Anna (feral child)

Following her discovery, Genie was followed by scientists, physiologists, and linguists. She has lived much longer than Anna and is believed to be 60 or 61 years old (as of 2017), but she has yet to acquire a functional first language. Unlike Anna, psychologists and linguists continue to frequently discuss her to this day, and there is considerable academic and media interest in her development and the research team's methods, since her case has demonstrated the necessity of early language stimulation in the left hemisphere of the brain to start. The discoveries made through her following and scientific testing relate to Anna because it explains that Anna's lack of language stimulation during her isolated childhood are the basis for why she was never able to acquire the verbal communication skills expected of her age up until the time of her early death.

Another case Anna is commonly compared to is feral child Genie. While growing up, her father became convinced that she was severely intellectually disabled, causing him to withhold from her care and attention. At approximately the time she reached the age of 20 months, this belief of his caused him to keep her as socially isolated as possible and until she reached the age of 13 years and 7 months he kept her locked alone in a room. During this time, she was strapped to a child's toilet or bound in a crib. This caused her arms and legs to remain completely immobilized. Her father forbade anyone from interacting with her, provided her with almost no stimulation of any kind, and left her severely malnourished and unable to mobilize. The extent of her isolation prevented her from being exposed to any significant amount of speech or human interaction, and as a result she did not acquire language during her childhood, similar to Anna. Her abuse came to the attention of Los Angeles child welfare authorities on November 4, 1970, and this caused a media frenzy.

The last report filed regarding Anna, dated June 22, 1942, said that she could follow directions, identify a few colors, build with blocks, and differentiate between attractive and unattractive pictures. She had a good sense of rhythm and loved a doll. She talked mainly in phrases but would repeat words and try to carry on conversation. She habitually washed her hands and brushed her teeth.

Anna died on August 6, 1942, at age 10. Her death was caused by hemorrhagic jaundice, a form of jaundice in which injury and anemia are present. There is no cited evidence that her condition was linked to her isolation followed by pneumonia. The Fayette County commissioners paid for her funeral and burial in Delaware Cemetery, near the Judge School in Milford where she had last lived.

A report filed on November 6, 1939 describes her state as follows: "Anna walks about aimlessly, makes periodic rhythmic motions of her hands, and, at intervals, makes guttural and sucking noises. She regards her hands as if she had seen them for the first time. It was impossible to hold her attention for more than a few seconds at a time-not because of distraction due to external stimuli but because of her inability to concentrate. She ignored the task in hand to gaze vacantly about the room. Speech is entirely lacking. Numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made with her in the hope of developing initial sounds. I do not believe that this failure is due to negativism or deafness but that she is not sufficiently developed to accept speech at this time...The prognosis is not favorable".

Anna was discovered around February 6, 1938, by E. M. Smith of the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society about seventeen miles from Uniontown. The humane officer found her after a report had been filed from the Woman's Club of Star Junction. Other reports had also been spread that a child was kept in the house, yet she was never seen by visitors. When she was found, the Humane officer reported that: "The child was dressed in a dirty shirt and napkin. Her hands, arms, and legs were just bones, with skin drawn over them, so frail she couldn't use them. She never grew normally, and the chair on which she lay, half reclining and half sitting was so small the child had to double her legs partly under her". The chair that she was found in was tilted backwards to lean on a coal bucket with her arms tied above her head, leaving her unable to talk or move. Charges of negligence to a minor were brought against David and Martha. The former was freed after Judge J. Russell Carr dismissed the case for lack of evidence. Dr John Kerr of Connellsville testified at the trial. He declared: "it was about the most deplorable condition I have ever seen in all those years". He testified Anna had a severe lack of muscle, abnormal bones, and that she couldn't see or hear. He believed that, had she been properly nourished, she would have been a "normal" child. Martha claimed that she tried feeding her meat and other solid foods but that they made her gag. She denied the statements that she had been kept imprisoned in an attic.

When Anna was first rescued, Drs. J. F. Kerr and D. F. Newell assessed that she was undernourished, that the bones in her legs were softened and twisted out of normal shape and that she was suffering from rickets. She was also believed to be deaf as she didn't respond to others. It was later discovered as she recovered that the deafness was functional rather than organic. She additionally could not walk, talk, and showed little signs of intelligence. Once she was determined a ward of the county and placed in the Fayette County Home, she began improving rapidly. She had gained seven pounds by the end of summer 1938 but continued to struggle with simple speech and walking. She was enrolled in the Margaret Duer Judge school for "sub-normal" children. By the age of 9, she began developing signs of speech and was approaching social norms. She could respond to simple commands, feed herself, and remember some people, but she still could not speak, and had the approximate intelligence of a 1-year-old child.

Alice Marie Harris (March 6, 1932 – August 6, 1942), known under the pseudonym Anna, was a feral child from Pennsylvania who was raised in isolation because she was an illegitimate child. From the age of five months to six years, she was kept strapped down in the attic of her home, malnourished and unable to speak or move. She was discovered and rescued in 1938, but died at the age of ten before she was able to fully recover from hemorrhagic jaundice. She is often compared to the feral children cases of Isabelle and Genie.

Anna was born March 6, 1932, in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, about 17 miles (27 km) outside of Uniontown. She was the second illegitimate child of her mother, Martha, who was 27 at the time of her discovery. She lived with her father, David, a widower farmer who strongly disapproved of her indiscretions. After Anna was found, Martha married a man named George I. Eisenhauer. She died in Philadelphia in 1959. David died at the age of 72 in 1948. His other children included daughter, Catherine, and sons, Jacob and Harold.