The case has been spoken about for years, often used as an example of linguistic development in childhood in psychology classes. But who was she? Where is she now? And have lessons been learnt from this tragic tale? This is the story of the young girl the world would know as Genie Wiley.
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Clark Wiley grew up in orphanages; his father had died after being struck by lightning, and his mother was busy running a brothel. He never got on with his mother; she initially gave him a feminine name that resulted in bullying when he was younger, and he very much held it against her. He eventually changed it when he was old enough to Clark. As he got older, his mother attempted to spend more time with him, and he willingly accepted this, eventually becoming borderline obsessed with her. Soon, any other relationship he had would become secondary to this one.
Irene Oglesby injured her head during her childhood in a severe way; this left her with neurological damage, causing degenerative sight issues. When she was older, she met Clark Wiley, who was 20 years her senior. They married and, to everyone around them, appeared to be happy. But, behind closed doors, he was controlling and abusive, attacking his wife mentally and physically. Irene’s eyesight steadily failed, and she became more dependent on her husband.
From day one, Clark said he didn’t want children; he disliked them in general and had issues with loud noises. However, after five years of marriage, his wife became pregnant. The beatings continued. Despite the violence, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Annoyed by the child’s crying, Clark placed her in the garage; it was in there that she caught pneumonia and passed away at just ten weeks old. A year later, another child was born, a baby boy, who died at just two days old; it’s unknown if this was from complications of Rh incompatibility or choking. Three years later, another son was born, John. John survived into adulthood but suffered various developmental delays as a child due to Clark refusing to interact with him appropriately and his noise aversion. Irene’s mother took John for a few months at the age of 4, where he made considerable progress before being returned to his parents.
Genie (a pseudonym given to her to protect her identity) was born to Clark and Irene in 1957, underweight and showing signs of Rh incompatibility (a blood disorder). A medical at three months showed an average weight gain but a congenital hip dislocation, requiring her to wear a splint until she was 11 months old; this caused Genie to be a little slower in developing walking skills. Later, many researchers speculated that this was the catalyst for her father believing she had an intellectual disability. Clark started to ignore Genie, thinking she was a waste of time. Around this time, Clark began to ramp up the abuse of his family.
Not an awful lot is known about Genie’s early years, but it was noted at 11 months that she had no health problems, physical or mental, although her weight had started to fall. At 14 months, she developed a fever, and her parents took her to a new doctor. This doctor, who had never seen Genie before, remarked that there may be an issue with her intellect; this solidified Clark’s belief that she had additional needs and, therefore, wasn’t worth bothering with. Excellent work, doc.
When Genie was 20 months old, her paternal grandmother took John out for a walk. A car hit the grandmother, killing her outright. Clark was distraught in an almost unnatural way (I’m not saying there are rules when it comes to grief, but it reminded me of Ed Gein’s reaction to his mother’s death. We know how that turned out). He even blamed John for her death; John was only seven years old. Clark started isolating his family further in a misguided attempt to ‘protect them’. The family moved into his mother’s house, where he left her room untouched as a shrine to her (this is Norman Bates territory).
Genie was forced to spend most of her time alone in the back bedroom whilst the rest of the family slept in the living room. Genie was tied to a child’s toilet, sometimes all day and all night; sometimes, she was placed in a crib with restricted limbs. Clark would force her to eat; if she were too slow, he would smear it over her face. Her limbs became distorted, and her face became pale through a lack of sunlight. Clark would growl and bark at her like a dog if she made a noise, scratching her with his uncut nails. This resulted in an intense phobia of cats and dogs, unsurprisingly.
There have been various opinions on why Clark acted like a dog towards his daughter. Was he trying to act like a guard dog, genuinely thinking he was looking after and protecting her? Was it his way of showing dominance over his family? Unfortunately, I think it’s one of those things we will never truly know, although I believe it to be an act of dominance.
Although never proven, Genie may also have been subjected to sexual abuse; she would often masturbate, which would carry on regardless of the social setting in the future.
