Marina Chapman: The British Housewife Who Was Raised by Monkeys

A British housewife named Marina Chapman says she was raised by monkeys in a Colombian jungle, and she’s telling her bizarre true story in a new book — The Girl with No Name — and TV documentary.

Chapman thinks she was born around 1950, kidnapped as a young child and then dumped in the jungle by her captors, according to The Telegraph.

She says she lived among a colony of capuchin monkeys and survived by catching and eating birds and rabbits.

When she was discovered by hunters after five years in the jungle, things actually got worse: They sold her to a brothel in Cucuta, Colombia. She escaped the brothel and lived on the streets, then was taken in by a family and worked as a maid.

According to her story, in her 20s she traveled to England with another family and met her now-husband John Chapman.

Her daughter, who’s helping with the book and documentary, says she grew up hearing of her mom’s wild upbringing:

I got bedtime stories about the jungle, as did my sister. We didn’t think it odd – it was just Mum telling her life. So in a way it was nothing special having a mother like that.

Her story seems far-fetched, but The Telgraph writes that monkeys are known to raise human children:

Experts say monkeys have been known to accept young humans into their fold and there has been a previous case in which a four-year-old Ugandan boy was left in the jungle for more than a year to live with vervet monekeys before being rescued and adapting well to life with people.