THE dark journey of the so-called "most inbred family" who lives in a town called Odd has been revealed after a curious filmmaker worked to discover the truth behind their Appalachian mystery.
The Whitakers, an allegedly inbred family who lives in a run-down shack in West Virginia, went viral after longtime friend and photographer Mark Laita posted videos of their strange life in 2020.
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Laita first traveled to Odd, in Raleigh County, in 2004 for his book, "Created Equal" - an eight-year project that examined the widening chasm between rich and poor.
The photographer called his first trip to Odd "the craziest thing I have ever seen," on an episode of the Koncrete KLIPS podcast as he was immediately challenged upon arrival.
An angry neighbor appeared with a shotgun, threatening to use it if Laita didn't leave them alone.
Neighbors are incredibly protective of the family and will chase away anyone who shows up looking to photograph or taunt the Whitakers, Laita revealed.
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"They are kind of protected by the neighbors and the relatives don’t like these people coming to ridicule them," Laita said in the podcast.
He convinced the neighbors that he meant no harm, and was able to visit the broken-down shack the Whitakers call home.
He was, however, able to snap some photos of the family, offering the service so the family could place the portrait in the casket of a relative who had recently passed away.
That began a relationship that would span nearly 20 years.
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TWISTED HISTORY
Over the years, Laita returned to visit the Whitakers but never recorded video footage.
But then, in 2020, he was able to shoot a documentary on the family and their reality and relationships.
The film has been viewed on YouTube more than 28million times.
The Whitakers clearly suffer from physical and mental abnormalities which could be due to generations of inbreeding, Laita suggests, but this remains unconfirmed.
In this first documentary with the Whitakers, Laita speaks with three siblings: Betty, Lorraine, and Ray. Other family members appear as well, including a nephew named Timmy.
At first, Betty would not confirm whether her parents were related to one another.
"There is no way I would be able to confirm that the Whitaker parents were related, but I would bet that inbreeding was at least partly responsible for the mental and physical abnormalities seen in Lorraine, Freddie, Ray, and Timmy," Laita wrote in acaptionaccompanying his film.
But a year later, in 2021, when Laita again followed up with the family, Betty did confirm that her parents were related - they were double first cousins, the filmmaker said.
STRANGE BEHAVIOR
He continues to visit the family and regularly posts the shenanigans that they all get into together.
The most recent video was posted at the end of August. On this latest visit, Laita and his friends make breakfast for the family who has learned to really enjoy it when their friend comes to visit.
While the video is indeed heartwarming, the actions and appearance of the Appalachian crew can sometimes be hard to look at.
In another video, a different relative, Kenneth, is asked the same question, specifically talking about the issue all of the family members have with their eyes not facing forward. He responds, "Might be coal mining."
In a video where he took the family shopping, Laita highlighted the mind-blowing way the Appalachian family communicates.
While many of them speak with thick southern accents, some of the Whitakers use only grunts or gestures.
A few members appear to not be able to speak at all and only respond with sounds.
Laita conducts the interviews from the family's porch, sometimes going inside to reveal the reality of their home.
Laita asked Betty about the intellectual and physical abnormalities her relatives have, but she claimed to not know what caused them.
AMAZING JOURNEY
In a more recent video shared two months ago, Laita shows just how much progress the family has made over the years.
In thevideo, you can hear one of the family members grunting as his means of communication, but this doesn't necessarily mean that they're mad, just honest.
"They understand what you talking about," one of the Whitakers said.
"If they don't like it, they start yelling, let you know they don't like that idea."
Commenters who have followed the journey also noticed how much the family has improved.
"Lorraine was smiling! Tim was excited! Ray is always happy. It's so nice to see them coming out of their shell," someone wrote.
Another person said: "You completely changed this families life 100% Mark!
"You should be proud man ... touched these lives and improved their quality of life 100 fold. What a blessing."
Laita does not just travel to passively stare at the family and has actually raised money to improve their quality of life.
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The filmmaker mentioned the fact that he has given the family money, which was used to fix up the home and purchase a pickup truck.
Following that visit, Laita created aGoFundMeto help the family make necessary improvements to their home. It has raised more than $50,000.
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