Vevilo

At 20 months old Genie was locked in a dark bedroom by her own father. For the next 11 years she was strapped to a child's potty chair during the day and tied into a caged crib at night. If she made a sound, he beat her with a plank. He barked at her like a dog to keep her quiet. She was found 56 years ago today, at 13, barely able to speak. Scientists filmed her learning her first words. Some of the first things she said were about him. In the video below Genie sits with the researchers teaching her to talk. "Dead father. Father dead." Then they ask her where she used to sleep. Her mother was nearly blind, beaten by the same man and threatened with death if she ever asked for help. In November 1970 she walked into the wrong office in Los Angeles County with Genie behind her, and a social worker realized the child was 13. Her father was charged with child abuse. On the morning he was due in court, he killed himself. One of his notes said: "The world will never understand." For a few years Genie was the most studied child in America. She learned words fast but never real grammar. Then the grant ran out, her mother cut the scientists off, and Genie was passed through foster homes where she was abused again. Most of the language she had learned disappeared. She is believed to still be alive, in state care in California. The scientists got their papers. Genie went back to silence. Did they save her, or just study her?