A man who has shed light on a family known as the ‘most inbred’ in America reflected back on the moment one of its members ‘pulled a gun’ on him.
The Whittaker family have been described by content creator Mark Laita as ‘the most popular inbred family in the United States’, with a large amount of interest coming from his insights into the family shared on his YouTube channel, Soft White Underbelly.
Laita has spent a lot of time with the Whittakers as he got to know them, joining them in their home and meeting numerous family members over multiple visits.
Mark Laita caught up with the cousin John for an August video (YouTube/Soft White Underbelly)
In August, Laita shared an update on the family in an in-depth video in which he spoke with members, including some he’d had run-ins with before.
In the video, Laita can be seen chatting with one member of the family, a cousin named John, who described experiencing hostile behavior from outsiders.
“When I was growing up, people would come here and they would throw eggs at the house,” he said. “They would throw stuff at the house and scream all hours of the night. I mean, people [were] just rude.”
Speaking about the family more generally, he continued: “They’ve had windows busted out and everything. People terrorize them.”
John ultimately found himself having to ‘put a stop to a lot of stuff’, and while it’s unclear exactly what action he took, one of his brothers relied on a gun to try and keep people away.
“My brother pulled a gun on you,” he told Laita, to which the interviewer made clear that he remembered.
The family live in Odd, West Virginia (YouTube/Soft White Underbelly)
“I’ll never forget that,” Laita said. “He was p**sed off.”
John admitted he felt ‘the same way’, because the family ‘didn’t know what was going on’.
“At that time, there was so many people coming to aggravate… we didn’t know who you were,” he said.
“We didn’t want people… bothering the family… So we put a stop to a lot of it. Many cars have been shot up, broken, busted windows… We’re trying to protect our family.”
Laita’s video comes after he first met the Whittaker family in 2004 when he visited their home in Odd, West Virginia. He began documenting their lives in 2020, though fell out with the family when he learned the Whittakers had lied to him about money.
The two parties have since reconciled, leading to Laita’s most recent insights on the family.
