Squealing inbred family who speak in grunts started with two identical twins

Daily Mirror

25-05-2025

The Whittaker family can be found living in their small West Virginian home in the US. The inbred family struggle to communicate without using body language and barking due to their genetic defects
A group of relatives dubbed "America's most inbred family" first started with two identical twins whose children went on to create several generations who would grunt and bark as their only form of communication.
The Whittaker family, who live in the village of Odd in West Virginia, can be found huddled in a cramped home 75 miles from Charleston. The family hit headlines after filmmaker Mark Laita released a documentary in 2020, which revealed their troubled background, living with complex needs.
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The family had previously been subjected to cruel comments and visitors, leading them to be guarded by their protective neighbours with shotguns. They rarely let outsiders in or mix with anyone new, which is why it took Mark over 16 years to build a relationship with them, after first visiting their mobile home in 2004.
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When Mark first met the family, he was initially greeted with several members running, screaming and barking in his direction. He described the chaotic scene as the "craziest thing" he had ever seen. The photographer compared the moment to the 1972 thriller Deliverance, which is about a group of pals who were hunted and terrorised by locals in the woods.
Speaking on the Koncrete KLIPS podcast, he said: "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. 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."
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.
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While John and his spouse Ada Riggs, who was his own first cousin, had nine kids, including Gracie Irene Whittaker, in 1920. 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 resulted from inbreeding. Their eldest, Aileen, passed away in June 1997 after suffering from a heart attack, while the oldest boy, Emery, died a month after being born in 1938, after suffering from pneumonia.
Betty, who was born in 1952, has taken on the role of the family matriarch and promised her mother she would not marry so she could look after her 14 siblings. Ray and Lorene, who have a son named Timmy, who was born in 1979, are both seemingly unable to speak and can only communicate through grunts and barks. Timmy is the only member of the Whittaker clan who has graduated from high school.
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Speaking about their communication, a relative said: "They understand what you talking about. If they don't like it, they start yelling — let you know they don't like that idea."
The family even craft their own concrete headstones, with only their mum, Gracie, having a professionally made one. However, the family sometimes need outsiders help. Mark returned in 2022 for another follow-up after setting up a GoFundMe page, which raised $55,000 (£44,000), so they could improve their home. They had spent the entire sum on a new truck, roof, kitchen refit and a coal heater.
However, the family are back living in a small home across the road after a fire tore through their residence last year. A fundraiser was launched to cover the costs of clearing the debris, transporting and situating a new mobile home, and furnishing it, stating that every penny raised will benefit the family directly.
YouTube viewers were left divided by the fundraiser, with one stating: "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 for them!!!! No money should ever be given to them again."