At this point, there was no TV or radio in the house due to Clark’s aversion to noise, and John and Irene would be beaten if they spoke without permission. Genie never heard any real conversation or communication growing up, causing a lack of ability and understanding of language. Her room was blacked out; her only toys were plastic kitchen containers and empty spools she was occasionally allowed to play with. No one was allowed in the house; John could only leave for school and would have to prove his identity before being allowed back in. Irene was nearly completely blind, and Clark had taken to sitting around holding his gun and threatening to shoot her. Neighbours weren’t aware that Genie even existed.
I find it so sad that no one was aware of this little girl; I’ve tried to find out more about the extended family and their involvement, to no avail. Did neighbours not notice a young girl when they were moving in? I’m not blaming these people; I’m just struggling with this situation.
Clark was so convinced that Genie would be dead by the age of 12 that he had promised his wife they could request assistance for her when she reached her 12th birthday. Not surprisingly, he changed his mind when she turned 12.
When Genie was 13 years old, her parents had a huge argument, with Irene threatening to leave if she wasn’t allowed to visit her parents. Later that day, when Clark left the house, Irene took Genie and escaped to her parents (John had already run away from home at 18). After three weeks, Irene decided to go and apply for benefits for her deteriorating eyesight. However, she accidentally entered the building next door instead of walking into the benefits office. It was the social services offices.
The social worker who first met Genie assumed she was a child of 6 or 7 with autism. She had pale skin and sunken eyes and walked awkwardly with her hands hanging in front of her. After discovering that Genie was 13 years old, the social worker contacted the police. They arrested her parents, and Genie became a ward of the court.
Genie was admitted to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, and David Rigler took control of Genie’s care. Rigler was a therapist and a chief psychologist at the hospital. With him was Howard Hansen, an expert on child abuse and head of the psychiatry division at the hospital. The next day, physician James Kent came on board and performed the first examinations. Doctors called her one of the most damaged children they had ever encountered.
Around this time, the media learned of Genie’s case, and the public wanted to hear more. They hounded Clark despite his refusal to converse with them. He had a lot of issues dealing with what he considered an invasion into his private life; on the morning of November 20th, before a court appearance, he shot himself. There were two suicide notes: one for his son saying, ‘Be a good boy. I love you,' and one for the police. On one (there are conflicting accounts as to which one it was) was written: ‘The world will never understand’.
In the first meeting with Genie, James Kent started to draw verbal and non-verbal responses from Genie using a puppet. Playing with these puppets soon became her favourite pastime and accounted for most emotional reactions from her early on. In just a few days, she began dressing herself with assistance and using the toilet, although she still suffered some incontinence. Kent realised that there would be a lot of people involved in Genie’s day-to-day life and care and that she would need a consistent person to help her form relationships. He started joining her on walks and all of her appointments.
Genie began growing, gaining weight and becoming more confident in moving around. A sense of possession started, hoarding various items, especially colourful plastic items; beach buckets were her favourite. If anyone tried to remove her ‘treasures’, she would become distraught. After a few weeks, she started to respond to people, becoming more sociable and reacting positively when visited by a familiar face. She was also beginning to show disappointment when people she liked left her company. Although extremely limited, her speech improved, and she would draw pictures to communicate when words evaded her. She even developed a love of classical music.
By this point, all charges had been dropped against Genie’s mother, and she was given visitation rights. Irene began visiting twice a week and eventually, the two started to interact with each other, forming a small bond.
Genie’s mother, Irene, had hired John Miner to defend her in court, and he helped to secure her freedom. He had a background in psychology and, later on, became Genie’s legal guardian. Meanwhile, the researchers had secured a 3-year grant from The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study Genie. Soon after, Susan Curtiss began working on Genie’s case; Curtiss was a graduate student in linguistics and met with Genie daily, and they soon developed a strong bond. Curtiss quickly noticed that Genie could communicate in efficient ways other than using words. Curtiss would take Genie on shopping trips, and she noted that total strangers would buy Genie gifts because they sensed she wanted them. In the documentary ‘Secrets of the Wild Child’, she said of Genie: "The case name is Genie. This is not the person's real name, but when we think about what a genie is, a genie is a creature that comes out of a bottle or whatever but emerges into human society past childhood. We assume that it really isn't a creature that had a human childhood.”
