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    English-speaking boy emerges from German woods

    By DAVID RISING - Associated Press | AP – Fri, Sep 16, 2011

    BERLIN (AP) — Berlin police are investigating the story of an English-speaking teenager who appeared in the German capital last week saying he had lived the previous five years in the woods with his father, a spokesman said Friday.

    Michael Maass said the approximately 17-year-old boy appeared Sept. 5 at Berlin's city hall and was then taken in by a youth emergency center.

    The boy told authorities that after his mother had died in a car accident about five years ago, his father had taken him to live in the forest, Maass said. The two lived in a tent, and in earthen dugouts according to his story.

    "He said that he had lived for the last five years wandering around with his father," Maass said. "We don't know where."

    The boy — who says he doesn't remember where the family came from — claims he followed his compass north after his father recently died following a fall in the woods, hitting Berlin after walking two weeks, Maass said.

    The boy told authorities he only remembered the name his father called him by — Ray, according to media reports — and not his last name, Maass said. He speaks fluent English and only a few words of German, Maass said. He did not have any information about what accent the boy has.

    The boy appears to be in good health and police have issued a Europe-wide appeal to try and determine his identity. However, police said they were not immediately releasing any photos of the boy.

    "The missing persons bureau is investigating," Maass said, noting that at the moment, they only had the boy's story to go on.

     

    1,296 comments

    • christopher m
      christopher m  •  8 mths ago
      and so wolfs did not raise him,
      • jodi h
        jodi h 8 mths ago
        lol - so so funny, nice to have something to laugh about
    • Buzzard
      Buzzard  •  8 mths ago
      I tried camping for 2 weeks once.
    • Carole Jones
      Carole Jones  •  8 mths ago
      I wonder if the government has sent out a search party for his fathers body...that would make his story somewhat believable..maybe he was kidnapped by this man...only the kid knows the truth and I hope he will give more details...and hopefully, someone who knows him will come forward ....
    • Uncle Tom
      Uncle Tom  •  8 mths ago
      They originally left on a "3 hour tour"......... a "3 hour tour".
    • Stu Pidasso
      Stu Pidasso  •  8 mths ago
      Something must be mentally wrong with him.It was only 5 years ago. He can't remember his last name or where they came from. I'm tending to believe he made most of this up or he is just a paranoid schizo.
      • Backwards
        Backwards 8 mths ago
        That is one possibility. Another is that amnesia was brought on by a traumatic event. There are far too many unanswered questions to make a snap judgement, but it's quite possible his story holds some merit. There are many different scenarios, kidnapping, mental trauma, mental illness... I'll be interested in what develops with this story.
    • george
      george  •  8 mths ago
      Tarzans son?
    • Miranda
      Miranda  •  8 mths ago
      The boy asked for "help" and doesn't remember where he is from - wow is this a crime that deserves to be made fun of and treated with contempt? Wonder how it would feel to be in a county that I couldn't speak the languagwe and had lost most of my memory. He's just a young man asking for "help."
    • off the channel
      off the channel  •  8 mths ago
      just a story,,,, or dad killed mom and went into hiding
    • skeptik
      skeptik  •  8 mths ago
      Not to be mean here-- but this sounds like a hoax. Where is the father buried? What could they have eaten all these years? How about a change of underwear? I'm curious how this will pan out.
      • SHAWN H.
        SHAWN H. 8 mths ago
        Where is the father buried?? - Dunno. Where did the kid kill him?? What could they have eaten all these years?? - Critters. How about a change of underwear?? - No thanks. I'm flying free today.
      • Sam
        Sam 8 mths ago
        The land can handle decomposing if no ones looking then they wont likely find something. we lived in the woods for thousands of years. With out underwear.
      • Backwards
        Backwards 8 mths ago
        Although Hoax is a possibility, your reasons listed don't really support it. The spcifically state in the article they're not releasing a lot of the details. I'm sure the authorities didn't miss the part about his father dying. As far as food, people survived for thousands of years before grocery stores and clothing stores came about.
    • SHAWN H.
      SHAWN H.  •  8 mths ago
      This is either completely true, or a huge immense amazingly gigantic lie that will fall apart the more the kid talks.
      • Jim
        Jim 8 mths ago
        I'm guessing the latter
      • Sam
        Sam 8 mths ago
        thats the case with everything isnt it.
    • GO Flossie - Floyd
      GO Flossie - Floyd  •  8 mths ago
      A world wide release of a photograph might clear this up.
    • Miranda
      Miranda  •  8 mths ago
      He has lost his memory - probably due to extreme emotional trama. Be kind.
    • ez4u2say
      ez4u2say  •  8 mths ago
      stranger things have happened...he must have relatives or do people just disappear and no one checks up??hmmmm!!
    • PkSteph
      PkSteph  •  8 mths ago
      How could this kid not know his last name? He was 12 when his mother died!
    • A Yahoo! User  •  8 mths ago
      I bet it was longer than five years- he probably hasn't been keeping track of time well. It is very unreal, I wonder if this will be another hoax. Poor kid. If it was only five years, he would still be able to remember his name, his fathers name and his mothers name, and at least his country of origin. If this is true as described, he must have been through serious trauma.
    • Beach Bum
      Beach Bum  •  8 mths ago
      this kinda cool, living off the grid, living your own life nobody telling you what you can and cant do. im sure it has plenty of downfalls though.at least he was smart enough to use a compass, just wonder what happened to his mother and fathers body?

      btw, come on people stop being so ignorant. its embarrassing to be associated with the people who post ignorance on here. and to the rest of the world, not all of us Americans are this stupid, seriously we are not all like the ones you see posting their ignorance and hate.
    • KYLE
      KYLE  •  8 mths ago
      Story is similar to Hanna
    • Dan
      Dan  •  8 mths ago
      When he finds how f#$#up this world is.He may want to return!!
    • Eric Aloha
      Eric Aloha  •  8 mths ago
      It makes no sense that he forgot his last name or where he came from. Those are not things that people forget.
    • Matthew R
      Matthew R  •  8 mths ago
      While living in the woods for five years is a possiblity, it would take an expert survivalist to be able to survive with adequate food to make it through the winter months. While the story could be for real, I think it is more than likely fabricated.
     Post a comment
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