Marina Chapman
Borncirca 1950
CitizenshipBritish/Colombian
Notable workThe Girl With No Name
Children2

Marina Chapman (born circa 1950) is a Colombian-British woman known for her claim to have spent much of her early childhood in the jungle, alone except for a colony of capuchin monkeys.[1][2]

Personal life

Born sometime in the early 1950s, Chapman states that as a child, 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, but they expelled her as she was too feral. She then lived on the streets, and subsequently became a slave of a mafia family.[3]

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 to live with one of her daughters.[3] This family had connections to the city of Bradford in Yorkshire, England, through the textile industry. The family sent their children to the city in 1977 and sent Chapman to be a nanny.[2]

Chapman currently lives in Bradford.[3] She married a scientist from the area,[2] with whom she has two daughters.[2][4]

Analysis

Carlos Conde, a professor in Colombia, stated that he performed a test using pictures of Chapman's adopted family and capuchin monkeys that strongly suggested that Chapman was telling the truth. The University of London psychology professor Chris French argued that Chapman may be affected by false memories.[2]

National Geographic created the documentary Woman Raised By Monkeys. It premiered on Thursday 12 December 2013.[5]

Chapman collaborated on her autobiography The Girl With No Name (published 2013 by Mainstream Publishing), with the help of her musician daughter Vanessa Forero and writer Lynne Barrett-lee.[6][2] Chapman and her daughter both appeared on BBC Breakfast Time in 2013[7] to promote the book which had initially been rejected by several publishers because they suspected it was not authentic, but it went on to be published internationally.[3][8]

References

  1. ↑ Strange life of the housewife who grew up with monkeys, by Philip Sherwell and Josie in the Daily Telegraph; published 28 October 2012; retrieved 7 February 2015
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Payne, Terry (12 December 2013), Monkeys: is this granny from Bradford telling the truth?, Radio Times, archived from the original on 31 December 2014
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hattenstone, Simon. "Was Marina Chapman really brought up by monkeys?" The Guardian. Friday 12 April 2013. Retrieved on 23 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Bains, Sanjeeta (1 January 2024). "'My mum was raised by monkeys - now I've quit life in city to live in jungle'". The Mirror. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  5. ↑ "Woman Raised By Monkeys". National Geographic Channel - UK. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  6. ↑ Mata, William (2 January 2024). "Daughter of woman 'raised by apes' plans to move from Bradford to the jungle". Metro. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  7. ↑ Marina Chapman on BBC Breakfast (with Vanessa Forero), retrieved 11 January 2024
  8. ↑ The Girl With No Name. 1 April 2013. ISBN 978-1-60598-474-2.
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