Psychiatrist Jay Shurley, a professor of behavioural science, also became involved with Genie. He was an expert on solitary confinement and was shocked at Genie’s story. "Solitary confinement is, diabolically, the most severe punishment, and in my experience, really quite dramatic symptoms develop in as little as fifteen minutes to an hour, and certainly inside of two or three days. And try to expand this to ten years boggles one's mind," he said.
Jean Butler was a teacher at the hospital, and she taught Genie. Butler began to take Genie out of the hospital for the day back to Butler’s house. After one of these trips, Butler claimed she had been exposed to rubella and, therefore, so had Genie. Butler suggested she temporarily fostered Genie, and somewhat reluctantly, the hospital agreed, believing a period on the isolation ward would set her back in her development. Butler then petitioned for full-time foster custody, which was hit with massive objections from the hospital. Despite this, Genie was allowed to stay with Butler while authorities considered it.
While living with Butler, Genie started to show signs of puberty, a testament to how much her physical health had improved. Her fear of dogs lessened, thanks to Butler showing her episodes of Lassie and giving her a toy dog (Genie’s fear of cats remained). Previously, Genie would physically attack herself when angry or frustrated, but Butler claimed she had taught her to express her anger through words and that she was becoming more vocal. Her incontinence had all but stopped as well.
Butler moved her partner into her home, believing that a ‘two-parent’ home might be considered more favourably by the authorities overseeing the foster application. Butler had also started to resist visits from the hospital researchers, referring to them (not particularly affectionately) as Genie’s Team, claiming they were putting too much pressure on the child. This included Susan Curtiss, who seemed to genuinely love the child.
There are many different accounts of this part. Some believe Butler had a motherly love for Genie and was trying to protect her. Others reported she claimed Genie would make her famous and would be the next Anne Sullivan (the woman who taught Helen Keller). Some researchers argued that Genie genuinely enjoyed the tests and the attention. Unfortunately, it seems to come down to ‘he said, she said’, and we won’t ever really know who put Genie’s best interests first.
By mid-August, Butler was informed that her application for foster custody had been rejected; she was reportedly devastated.
After this, Howard Hansen thought it was a good idea for David Rigler and his wife to take custody of Genie (both Hansen and Rigler had been involved with Genie since she arrived at the hospital). This raised a few eyebrows; was this why Butler was refused custody? Did the hospital want Genie with one of the researchers so they could continue studying her at home? Did anyone, at any point, bother trying to find out what Genie wanted?
Rigler discussed fostering with his wife, Marilyn. Marilyn had training as a social worker and a human development degree. They already had three teenage children, and Rigler was reluctant to take Genie on, but the hospital and authorities granted them temporary custody.
That same day, Genie was taken from Butler and given to Rigler, much to Genie’s confusion. The Riglers expected Genie to stay for three months, but she stayed for four years. David Rigler became her primary therapist, and observation resumed.
While this was happening, Irene had cataract surgery, restoring much of her sight. Irene had consented to the Riglers having Genie and observing her, and she would visit Genie once a week. There are claims that the researchers from the hospital disliked Irene because of her previous treatment of Genie and didn’t treat her as an equal. Curtiss was apprehensive about Irene, writing that she often gave conflicting stories about her marriage, just saying what she thought researchers wanted to hear.
Jean Butler continued her relationship with Irene, the two having a simple friendship. Butler would constantly tell Genie’s mother how harmful the tests were to Genie, that the grant money was being wasted, and that the researchers were deliberately excluding Irene. Irene believed every word she said.
After living with the Riglers for a few months, Genie’s social skills and behaviour improved even more. She started attending a nursery school and then progressed to a school for children with additional needs. She could complete simple tasks, such as cooking, ironing, and sewing. She had stopped masturbating in socially unacceptable settings, her mood had improved, and her language was vastly improved despite missing words in sentences occasionally. She had even learnt a basic style of sign language. Genie seemed happy.
