Marina Chapman (born c. 1950)
by Philip Sherwell and Josie in ''

the Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''; published 28 October 2012; retrieved 7 February 2015 is a Colombian-born British woman known for her claim to have spent much of her early childhood in the jungle, alone except for a colony of

capuchin monkey The capuchin monkeys () are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. They are readily identified as the " organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some tropical fores ...

s. Chapman states that when she was approximately five years old, she was taken from her village (whose name she was too young to have learned), and then released for a reason she did not understand; she spent the next several years following capuchin monkeys, until hunters rescued her—by which point she had no human language. According to Chapman, she later was sold to a brothel in

Cúcuta Cúcuta (), officially San José de Cúcuta, is a Colombian municipality, capital of the department of Norte de Santander and nucleus of the Metropolitan Area of Cúcuta. The city is located in the homonymous valley, at the foot of the Eastern ...

, then lived on the streets, and then became a slave of a mafia family.Hattenstone, Simon.
Was Marina Chapman really brought up by monkeys?
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Friday 12 April 2013. Retrieved on 23 February 2014. A neighbour, Maruja, rescued her from her predicament. Maruja's daughter, Maria, adopted Chapman when Chapman was approximately 14, and Maruja sent Chapman to

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

to live with one of her daughters. This family had connections to the city of

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, through the textile industry. The family sent their children to Bradford in 1977 and sent Chapman to be a nanny. She had lived in Bradford since about 1983. She subsequently wrote her autobiography, "The Girl With No Name" (published 2013 by

Mainstream Publishing Mainstream Publishing was a publishing company in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1978, it ceased trading in December 2013.Charlotte WilliamsMainstream to cease publishing 1 March 2013, The Bookseller.com' (Retrieved 30 December 2016) It was ass ...

), with the help of her daughter Vanessa; it was rejected by several publishers because they believed it was not authentic. She currently lives in Bradford and married a scientist from the Bradford area. Chapman and her husband have two children.

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

created the documentary ''Woman Raised By Monkeys''. It premiered on Thursday 12 December 2013.

Analysis

Carlos Conde, a professor in Colombia, stated that he did a test using pictures of Chapman's adopted family and capuchin monkeys that strongly suggested that Chapman was telling the truth. A

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

psychology professor, Christopher French, argued that Chapman may be affected by

false memories In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformat ...

References

External links

Audio interview with Chapman
on '' Q'' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Marina Living people Feral children People from Bradford Colombian women writers British women writers 1950 births