13 Years Locked Away... The Heart Breaking Case Of Genie Wiley

Oct 11, 2025 UNITED STATES
#geniewiley #genie #documentary #crimedocumentaries

13 Years Locked Away... The Heart Breaking Case Of Genie Wiley

A sad case of extreme isolation. "The forbidden experiment" Genie Wiley.

This video tells the story of Genie Wiley, a feral child who was victimized by her parents and grew up in isolation. Genie was left alone in a dark bedroom for years and grew up with almost no human interaction. This video details the life of Genie Wiley; how she was found, what happened to her after her discovery and how the system failed her.
For social workers at the Los Angeles County Welfare Office, Wednesday November 4th, 1970 started off just like any other day. But that afternoon, when the door to their office swung open, it would stop everyone in their tracks. Standing before them was a girl who would become known as Genie Wiley, the "Feral Child." Genie Wiley was confined to a potty training chair and kept in a makeshift straitjacket for over a decade by her parents, Clark Wiley and Irene Wiley. The National Institute of Mental Health, had agreed to fund a scientific project on Genie. From 1971 to 1975, the genie team explored the “Developmental Consequence of Extreme Social Isolation.” Genie's circumstances provided a rare opportunity to study brain and speech development – specifically how language makes us human. But the study came at a cost.

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