AS HE drove down a deserted dirt road he heard what sounded like a dog barking. The barks got louder as he approached an open patch of land with a trailer and a shack.
Then came a startling sight. “There are these people walking around and their eyes are going in different directions, and they are barking at us,” photographer Mark Laita recalls.
“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. This would happen over and over. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen.”
That was Mark’s first encounter with the Whittaker family, who’ve been dubbed “America’s most inbred family”.
The Whittakers live in rural West Virginia in the US, in a hamlet named Odd. It’s a scenic area with fewer than 800 residents, and rolling hills, lush forests and snow-capped mountains in winter.
Siblings Ray (70), Betty (72) and Lorene (77) and Lorene’s son, Timmy (44), live in poverty. They appear to have genetic defects that have caused physical and mental impairments. Two other siblings, Larry (67), Kenneth (65), live nearby and work in the town.
Esta historia es de la edición 25 May 2023 de YOU South Africa.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición 25 May 2023 de YOU South Africa.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
BALLON IN THE BAG
Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football
IT WAS ALL A LIE
A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book
PAUSE THE CLOCK
Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down
MPOOMY ON TOP
We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court
MATT THE RECLUSE
A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight
A LEAP OF FAITH
After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it