The coal mining community protecting America’s most famous inbred family: Tiny West Virginia hamlet that named ITSELF Odd was compared to movie Deliverance – after locals defended The Whittakers from outsiders by brandishing their shotguns

• Only 779 people are currently living in the small and ‘peaceful’ community
• There are just two buildings in the area which are not residential homes
• Locals chose the name because they wanted something ‘unusual and unique’

An inbred West Virginia family that has rocketed to fame has previously been protected from outsiders by shotgun-brandishing locals.

Odd – around 75 miles from Charleston – is a tiny coal-mining district in Raleigh County that is home to 779 close-knit residents.

It is an unincorporated community – which has no local government or elected officials in the area – that has been described as like thriller film Deliverance.

When trying to choose a name for the area, locals wanted something odd and unique, so they chose Odd, and it stuck.

The hamlet hit the headlines after filmmaker Mark Laita shone a spotlight on the heartbreaking story of the Whittaker family – who are protected by gun-toting neighbors.

Freddie and Ray, siblings, pictured with their nephew Timmy who lives at the family home in Odd, West Virginia 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=U4UsNP5iph8%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US

There are only two buildings in the entire area that aren’t residential – a Post Office and Mt. Valley Baptist Church.

Two YouTubers decided to explore the tiny community, showing several winding one-track roads which were almost covered with wild overgrown greenery.

They stumbled across the home of the Whittaker family, who have been dubbed one of the most inbred families in the US.

Real Appalachia videos their journey through the dashboard, and came across the trailer, two homes and a small outhouse that makes up the Whittaker family base.

There is also an abandoned Untied Coal mine in the area, along Odd Road, which is closed, but could have been where John Whittaker, who had 15 children with his first cousin Gracie, worked.

Shane and Melody, who run the YouTube channel, also came across an old elementary school on Odd School Road – which has since been turned into a family home.

In the distance, the pair even found a four-bedroom and four-bath mansion, worth $600,000, although most homes are modest.

During their video, they described the area and people as ‘very nice’, and the area as ‘very peaceful’.

There are only two buildings in the entire area that aren’t residential – a Post Office (pictured) and Mt. Valley Baptist Church

In the distance, the pair even found a four-bedroom and four-bath mansion, worth $600,000, although most homes are modest

They passed by the Whittaker home and spotted some of the family members but decided not to explore further.

Several generations of the family are living at the property, with the inbred group starting with two sets of first cousins getting married and having children.

DailyMail.com revealed that a set of identical twin brothers sparked the family’s history of incest, with the children of Henry and John Whittaker getting married and having their first child in 1937.

Filmmaker Mark Laita shone a spotlight on the family in a short documentary with some of them struggling with mental and physical abnormalities.

He has described the inbred family as like something out of the 1972 thriller, Deliverance. 

One member of the family, Ray, appears to suffer the most and communicates with Laita through noises rather than words and points to show him items at their home.

In April last year he revisited the Whittaker family, who he first met in 2004 and filmed in 2020 and spoke about it on the channel.

Laita says that the genetic complications of the family have caused a host of behavioral issues, describing it as ‘out of control’.

The first time he approached them was in the early 2000s when he was initially met by ‘protective’ neighbors with a shotgun.

Shane and Melody, who run the YouTube channel, also came across an old elementary school on Odd School Road – which has since been turned into a family home

There is also an abandoned Untied Coal mine in the area, along Odd Road, which is closed, but could have been where John Whittaker, who had 15 children with his first cousin Gracie, worked

DailyMail.com has tracked down several birth certificates which show the Whittaker family inbreeding started with twin brothers John and Henry Whittaker in 1887.

John married his own first cousin Ada Riggs – the daughter of Mary Perkins who was the sister of John and Henry’s mother, Eliza.

Ada and John had nine children, including Gracie Irene Whittaker, who was born in 1920.

John’s brother Henry married Sally Burton, and they had seven children, including John Emory Whittaker, born in 1913.

Gracie and John were first cousins, but married in November 1935 and had their first daughter in 1937 before going on to have 14 more children.

Danny Ray Whittaker, known as Ray, makes up a large part of the documentary.

Both he and Lorene both appear to be unable to talk, and only grunt – but other family members are able to talk on their behalf.

It is an unincorporated community, which means there is no local government or elected officials in the area

John Wade Whittaker (left)  died in 2022, after being born in 1950, and had five children, several grandchildren and one great-grandson. Barbra Whittaker (right) was born in September 1940, and did not appear to marry before she died following a short illness in October 2008

Nannie Lou Whittaker, born in 1942, is still alive and remarried after losing her first husband William 

Michael ‘Stevie’ Whittaker passed away in July 2001, aged 40, while Judy died in August of 2021 – though it is unclear how they both died

One of the filmmaker’s latest videos from 2021 showed the family’s rundown conditions, with the group living in a small and overcrowded home with several animals

In the most recent installment he is keen to show Laita the new things that they had on the property, and seemed excited that he had returned.

The family didn’t know their genetic issues occurred due inbreeding, according to what they told the filmmaker, adding that they couldn’t remember much about their parents or other family members.

To help improve the Whittaker’s living conditions and provide home improvements, Laita previously created a GoFundMe in 2022 that has since raised $46,433.

One of the filmmaker’s latest videos from 2021 showed the family’s rundown conditions, with the group living in a small and overcrowded home with several animals.

Laita said he returned to the home on a whim to see how the family was doing.

He then decided to pick up his iPhone and grab footage of their ‘level of poverty’ and living conditions.

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