Kaspar Hauser was a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Hauser's claims, and his subsequent death from a stab wound, sparked much debate and controversy. Theories propounded at the time identified him as a member of the grand ducal House of Baden, hidden away because of royal intrigue. These opinions may or may not have been documented by later investigations. Other theories proposed that Hauser had been a fraud.
Hauser, 1830. Note the scar on the forehead, from a wound inflicted the year before.
Statue of Hauser, old city centre, Ansbach, Germany
Pencil drawing by Kaspar Hauser, 1829
A photograph of the note, in mirror writing. Contrast enhanced. The original has been missing since 1945.
A feral child is a young individual who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, with little or no experience of human care, social behavior, or language. Such children lack the basics of primary and secondary socialization. The term is used to refer to children who have suffered severe abuse or trauma before being abandoned or running away. They are sometimes the subjects of folklore and legends, often portrayed as having been raised by animals. While there are many cases of children being found in proximity to wild animals, there are no eyewitness accounts of animals feeding human children.
Kaspar Hauser.
The Capitoline Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus