The old lady sitting on left of doorway that does majority of talking is one of the sisters. She made a promise to her parents to watch over her siblings. They are all siblings except for Timmy who is the son of one of the siblings. There’s a second video that goes into more details.

We have the Whittakers you have the Royal family

The family said that their parents were double first cousins - meaning that they share both sets of grandparents. Double cousins share around 25% of DNA - just like half-siblings

You need to watch the episode where the Whittakers go to Walmart. This documentarian lets the Whittakers go on a shopping spree and get everything they want. You also get to meet another family member at the store who bumps into them.

My brother lives close to them and the people around there protects them from outsiders who come there to mock or harasss them. Those who come there will ill-intent are dealt with harshly

There are several additional videos of him visiting the Whittakers, including a trip to Walmart. The family seems to be well protected by the local community.

I am a social worker in southern Appalachia. Poverty and drug usage plague the area. There are so many homes that I have been into that look just like the Whitaker's. When I was a fresh, new social worker, I used to ask myself, "How can they live like this? Why won't they clean up their home?" I came to understand that this type of living is generational. If you grew up in this type of environment with little to no guidance, this is the only way you know to live and do not see or understand what others do. It takes a lot of learning and empathy to meet others where they're at-on their level. There is a big misunderstanding, or stereotype, of Appalachians, or Southerners, being ignorant. They may be "ignorant" by society's standards but not everyone needs textbook smarts. The most independent, self-reliant, tough, and preserver people that I know are from Appalachia and the South in general. They are who I would want to be around if there was ever an apocalypse or purge.

The Whittakers specifically have always been one Big Huge disclaimer on why inbreeding is not a good idea. Although the movie "Deliverance" was not about this family, I do believe parts of it were inspired by them.

I honestly feel so so bad for the children. It breaks my heart.

The guy doing the interview is a stand up fella, he’s returned several times with donations to help fix up their house, replace furniture, and various other things

I LOVE when the blokes do reactions to this kinda stuff and not the mind numbing fail compilations even though they can be funny

The Mason Dixon Line is basically the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Technically, West Virginia is historically a southern state, but with the acquisition of Florida, which extended the US's southern limit further south than Georgia, West Virginia is not that far south anymore geographically. West Virginia was the part of Virginia that remained in the Union during the Civil War, so it's not a Confederate State.

Soft White Underbelly has some unbelievable stories. You should see The man who refuse to die on Soft White Underbelly. Freaking amazing

The UN (United nations) reported in 2018 that the Appalachian region where the Wittakers live, is like, Quote "Third World conditions of absolute poverty"

Someone made a go fund page and raised a lot of money for this sad family. They fixed the house and made it much better. The parents had twin boys who both married first cousins. Incredibly horrific.😢

Please do part 2 he takes them shopping

Mark is a gem of a human being with his work.

A very different aside - I was in my 20s teaching Organic Chem Labs at Univ when I took on a second job. At the time I didn't have a girl, I had time, and I thought why the hell not? Pennies and nickels add up. So I overnighted at a local care home... it was a 3 bedroom ranch that housed special need adults. My job was to clean the kitchen, the bath, and to be present for any pressing need. One of the men in the home was named Charles. He was heavily stricken with Muscular Dystrophy. He was trapped in the prison of his body. And... at first... he seemed angry and abrasive ... always loudly barked out shouts that scared me in a way i'd never been hit ...it took me about three weeks to see the man. To see the soul in those eyes. He was funny. I learned his laugh. He was grateful. I learned his "thank you"... he was a helluva lot stronger than me mentally and I would have loved to have had time with that brilliant mind that was captured and caged... but still grateful when a soul smiled back to him and talked to him and gave a damn. I have more stories but they all just point to how selfish I am, how insecure I can be, how quickly jaded I can fall. Charles still reminds me to understand I am one person of 8 Billion.

I saw this a few months ago and watched other videos about the family on the SWU channel. My first thought was much like yours, that I was kind of sad for the family. But after a while you realize the family isn't sad about their condition. They're actually pretty happy with their life.

It is said that their parents were double first cousins. That means both of their parents shared both sets of grandparents.

Mark did a go fund me for this family. They got a new roof and a new floor and some new appliances. They are all brothers and sister except Timmy, he is a nephew

The hamlet of Odd, WV is only about 250 miles southwest of Washington DC, that's not that far, but it's worlds apart

Imagine being able to understand what others are saying to you, but they can't understand what you're trying to communicate...

