A man who uncovered America's "most inbred family" has issued a warning for anyone curious to meet them.
In 2020, journalist Mark Laita released a documentary about the Whittakers' lives on his YouTube channel, Soft White Underbelly.
The family resides in a small village called Odd, about 75 miles from Charleston. The story of their inbreeding began when identical twin brothers Henry and John's kids tied the knot and went on to have children of their own.
Those kids eventually gave birth to the Whittaker clan, having 15 offspring in total. Many of the children suffered from serious physical and mental problems, thought to be a result of the inbreeding.
The Whittakers gained attention online after Laita shared a video of their lifestyle in their remote settlement in 2020, earning them the title of America's most inbred family.
Two years ago, the journalist recalled his experiences with the family in an interview on the Koncrete KLIPS Podcast. He spoke about some members having misaligned eyes and displaying strange behavior.
“It was like that little scene from Deliverance that everyone knows. We came around to this road, which turns into a country road, which turns into a dirt road,” he recounted. “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," he added.
Recent developments have led to a breakdown in the relationship between the filmmaker and the family.
This began earlier this year when Laita announced that one of the family members, named Larry, died aged 67 after a suspected heart attack. But after launching a fundraiser and donating $1,000 towards his funeral, it turns out that Larry was never deceased.
The shocking discovery was made in a 54-minute video titled "The Death of Larry Whittaker," in which Larry is seen sitting on the front porch of the home discussing his own supposed death. When asked about it, he said: "No, I just heard of it last night on a video."
Larry's daughter BJ appeared in the clip and owned up to lying about her father's death, saying: "I’m not proud of what I've done, I’m not... I shouldn’t have done it... I'm trying to get help for my drug addiction."
The interviewer claimed that he had given the woman $1,000 towards the funeral after the family alleged they needed the funds to host the event.
The situation escalated further when Laita claimed he gave another $700 to help Larry take his daughter to North Carolina to start a new life, but has since found out that he'd apparently kept the money and not taken her anywhere.
Laita aired his frustrations over the ordeal in a video with Larry’s cousin, which has been documented on Soft White Underbelly. He said: “I don’t know what to do with them other than just walk away.”
Laita is now warning others against meeting the Whittakers and making similar documentary videos.
He said on a podcast that the family won't deliver a warm reception to strangers, adding: “They are kind of protected by the neighbors and the relatives [who] don’t like these people coming to ridicule them.”
Pastor William Plumley told the Daily Mail that Laita's videos of the family are "good and bad," explaining: "Good because it has helped them. But also it’s brought a lot of people to the area who just want to mess with them.”
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