser and Airship. This is History. Daily hosted, edited and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham Audio editing by Mohammed Shazid Sound design by Matthew Filler Music by Thrung. This episode is written and written research by Scott Reeves Edited by Dorian Marina Managing producer, Emily Burke Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.