Introduction
Stories of Wild Man and Wild woman have existed for millennia around the world. Often, these stories tell of large, hairy humanoid beings living far off in the woods, having incredible strength and being incredibly feral. Most reports state they’re not quite human, yet very similar in appearance. In this post, we will examine perhaps one of the most famous Wild Woman stories in History.
This story comes from the State of Abkhazia, located on the coast of the Eastern Black Sea and south of Russia and west of Georgia, and the story occurs over a twenty-year period approximately.
Unlike other reports of wild man and woman, this wild woman was captured, abused and even bore multiple children. The facts surrounding this case are truly astounding.
Zana’s Capture
Near the village of Tkhina in the 1870’s, locals told stories of something living out in the woods. The creature wasn’t quite human, yet oddly resembled one as it was bipedal and didn’t remotely resemble any of the local animals.
One day men from the nearby village were out hunting and they stumbled upon a bear trap. They heard a noise from inside and as they went to check they were shocked that was fell in was no bear. In fact, it wasn’t like anything they had ever seen. It was the beast that many had seen from afar. Still, perhaps most surprisingly, the creature was a she. Completely naked, it was around 6 feet tall, with broad shoulders and extremely muscular. Even more odd it was covered in thick red hair all over her body. The beast was then captured and sold.
There are conflicting reports concerning the exact way she was captured, but we do know she was captured and who ultimately bought her.
Her Imprisonment
A Merchant named Edgi Genaba purchased her and on his property, he would imprison her in the freezing Caucasus mountains.
The Wild woman became a sensation with locals stopping in to see the strange attraction. Genaba would come to name her “Zana”. As Curious villagers would venture over to see her, she was trapped in her open-air prison and failed to show any signs of being human.
To the locals, Zana was truly a curiosity. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the freezing temperatures and slept with no clothes or blankets for years. After three years, Zana had become much tamer and was released from her open-air prison.
Still, she wasn’t really freed at this time. Edgi Genaba would tether her to a chain and allow her to walk around the garden. Soon, though feeling more comfortable, Genaba removed the tether as well. Zana at this point had learned her name and had become much more domesticated. Still, she failed to understand human interaction, language and more complex instructions. Let loose, she didn’t try and escape and stayed despite probably being able to.
There are many thoughts on this. Sime say it was Stockholm Syndrome or something similar. Another possibility is that Genaba had been giving alcohol to Zana. At first, it’s reported that Zana was given alcohol as an experiment to see how she would react. In time though, Zana would become addicted to alcohol spending most of her time drunk until her death.
Zana Joins the Community
As Zana stuck around, Genaba and the community would begin to put her to work and also notice her incredible strength.
Zana was able to swim against the currents in the river easily. Something that the strongest swimmers in the village couldn’t do. She was superfast and was said to be able to outrun a horse.
Zana helped out around the Village too.
Genaba put her to work in his Mill and allegedly Zana was able to easily pick up 50-pound bags.
While the community tried to domesticate her more, it didn’t go well. Zana wouldn’t t wear clothes and would rip them up if they put them on. She still couldn’t understand the language or speak any of it. She was able to respond to simple commands and her name, but that was pretty much it.
As time progressed, Zana would become more and more dependent on alcohol and was routinely abused and taken advantage of by the men in the village. Many speculate the abuse and early imprisonment caused her to become so dependent on alcohol.
Zana Become Pregnant
As time progressed, Eventually Zana became pregnant, and birthed a child. While the baby was an infant, Zana took the child down to the river. However, the child, unlike Zana, was unable to tolerate the freezing water and died.
In time, Zana would become pregnant again and, once more she inadvertently killed another infant.
The town took notice of her struggle to care for a child, and as Zana once more got pregnant, the town took her baby as they realized Zana was incapable of doing the job.
In total Zana would have a total of 6 children, 4 that would go onto live very normal lives. Her children didn’t behave like Zana. It is said they were all very strong, but they had no other strange characteristics. They were intelligent, well behaved and fit into society. All married and eventually had their own children.
In 1890 Zana died. She had been living in the town for nearly 20 years.
Over the years, Zana’s story has garnered considerable attention, with many asking was Zana human or something else.
Let’s dive into the theories regarding Zana
The first was that Zana was a human, one suffering from hypertrichosis, sometimes referred to as Werewolf syndrome. This syndrome covers the body in hair, sometimes head to toe. Proponents of this theory point out that her longest living child, named Khwit had his DNA tested and was shown to be human.
DNA was also taken from one of her grandchildren and it was human as well. The evidence also links Zana to the Dinka peoples of South Sudan. The Dinka people are renowned for being extraordinary tall.
Many believe that this poor soul was just simply a woman who was imprisoned and abused. To justify the grotesque behavior, the town treated her like an animal, one that could never be equal to them.
There are still questions around this though as many witnessed her. In 1960, cryptozoologists went to the area and confirmed many of the stories that surfaced regarding Zana.
The second most popular theory was that Zana was some type of other Hominoid.
In our opinion, the most important unanswered question is how she was able to survive out in the freezing cold? Simply stated, even suffering from werewolf syndrome, human beings cannot survive in such cold weather naked. This is one question that no one has been able to sufficiently answer.
One other interesting fact is While Khwit, Zana’s Son, was tested, there is some contradictory evidence regarding his skull. Khwit’s skull was studied by an anthropologist in Moscow, who said the skull was a little different from others human skulls she had. She said Khwit’s face was slightly bigger than that of the typical human. Also, it was discovered he had an extra bone on the back of the skull. Some have said this might show Zana was a Neanderthal.
There are many interesting questions surrounding stories of Zana that if were true, would certainly raise questions that she was human. For one, why did she seem to have so much difficulty learning and seemed to possess limited intelligence? The body hair and size seem to be able be explained, but how did she get in the forest and why was she there in the first place?
Perhaps afflicted with werewolf syndrome her family abandoned her. Still, it’s tough to imagine though that a child could learn to survive in the freezing forests.
A more likely scenario is her parents were slaves that ran away into the woods. Zana was born in the wild and eventually her parents passed on. Her parents taught her enough to survive, but she never learned how to communicate since she was alone so often.
In our opinion, the most likely scenario seems to be that Zana was a tall human woman suffering from werewolf syndrome. When the villagers saw her, they panicked and treated her as a sideshow attraction, or animal. In time, reports of her strength and abnormal behavior became extremely exaggerated and it was tough to separate truth from fiction.
The Legend of the New Jersey Devil
Still, the question how she survived in the cold adds much mystery and intrigue to the situation.
While we will probably never know for sure, stories of Wildman continue into present day and there continue to be reports all over the world.
Cool story, thx