(Image Source: The First Post)


BY EMOKE BEBIAK

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource world news analysis from Newsy.

He doesn’t remember who he is or where he’s from. All he knows is he spent the last five years living in the forest with his dad. Germany’s mysterious “forest boy” showed up in Berlin two weeks ago. Curiously, he is fluent English, while he only speaks a couple words in German.

The Telegraph reports his first words were...

"I'm all alone in the world, I don't know who I am. Please help me."

The boy says he is 17 and his name is Ray, but he doesn’t remember his last name. Sky News explains how he made it to Berlin.

“According to his story, his father was killed in a fall some two weeks ago. He has claimed he buried the body in a shallow grave and covered it with stones before walking to civilisation. He said he walked north, using a compass, to reach Berlin but could not identify the woods he had lived in.”

While Ray seems to be in good physical and mental health, the Daily Mail says he is already experiencing problems adjusting to civilized life. According to the paper,

“Sources close to the case claim he is having difficulty sleeping in a proper bed, while other creature comforts - such as soap, hot showers, and running water - are ‘unsettling’ the youngster.”

The boy told authorities he and his father moved to the forest after his mother had died in a car accident. He has no recollections of his life before that.

A computer-generated image has been circulating around the world in hopes of finding out Ray’s identity--authorities are withholding the boy’s picture for safety reasons. German officials are also working with the Interpol to solve the case. (Image Source: The Sun)

Police say the boy’s story is credible, yet many are suspicious. A writer for Express asks-- how come the boy speaks English yet authorities have no idea what region he’s from?

“[P]olice have asked language experts to get a clearer idea of where the boy comes from. You would have thought that any native English-speaker with a decent ear for accent could make a reasonable guess whether the boy was a Brit, an American or an Australian, for example. Nevertheless this exercise has apparently yielded little so far.”

The Independent reports some are curious as to why the boy needed two weeks and a compass to reach civilization, saying...

“One blogger pointed out that in Germany a compass was hardly necessary for orientation. ‘Anyone who is stuck in the depths of even the deepest countryside needs only to walk for the maximum of an hour before reaching a village,’ wrote one online commentator.”

Until his mystery is solved, Ray will remain in the custody of social services.
 

Transcript by Newsy