Sounds Like North Topeka To Me.

Story by Richard Burkard 

It’s an old joke about husbands, and men in general, that they sometimes communicate best with grunting noises.

Meet America’s Most Inbred Family Who Bark At People And Only Communicate Through Grunts While Living In Squalor© Knewz

But in West Virginia, there’s practically an entire family that does it. In fact, it’s so famous for doing it that a filmmaker is sharing its story with a series of YouTube videos.

Cliffs abound in West Virginia’s spectacular New River Gorge© Knewz

Mark Laita found the Whitaker family in Odd (yes, that’s the town name), West Virginia in 2004. He returned to the town south of Charleston and prepared a 12-minute film about the family during a visit in 2020.

Critics say Laita promotes every bad Appalachian stereotype. The family consists of two brothers and one sister whose parents are double first cousins, sharing both sets of grandparents.

Laita believes the family has grown through inbreeding. Not only does it sometimes communicate through grunting noises, but Laita says members occasionally bark at people who say things they don’t like.

Meet America’s Most Inbred Family Who Bark At People And Only Communicate Through Grunts While Living In Squalor© Knewz

Laita has posted five videos of the Whitakers. Some members speak in one clip posted two years ago, but they don’t say much. Some family members indicated only one has graduated high school.

Laita admitted in a podcast late last year that the Whitakers’ neighbors don’t appreciate the family being “ridiculed.” In fact, one threatened him with a shotgun when he first showed up.

A Walmart store aisle. By: MEGA© Knewz

Laita decided to have compassion on the Whitakers. In one video posted last year, he took them on a shopping spree at Walmart.

Laita also set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for the Whitakers’ home and living expenses. As of Monday afternoon, it had close to $49,000 in donations.

By: Mega© Knewz

According to the Daily Mail, on his most recent visit to the family last year, Laita needed a police escort. That may be because the Whitakers have gained a following, with one YouTube video receiving 36 million views.

But at the start of one film, Laita warns the neighborhood does not appreciate “curious visitors.”

The post Meet America’s Most Inbred Family Who Bark At People And Only Communicate Through Grunts While Living In Squalor appeared first on Knewz.