The Whittaker family of West Virginia went viral years ago after being discovered by a photographer and filmmaker, who documented their lives and told the story of what's been dubbed " America's most inbred family ."
Mark Laita first visited the Whittakers in 2004, then reunited with them in 2020, when he began documenting them — their lifestyle, their family history and everything about them.
As part of his documentation, he revealed their complex family tree, unveiling the decisions their ancestors made that led to some genetic mutations, disabilities and difficulties for the family. Some of the family members can only communicate via grunts, while others have learning disabilities or other physical or mental abnormalities.
But how did the Whittakers become so inbred, enough to be considered America's most inbred family? The story stretches back decades and centers around siblings Loraine, Timmy and Ray and their cousin, Freddie, who has since died of a heart attack.
Their parents were reportedly double first cousins, and both have since died. It was previously believed that they were brother and sister, but that was debunked after some recent studies.
The siblings also reportedly have a sister, who has not been named, and Laita never got the opportunity to meet her during his filmmaking trips. Many of them also have children who are not inbred. A lot of them live their own, separate lives away from the farm where the rest of the Whittakers live in Odd, West Virginia, which used to be owned by the family patriarch.
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Why the inbreeding began remains unclear, but Laita detailed how it impacted the family in his docuseries on YouTube and in his 2008 book Created Equal. He discussed how many members of the family didn't attend school, how they've been struggling to survive on the farm and how protective their neighbors are.
"They are kind of protected by the neighbors, and the relatives don't like these people coming to ridicule them," Laita said on the Koncrete KLIPS podcast.
After his first encounter with them, Laita described what he saw as hectic and shocking, stating, "There's these people walking around, and their eyes are going in different directions, and they are barking at us." He said one fo them was "running away, and his pants would fall around his ankles."
"It was out of control — the craziest thing I have ever seen," Laita said. When he first traveled to Odd, which is a tiny, unincorporated town in Raleigh County about 77 miles southeast of the state's capital, Charleston, he said there was an angry neighbor with a shotgun who threatened to use force to get Laita to leave the Whittaker family in peace before he explained to the man what he was there to do.
During subsequent trips, the filmmaker said he was given a police escort to the family's home. Since his book and documentary series, the family has grown quite popular, with many people attempting to visit them, it was reported.
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