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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Charlie Jones

Eldest sister of USA's most inbred family says other relatives 'don't visit anymore'

America's most inbred family have revealed they have relatives with normal lives but "none of the family visits anymore".

The Whittaker family have a complicated history of inbreeding, leaving them with various genetic defects.

Some members of the West Virginian clan can only communicate through grunts and barks instead of talking and even run away when people try to speak to them.

Betty, 71, is the matriarch of the family, and reportedly promised her mother that she would not marry and would look after her 14 siblings.

Living in the village of Odd, which is 75 miles from Charleston, the Whittakers live a recluse life away from the outside world. But this has taken a toll on relationships.

A few of the Whittaker family (YouTube/Soft White Undderbelly)

She told The Mail: "None of the family visits anymore, our family don't come by. We go out though.

"I do the grocery shopping and go to the doctor. We've lived here since I was little, and I like it here."

One school friend told the paper how "there are a couple of members of the family and if you met them you would not know that they are inbred. They have jobs, they work, they go to church, they have spouses that they weren't related to. If I didn't see it for myself I wouldn't believe it."

Timmy and Lorene are members of the Good Hope congregation (YouTube/Soft White Undderbelly)

The inbreeding started with a set of identical twin brothers, Henry and John Whittaker, whose children got married and had over a dozen kids together.

Henry and his wife Sally had seven children, including John Emory Whittaker in 1913.

While John and his spouse Ada Riggs, who was his own first cousin, had nine kids, including Gracie Irene Whittaker in 1920.

The family enjoy shopping in Walmart after the donations (Youtube/Soft White Underbelly)

John and Gracie, who were double cousins and shared both sets of grandparents, married in 1935 and went on to have 15 children.

Many of their children had a number of severe physical and mental impairments, which are believed to have been as a result of inbreeding.

Their eldest, Aileen, passed away in June 1997 after suffering from a heart attack, while oldest boy Emery died a month after being born in 1938 after suffering from pneumonia.

They piled their trolleys with clothes and candy (Youtube/Soft White Underbelly)

A fundraiser launched to help the family has already raised over $57,000 (£40,000) from kind people who to help with living conditions after their run-down home had fallen into disrepair.

A filmmaker documented the lives of the family after first visiting in 2004 finding them living in a cramped shack with several dogs.

Photographer Mark Laita didn't receive a warm welcome when he first rocked up as an angry neighbour threatened him with a shot gun.

The documentary on them has changed their way of life (YouTube)

The Whittakers neighbours are very protective and chase away anyone looking to taunt them, but Laita managed to win their trust and began a relationship which lasted two decades.

Pastor William Plumley told The Mail that Timmy and Lorene had been members of his congregation for many years.

But he also said the 2004 YouTube documentary on them has changed their way of life.

The Whittaker family sees hordes of cruel people flock to their home (YouTube/Soft White Undderbelly)

He said: "I think the documentary about them is good and bad, 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."

Speaking on the Koncrete KLIPS podcast, he explained that his first impressions of the family were like a scene from 1972 thriller Deliverance.

"We came around to this road, which turns into a country road, which turns into a dirt road, and we come to this trailer and then a little shack on the other side of the road," he explained.

The Whittaker family lived in a squalid shack (Soft White Underbelly /Youtube)

"And there’s these people walking around and their eyes are going in different directions and they are barking at us.

"And then one guy, you would look at 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."

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