Man who visited ‘America’s most inbred family’ said one thing still haunted him after
The man who brought to light America's 'most inbred family', has revealed the thing that stuck with him after all these years since meeting them.
The Whittaker's are some sort of legends in West Virgina due to their shared family tree, and they only got more and more sensational after finding viral fame when a documentary about their life was posted on YouTube around six years ago.
Photographer Mark Laita was the one who posted the family on his channel, the Soft White Underbelly, which showed their life, alleged inbreeding, and subsequent disabilities.
According to the family, their history of inbreeding dates all the way back to identical twins Henry and John Whittaker, whose children married each other a century ago.
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Laita has since called it 'one of the most disturbing interviews I’ve ever done' and was even left haunted by one element of the visit.
Laita was ultimately able to gain access to the family after overcoming barriers such as protective neighbours, but with the help of police accompaniment, he secured a visit to the multi-generational abode.
It was there that he came face-to-face with the family's realities.
He revealed on the Koncrete Klips podcast, that there were some people who began to act unexpectedly towards him on the day.
"We came around to this road, which turns into a country road, which turns into a dirt road." He added: "Then we come to this trailer and then a little shack on the other side of the road. And there's these people walking around and their eyes are going in different directions and they are barking at us."
Comparing it to the film Deliverance, which focuses on the American outback, he explained: "One guy, you would look him in the eye or say anything and he would just scream and go running away, and his pants would fall around his ankles, and he would go running off and go and kick a garbage can. And this would happen over and over. It was out of control - the craziest thing I have ever seen."
Inbred Family - The Whittakers in 2020 was the first documentary where he documented the family, but called it 'hard to communicate with them'.
As time went on, he began to release more content of the family line, such as preparing for Christmas, going to the state fair, and visiting their family cemetery.
However, he has mixed feelings on his documentation of the family.
He explained: "It feels exploitative but I think it's good for us all to know that these things exist.
"The hotel I'm staying at, they're exploiting my need for sleep. The restaurant I ate breakfast at is exploiting my hunger. Everything is exploitative. Photography and video are especially by nature exploitative."
For over 20 years, photographer Laita documented the Whittaker family, but their relationship very nearly ended.
In 2024, he allegedly donated £1,000 toward a funeral for Larry Whittaker, only to discover Larry was alive and well.
Since then, the Daily Mail revealed that state officials removed Ray Whittaker, 72; his sister Lorene, 79; and her son Timmy, 46, from their Odd home, where Betty, 73, and Larry, 69, claimed they were removed without explanation.
“They said they were helping them, and they couldn’t live here no more,” Betty said. “I miss them a lot, I raised them.”
Britt Jones