Marina Chapman (born circa 1950) is a Colombian-born British woman kown 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 "Street organ, organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some t ...

s.Strange life of the housewife who grew up with monkeys
by Philip Sherwell and Josie in ''

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

''; published 28 October 2012; retrieved 7 February 2015

Personal life

Chapman was born sometime in the early 1950s, during a time in Colombia known as ''

La Violencia ''La Violencia'' (, The Violence) was a ten-year civil war in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, mainly fought in the countryside. ''La Violencia'' is considered to have begu ...

''. Chapman states that as a child, she was taken from her village (the name of which she was too young to have learned) and then abandoned in the jungle for a reason she did not understand. She says that she spent the next several years following capuchin monkeys, surviving by copying their ways, until hunters rescued her (or hunted her out) at 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 East ...

, but they expelled her as she was too feral. She then lived on the streets, and subsequently 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Friday 12 April 2013. Retrieved on 23 February 2014. A neighbour, Maruja, rescued her and sent her to

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

to live with one of her daughters. Maruja's daughter Maria adopted Marina when she was approximately 14. This family had connections to the city of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, England, through the textile industry, and in 1977 sent their children there with Chapman to be their nanny. Chapman currently lives in Bradford. She married a scientist from the area, with whom she has two daughters.

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 The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

psychology professor

Chris French Christopher (Chris) Charles French (born 1956) is a British psychologist who is prominent in the field of anomalistic psychology, with a focus on the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to his academic activ ...

argued that Chapman may be affected by

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

In popular culture

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

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

), with the help of her musician daughter

Vanessa Forero Vanessa Forero (born Vanessa Chapman and sometimes performing as Vanessa James) is an English-Colombian singer-songwriter and author who has written film and television scores. She plays the keyboard and has performed with various groups, includ ...

and writer Lynne Barrett-lee. Chapman and her daughter both appeared on

BBC Breakfast Time ''Breakfast Time'' is British television's first national breakfast television programme. It was broadcast from 17 January 1983 until 29 September 1989 on BBC1 across the United Kingdom. It was broadcast for the first time just over two weeks ...

in 2013 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.

Kate McKinnon Kate McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022, where she became known for her character work and celebrity im ...

performed a satirical impression of Chapman on the ''

Weekend Update ''Weekend Update'' is a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast and been featu ...

'' segment of the April 13, 2013 episode of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

.''

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