A teenager who speaks English has appeared in Berlin, saying that he lived in the forest with his father for five years until he died several weeks ago, according to media reports on Friday.
The boy said that his name is Ray and did not know where he was originally from or his last name, according to the Deutsche Welle newspaper. He said that his father called himself Ryan.
“This is certainly a strange story,” police spokesperson Michael Maass told the newspaper.
Authorities are attempting to figure out more information about the boy, including who his relatives are. According to the Local newspaper, his father took him into the woods after his mother died in a car accident.
The two spent their time camping out in a tent and living in huts and shacks that they came across along the way, according to Maass. After his father’s death, the boy buried his father in a shallow grave and piled stones atop it.
“His father had told him to look at his compass and go north, if anything should happen. And this is apparently what he did, walking for two weeks before reaching Berlin,” Maass told The Local.
Accounts of feral children—or human children that have lived isolated from human society from a very young age—have appeared throughout human history. Some have been allegedly raised by wolves or other animals.
The boy who appeared in Berlin recently, however, can speak fluent English and some German. After a medical examination, the boy appeared relatively physically healthy and there was no evidence that he had been subjected to any forms of abuse.