West Virginia has a few interesting/infamous families. "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia" is a great documentary that you can find on KZfaq. The family was a straight menace to society and the people in their town hated them. Its a fun watch. 😀

Wow, that is so sad, I was raised in Georgia and now live in Alabama I've heard about this but have never seen anything like this, damn...

It is a bit sad, but they seem to be good with what they have. Others may have issues with the way they are and live. But to them it is just life.

They go to church, thats probably where they get a lot of food. They also have a small market they can go to. I definitely recommend the walmart episode like others mentioned

Some of these communities in the mountains don't trust outsiders so they don't seek help. That's why a lot of them never get the help they need because try hey want to be left alone.

That is the saddest thing I think I've ever seen. I have no words ......so very sad

“The one guy you’d look at him in the eye or say anything and he’d scream and go running away and his pants would fall around his ankles and he’d go running off and go kick the garbage can. This would happen over and over.”

Yep, the name is Odd. West Virginia has some very interesting place names.

It says at the beginner of the video its “Odd, West Virginia”

Thank you for being kind.

I have watched this before and I really wasn't sure what to expect but I ended up really enjoying the show and getting to know the family. This particular guy has been there a couple of times to interview them. I have to say I was pretty amazed and down right enjoyed meeting the Whittakers on his show.

These people live off of government assistance ( welfare ) Parts of Appalachia were completely cut off from the rest of the country until the 1960s. The mountains and thick vegetation were incredibly tough to navigate before cars became standard. Even still today there are small towns and communities that are hours away from the nearest hospital or police. And after the coal mines went away their aren't many jobs unless you work for the government or a hospital or police. It's a sad existence in a lot of parts of Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia.

This family lives maybe an hour away from me. I've actually been through this town while urban exploring maybe 15 years ago (it is very small as it's unincorporated, and VERY rural, but nice and quiet). Even here, no one really knew much about this family (beyond that they existed) until this exact video ended up going viral (Soft White Underbelly is an absolutely fascinating channel). Their story is absolutely tragic, but Mark was incredibly kind and respectful throughout (as he is with all the people he interviews) and wasn't being remotely exploitative. He has a few follow up videos with them, and genuinely seems to care about all of them. I hope they're all at least comfortable, and doing ok.

I'm glad they seem happy. They have a home, albeit a dirty one, and they have each other. Seems like a close family.

the really crazy part is this town is only a couple hours drive from Washington dc, were arguably the most powerful people in the world live.

I saw this documentary a while ago. It’s hard to believe that in this day and age stuff like this actually exists. It’s just horrible. I especially feel for Ray.

This is Mark's story an people are trying there best to make money from them even after he raised over $100,000 an a family member spent most the money on drugs.People need to leave this family alone an let them get back to THEYRE normal.

I’ve always said I’d rather be homeless in the city than the poor in the country. Appalachia has the worst living conditions in the country. I’m sure they have public assistance of some kind. There has been an update. You can probably react to it

10:35 "..but surely you could tidy up a little bit?" that's probably the house in a relatively tidy state; think it's a pretty safe bet that it can get a lot messier in there..

West Virginia is full of some very beautiful, natural places, but it is also full of sad stories.

I don’t know how you guys keep a straight face on this? 😂

See the "Wonderful Whites of West Virginia" OMG!!!

There is a follow up video to this where much more is explained and alot of help is given to the family.

A different family in West Virginia is the blue Fugates. They have a documentary here on You Tube. Yes, they are blue colored due to inbreeding. Super interesting.

This is a very true loving family. In the Appalachian Mountains this is more common than you know. Mostly way back in the day.

They're from Raleigh County in West Virginia. I live about 15 minutes away. I've never met them but they're closely watched and taken care of by local neighbors. Kids like to go there just to make fun of and get pictures. They have went shopping on their own and people generally just look the other way and try to stare as least as possible. They have a couple more normal family members who live on their own and have regular lives. I've been curious to talk to them but like I said theyre protected and people dont let you just mess with them. You will get a gun pointed towards you quick if you go there and they think youre there to harass them.

I love hiking in the Appalachian running into someone like this is always in the back of my mind

I kinda get a similar feeling from this as I do from some first contact, deep in the rainforest documentary. Everything gives off a weird, alien vibe. I'd freak the f*ck out pretty quickly if I got stuck there for more than an hour. They could be amazing people in their own way, but I'm not planning on sticking around to find out🙂

Unfortunately, this is a situation of multiple generations of inbreeding. These West Virginia communities are so isolated and have been for so long that this is reality. The modern world left them behind many many decades ago, if not almost centuries ago. Sad.

Tidy Up? Tidy Up? It's not in their repertoire. They own nothing to tidy up.

