Inbred US ‘deliverance’ family the Whittakers in fire horror as mobile home burns down
Home of America’s ‘most inbred family’ burns down over unknown reasons as charity fund set up to help rebuild their lives in Odd, West Virginia
Damage was captured on YouTube with family member Ray alongside(Image: Soft White Underbelly)
A filmmaker has set up a charity fund after the trailer home of America’s most inbred family, the Whittakers, burned down. Mark Laita, a human photographer, owns the channel Soft White Underbelly on YouTube, where he interviews people who are frequently invisible in society.
In his latest video, Laita described the home as “completed burned down” with clothes, furniture, and household items all discarded. All the family members now live in a cramped home across the street – including their three dogs.
Some YouTube users, however, speculated whether the mobile home was burned down accidentally or on purpose. One user commented: “ALL THAT GO FUND ME MONEY BETTER NOT EVEN GO TO ANY FAMILY MEMBER!! Give it directly to a clean up crew and YOU purchase a new trailer 4 them!!!! No money should ever be given to them again.”
The destruction from the fire at their mobile home (Image: Soft White Underbelly)
Another said: “If Ray could talk, he’d tell on them all. His pointing says a lot already.”
And another user commented: “Timmy is always so excited to see Mark. It’s heartbreaking to see the conditions he lives in, yet he still has so much joy.”
The cost of the GoFundMe includes clearing the remains of the burnt home, moving a new mobile home and furnishing the new home. 100% of funds will go to the family. Around $2,232 (£1,800) has been raised towards a $16,000 (£14,000) target.
The Whittakers are allegedly known as the most inbred in America. They live in the small village of Odd in West Virginia, and have a complex history.
Some of the family can only communicate through grunts and barks and often flee when outsiders try to speak to them. They can struggle to remember their parents and other relatives and didn’t realise until recent years that their issues were due to inbreeding.
The cycle of inbreeding began with identical twin brothers, Henry and John Whittaker. Their children married each other and had over a dozen children.
Ray overlooks the damage of the mobile home(Image: Soft White Underbelly)
According to reports, John had nine kids with his wife, and first cousin, Ada Riggs, including Gracie Irene Whittaker in 1920. Henry had seven children with his wife Sally, including John Emory Whittaker, who was born in 1913.
John Emory and Gracie married in 1935 and had 15 children. The couple were double cousins, sharing both sets of grandparents, and their offspring suffered severe physical and mental defects, suspected to be because of their inbreeding.
Betty, who was born in 1952, is the current head of the family. She promised her mother that she would stay single in order to care for all of her siblings.
In 2020, Laita made a documentary about their life in 2020, which has been watched more than 30 million times. He returned in 2022 for another follow-up after setting up a GoFundMe page, which has raised thousands for the family.
Visiting the family after they received the generous donations, the filmmaker found that they had spent the entire sum on a number of home improvements, including a roof, a kitchen refit, a coal heater, and a new truck.