A documentary filmmaker who introduced millions of viewers to a family nicknamed "America’s most inbred family" has described what it was like to arrive at their door for the first time. Mark Laita says the scene reminded him of the thriller Deliverance, and it was the start of a project that is still going years later.
Laita first made a video about the Whittakers of Odd, West Virginia, about five years ago. Since then he has kept going back, posting updates on the family to his YouTube channel.
A family history of inbreeding
The Whittakers’ story is said to go back to identical twin brothers, Henry and John. Their children married each other and started families of their own, beginning generations of inbreeding. Many of the children were left with severe disabilities.
Reaching the family was not simple. Laita says earning their trust was hard, because the neighbors are fiercely protective of them. In the end he asked a police officer to escort him to the property.
The first visit
Speaking on the Koncrete Klips podcast, Laita described the journey. "We came around to this road, which turns into a country road, which turns into a dirt road," he said, before arriving at a trailer.
What he found there stunned him. "There’s these people walking around and their eyes are going in different directions and they are barking at us," he recalled. He compared the moment to a scene from Deliverance.
One man stuck in his memory. According to Laita, if you looked him in the eye he would scream and run off, his trousers falling around his ankles, and kick a garbage can. "It was out of control – the craziest thing I have ever seen."
Building trust
At first the family did not want to engage with him. Laita slowly built a rapport after offering to photograph them so that a picture could be placed in the casket of a relative who had died. He returned later and filmed Inbred Family – The Whittakers in 2020.
He admits it was "hard to communicate with them". Even so, he has gone on to make more films about their lives for his channel, Soft White Underbelly.
A divided audience
Over the years, Laita says, viewers have reacted in very different ways. Some have called him an "exploitative b******", while others have described the footage as "incredible".
He accepts that his work is exploitative, but argues that this is part of life. "It feels exploitative but I think it’s good for us all to know that these things exist," he said.
He compared it to everyday situations. "The hotel I’m staying at, they’re exploiting my need for sleep. The restaurant I ate breakfast at is exploiting my hunger. Everything is exploitative."
Where things stand
The Whittakers remain the subject of Laita’s ongoing series, and he continues to visit them and share what he finds. Whether viewers see his films as an important record or as exploitation, the family’s story has reached a very wide audience and still sparks debate.
Image credit: YouTube/Soft White Underbelly
Source: Daily Express US
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