<p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr">The Whittakers became one of America's most famous families because of their complex history of inbreeding, where devastating genetic defects caused some members of the family to communicate through grunts and barks rather than words or sign language. </p><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:615/409;" src="https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/article32452766.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/5_horrifying-secrets-of-americas-most-notorious-inbred-family.jpg" alt="The Whittakers are known as the most inbred family in the USA" ></figure><h2 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> <span style="color:hsl( 187, 48%, 51% );">Who is the Whitaker family?</span></h2><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> This family lives in America, 75 miles from Charleston, and the inbreeding began with identical twin brothers, “Henry and John,” where their children were promoted from each other. </p><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:615/503;" src="https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/article32452761.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/4_deliverance-inbred-family-member-who-can-only-grunt-grabbed-hold-of-scared-screaming-woman.jpg" alt="The family's issues started when identical twin brothers had children who married each other" ></figure><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> Harry and his wife Sally had seven children, including John Isom Whitaker, who was born in 1882. John fell in love with Ada Rigg, his first cousin, and the couple continued to have children to have nine children, including their daughter Gracie Irene Whitaker. Who was born in 1920.</p><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> When Gracie grew up, she married her cousin, John Emory Whittaker, in 1935, and together they had 15 children. Tragically, many of their children suffered from severe physical and mental disabilities, believed to be the result of inbreeding. </p><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:615/407;" src="https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/article32452765.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/4_horrifying-secrets-of-americas-most-notorious-inbred-family.jpg" alt="Some of the family only communicate through grunts" ></figure><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> Their eldest child, Eileen, died in June 1997 after suffering a heart attack, while their son, Emery, died a month after his birth in 1938 after suffering from pneumonia.</p><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> Today, Betty, who was born in 1952, is the head of the family after promising her mother that she would not marry so that she could take care of her siblings.</p><h3 style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> <span style="color:hsl( 187, 48%, 51% );">Tragic lives and strange ways of communicating</span> </h3><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:615/338;" src="https://i2-prod.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/article32452764.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/4_horrifying-secrets-of-americas-most-notorious-inbred-family.jpg" alt="The family have physical and mental impairments due to generations of inbreeding" ></figure><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> Betty and her siblings Ray and Lauren were interviewed by a documentary filmmaker who visited the family, who found out that Ray and Lauren, who have a son named Timmy, couldn't speak properly and made sounds instead of using words, but they still... Able to understand each other.</p><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> “They understand what you're talking about, and if they don't like it, they start screaming, to let you know they don't like the idea,” a family member said.</p><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> Photographer Mark Lighta was not welcomed when he first appeared to interview the family in 2004. He was threatened with a gun by a neighbor, but he later became friends with the Whitakers and remained close to them for 20 years. </p><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1908/1146;" src="https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/04/02/23/69401869-0-image-a-27_1680475773406.jpg" alt="Inside an inbred family: Members of the Whittakers family would BARK at people and grunt | Daily Mail Online" ></figure><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> “Laita” said that when he met this family for the first time, he felt as if he was watching something similar to a horror movie, and he said: “We came to this road that turns into a country road, and then turns into a dirt road, and we entered this trailer and then a small cabin on the other side.” From the road,” he added, “And there we saw these people walking around with their eyes moving in different directions and they seemed to be barking at us. We also met a strange man. If I looked into his eyes or said anything, he would scream and go away, and his pants would fall to the bottom of his feet. He would run away and kick a basket.” Trash.” </p><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:650/530;" src="https://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/2467/5f9b78e3ee88488a934ef0a0a0fb68a1.jpg" alt="Inside the tragic story of the Whittakers, America's most inbred family | You" ></figure><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> After he offered to take a picture with them, “the Whitakers” allowed him to take some pictures, and Laita explained that some neighbors and relatives were protecting them and did not welcome people who came to mock the Whitaker family. </p><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:1200/712;" src="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/198/1200x712/4949178.jpg" alt="Touching' video shows 'inbred' Whittaker family has a new member | US | News | Express.co.uk" ></figure><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> In 2020, Laita published a documentary about the lives of the Whitaker Family, which has received more than 30 million views, and created a GoFundMe page in 2022, which helped raise money for the family. </p><figure class="image"><img style="aspect-ratio:768/768;" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:768/1*93GuoQwMnLs8pGmqRaY5lQ.jpeg" alt="Unveiling the Whittakers: A Family's Extraordinary Journey | by Wagjihash | Medium" ></figure><p style=";text-align:left;direction:ltr"> Upon visiting the family after receiving the generous donations, the director found that they had spent the entire amount on home improvements, including a roof, a kitchen renovation, and purchased a new truck.</p>