It is Odd, WV. It's in the southern part of the state. I've lived in West Virginia most of my life, and I had never heard of Odd, until a few years ago, when I did some work down there. I never met anyone like this in Odd, but I did buy the very best moonshine I've ever had in my life.

They're a product of "double first cousin" lineage.... There are breakdowns of their family tree online. It's pretty interesting.

I watched another video of a pastor raising funds to help an older lady(not related to the Whittakers) because she was living in squalor too! They found a cheap mobile home, fixed it up, she had heat, lighting, newer appliances/furniture, etc! The pastor went by sometime later & her grandson moved in(his gf too)…basically destroying her home, beat up cars on the lawn, repair crap all over & you could tell…THEY took over HER home! Looks like she declined fast..if I recall the pastor wanted to get them out of her home… When Mark raised money for the Whittakers…I couldn’t believe some was wasted on a new roof & windows for that trailer! I was hoping they’d do what the pastor did, just get another trailer & tear that one down! It wasn’t worth fixing…would take ALOT to clean that place up & would have found so much damage when it was emptied out! That pastor found a used/NICE trailer for $8k! I’m sure a company would have donated a trailer, the town folk would come & fix everything up! Their trailer had rodents, I’m sure a horrible..if not dangerous smells(black mold & rodent feces) Wonder if the bathroom(toilet, sink, shower) even worked! I’m surprised each sibling isn’t getting aid, social security, disability…food stamps, cash aid, home health aide…if they did, that trailer would be condemned!! Or why isn’t a church stepping in?!? I mean, they are in the Bible Belt of the US!! I wouldn’t fully trust the church to actually use all monies collected FOR them, ON them!! But the state of Virginia has failed this family!! And I wouldn’t trust a guardian to oversee all monies going to them either! I could totally see them taking advantage of their situation & greed taking over!! I know from Marks last visit, when he took them to the state fair, that they are interested in a trailer/property not far from them…Mark is again, trying to raise funds for them to buy it! I hope they get some legal advice before any transactions…they could be swindled very easily!! Soft White Underbelly has kept track of this family & uses funds collected to buy them daily necessities needed!

West Virginia is a state that was stripped after the mines closed. At one time it was a huge money making machine. But after all the mines were closed down, doctors began throwing pills at their patients who worked in those mines. Those pills were Oxy's. Highly addictive and it led to a state who had no real employment prospects and a huge addiction problem. As for that family, I believe their parents were 1st cousins. The region that they live in is rural, isolated and the towns population is low. Their family lives out in the sticks so imagining a poor family with several disabled children, they probably didn't socialize much especially 60+yrs ago. They clearly listen to scripture on the television so there was some form of "education" if you will, but the nephew who graduated high school doesn't mean that he graduated with his peers, they might have passed him with the disabled class or granted him his diploma because he stayed in school. Inbreeding still occurs in the modern world, there are plenty of royal families even now who marry into their own bloodline as well as the extremely poor, uneducated people do that too. Bizarre, considering that I do genealogy as a hobby and am constantly surprised to find out how many people I know that are related and we had no clue growing up. Albeit, most are 2nd-3rd cousins but still! AND, I just found out that my pops has a half-niece...so which one of my grandparents had a kid NONE of us knew about? 😮

If you don't know Timmy is Loraine son that she had after being attack. But i think it's 12 siblings in all. But I love how sweet this family is. They are so precious. And if you will listen Ray will tell you everything you want to know you just have to listen.

The family was inbred in many generations, thus the severe effects. They're all siblings, except Timmy. Timmy is Lorraine's son. She is basically non-verbal and was raped, resulting in Timmy.

18:11 what a perfect commercial for pontiac sunfires!! "so cheap even these guys drive one.. "ohhh is that freddy's grave?","

Eventually, Mark got them the funds to renovate their home (and he takes them to Walmart). This reminds me of the 'Habsburg jaw' that resulted from generations of inbreeding in German nobility.

Although this was interesting I didnt really get the point of interviewing them. Asking someone who cant talk about his dead brother. The only one talking (woman on left) didnt seem like she wanted to talk and neither did the other woman and the educated guy.

Hi Office Blokes! Unfortunately Appalachian Region was mostly coal mining it is known for having backwards and oddly thinking poverty people. They are a clickety group and don’t like new comers or strangers in their communities. That’s one of the saddest videos I’ve ever seen in a long while ☹️.

Reading about them was sad. Watching this video is heartbreaking,

Yeah, wow.. Saw this a few years ago.

The Whittaker’s are probably all heirs to some fabulous family fortunes……probably.