With her new vocal skills, Genie started talking about her father; she was worried he would come and get her, so the researchers had to explain the concept of death to her. She said:
“Father, hit arm—big wood. Genie cry…not spit. Father. Hit face-spit. Father hit big stick. Father is angry. Father hit Genie big stick. Father take piece wood hit. Cry. Father, make me cry. Father is dead.'
The NIMH started to ask questions, debating whether to continue funding, claiming there was a lack of scientific data. They gave an extra year's funding after the initial three years, and then Rigler proposed another extension of 3 years. Although the NIMH acknowledged how much Genie had benefited, the funding was stopped.
Genie turned 18 years old in 1975. Irene decided she wanted to take care of Genie and moved to her home with her mother. However, she underestimated the care and attention Genie would need and couldn’t cope. Without alerting any of the hospital team or previous foster careers, Irene contacted the California Department of Health, and they assisted in moving Genie to the first of many more foster homes.
Genie’s new foster home was extremely strict; she wasn’t allowed to play very often, and her mother could only visit sporadically. The people who were fostering started abusing Genie physically and emotionally. Her incontinence resumed. Once, Genie was sick and, as punishment, was beaten and threatened with never seeing her mother again. She reverted to staying silent, refusing to open her mouth through fear of vomiting and being punished for it. She became reliant on sign language for communicating. Curtiss was the only person from ‘Genie’s Team’ who was still seeing Genie and had noticed the effect the environment was having on her. A petition was started to remove Genie from the home, but she and social services had trouble contacting John Miner, who was still her legal guardian. Eventually, with help from David Rigler, Miner had her removed from this place.
I want to find out what happened to these foster parents. Were they allowed to continue fostering? I can’t even find out if they were prosecuted for the abuse. I sincerely hope another child was never left under their supervision.
Genie stayed at Children’s Hospital for two weeks, not to be a good person, and she improved slightly. She was placed in another foster home, which seemed successful initially, but the placement ended suddenly. Whilst this was happening, Curtiss wrote to Miner explaining that Genie couldn’t understand why she was being moved and was blaming herself, believing herself not to be a good person. The frequency of these changes traumatised Genie, and she rapidly regressed.
Curtiss claims that in December 1977, she was asked to be Genie’s legal guardian, but Irene decided to stop her seeing Genie and ended all contact with most of the research team. It was discovered that John Miner had not updated his status as legal guardian for Genie as a child to the legal guardian of an adult unable to care for herself. Without any consultation, authorities transferred guardianship to Irene. Butler remained in contact with Irene and spread negative rumours about Genie, specifically making Curtiss out to be a bad person who was detrimental to Genie. Butler died in 1988 from a stroke.
Only Jay Shurley was allowed to see Genie. Genie was being moved through various foster homes, many subjecting her to more abuse; in 1984, Shurley saw her at her 27th birthday party and again two years later. He said that on these occasions, she was quiet, withdrawn, and depressed.
As of 2016, Genie was still a ward of the state, apparently living in a small private facility for adults with additional needs. It was reported that she could only speak a few words but could communicate in sign language. Some reports have said she’s happy, others that she isn’t. Irene died in 2003. Genie’s brother, John, never really recovered from the abuse he received from his father. He told ABC News in 2008, “I feel at times God failed me. Maybe I failed him.” He hasn’t seen Genie since 1982. Susan Curtiss was never able to regain contact with Genie.
There is so much more to this case, especially from a psychological point of view; is genetics or environment more important in language development? Is there a ‘time window’ where you can learn skills? Various books are available about the case, and a film, Mockingbird Don’t Sing, was made, which doesn’t deviate away from the truth too much. Unfortunately, no one knows what happened to Genie in her later life and that those who genuinely did seem to care for her were pushed out of her life. She was a young girl who showed tremendous potential despite everything that life had thrown at her and ended up confused, scared, and feeling alone through no fault of her own. Many people were coming in and out of her life, which must have been terribly confusing for her. What do you think about this case? Did people care for Genie, or was she just seen as an experiment? Did her mother deserve to have her back? As always, let me know what you think in the comments! Thanks for reading; take care of yourselves, and I will see you next time.
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