There's a whole playlist on the SWU channel on the Whittakers. You definitely should do a follow up/watch of those. Even if it's in your own time.

Should watch more of his channel. It gives a real perspective in to how different ones life can be due to certain choices but also things outside of your control. Made me more forgiving of people overall as you dont know how their life has been.

I feel so bad for these people, but I have to wonder how happy they are. It's hard to know if they're actually quite happy with their lot in life or not. It's easy to assume they're unhappy when we can't relate.

OB Daz's "shock" when hearing they were from The South had me laugh out loud. Seeing the family made me feel bad for laughing. W. Virginia is in the South, the Mason-Dixon Line is around the border of Pennsylvania (The North) and the states below it are The South. Inbreeding like this happens over decades and generations! Isolation, distrust of people, extreme poverty are part of the causes. If you ever heard of the term 'kissing cousins', that was a real thing!! There is so much that is involved. The neighbors take care of the whole family as being the community responsibility.

You guys should watch more of his channel, he does a lot of interviews with people living on Skid Row. A lot of his channel is pretty heartbreaking though so be prepared. Much love 💚🤍🧡

Took a detour through a small town in mid-Illinois once and saw a few kids that had a little too much chlorine in the gene pool.

Mason-Dixon line is between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Much further north than most would suspect. Still hard to classify WV as strictly in "the South" though. It's a sort of crossroads in a way. I used to date a girl who's father moved out to rural Ohio in his retirement and he had a very poor family for neighbors. They had about seven kids who always wore the same exact clothes every time we went to visit, over multiple years. One daughter wore rain boots - she didn't have anything else for footwear. You could watch them outgrow their shirts over time but have no options. Apparently some would sneak gift packages/baskets onto their porch so that they could have some normal level of daily life but they always figured out who it was and would return the packages. They were too proud to accept the help. They didn't have any of the Whittakers' issues, but would still refuse handouts. Hard to know where the line between sadness and dignity is sometimes. Because in the case I saw, people wanted to help, but no one wanted to insult them. There are some very tight-knit communities out there in that part of the country.

The Appalachian region is poor beyond imagine.

I think the dude with the interviewer is the sherif who told him about them. Underbelly was in town asking around for interesting people to talk to and the sheriff set him up with interview

*The eyes good god the eyes.*

You have to remember that Appalachia is a WHOLE different world than the general South. Please don't conflate Appalachia with the South.

That's a brave man. I wouldn't go anywhere near that place

😂 😂 😂 😂 The hills have eyes 3

You need to watch part 2 of this

My heart just goes out to this family. So sad that people like this exists in the world.

There was a lot of sibling and cousin marrying between all the royal families in Europe. Particularly 1st and 2nd cousins marriages. Also a lot of inbreeding between the Pharos of Egypt. That’s why many rulers died young because of the physical disabilities related to inbreeding.

0:33 Poor Dave, even getting ready for this video he’s got a proxy case of fleas and chiggers!

There are laws now that prevent 1st cousin or closer relations or marriage. This goes back 4 generations or more.

Always appreciate Theo Von letting people dive into his family life

Ive watched more vids from this family and it started from 2 of them having the same 4 grandparents

This is sad. I feel really bad for them.

Want to see a really creepy episode of X-Files, "HOME" about inbred family since prep Civil War!!! OMG!!😲😵😲😵😲😱

Geographically West Virginia isn't really south... kind of like Florida, the farther north you go, the farther south you get.

I’ve watched several of Mark’s videos about the Whittakers. It’s a combination of sadness and intrigue. All of Mark’s videos are incredible. For what it’s worth, as someone who was born and raised and spent most of their life in Alabama and now lives in Texas, I don’t consider WV the south.

Sounds as if one was taught to speak by the dog! Those little barks.

Thank god they have neighbors to keep eye on them

A couple of friends from New York (I'm in Texas) said the assumption that Southerners are slow comes from us being slow. Ha. Ha. But they mean slower paced, slower speech. It drives them crazy to watch someone take their time when they don't have to.

Well, that wasn't uncomfortable at all.

You just looked a bit of a video, there are more. The younger brother "graduated " which means they just pushed him through. He speaks just like Roy, just higher pitched.

Brit's should check out the article in the Independent dated September 2019. Thousands in the UK born as result of extreme breading study suggests. Also Daily Mail article dated in September 2019.

Lol I live below the mason Dixon line.. I'm in Tennessee... I know you have heard about #Tennessee3

I've lived with people like this in north Florida

Ray starves for communication. He is always willing to communicate no matter what.

def feel like members of this family ride the same busses and trains as me.. people who only communicate with barking is pretty standard