'Deliverance' Family Pal Details 'Deeply Inbred' Clan's Tree And How They're All Related

A description of their complex family tree by a filmmaker who became friends with a "deeply inbred" family revealed that the parents of 15 siblings were "double first cousins."

But podcast presenter Joe Rogan was puzzled by Mark Laita's explanation of the Whittakers' ancestral background.

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On his YouTube account Soft White Underbelly, Laita, 63, has written about his interactions with the Whittaker family. He previously compared them to the mountain people in the film Deliverance.

With his short videos, he brought the family from Odd, a little West Virginian town, to the attention of the world, revealing how they lived in misery and were cut off from society.

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One of the Whittakers' only means of communication was barking because he and other family members suffered from evident genetic illnesses that made them physically and mentally ill.

Laita recently made an appearance on the Joe Rogan show, where he went into greater depth on the incestuous history of the now-famous family.

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He claimed that the parents of the 15 siblings, John Emory Whittaker and Gracie Irene Whittaker, were related.

“Their parents were double first cousins," he added.

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"The fathers on both the mother and the father side were identical twins.”

But when Laita detailed the complex family history of the Whittakers, Rogan was puzzled.

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First double cousins, who have all four grandparents in common, are born when two sets of siblings have children with another set of siblings, and the children are linked to one another through both sets of parents' families.

He added: “So it’s like the same person birthed the mum and dad - even though they were different people but they were identical twins. And the parents were cousins on top of it.”

Prior to their studies, the parents of the Whittaker family were believed to be a brother and a sister.

In Raleigh County, Mark was looking for people who would make intriguing subjects for his movies and photography when he came across the Whittaker.

He visited Betty, Lorraine, and Ray's siblings as well as Timmy, a cousin. Freddie, a different family member, had passed away from a heart attack.

In 2020, a movie with the Whittakers in it was posted on YouTube, where it has received millions of views.

Rogan also found it difficult to comprehend the "deeply inbred family's" living situation.

Mark added: “They are as poor as can be. Poorer than poor. The conditions in which they live are unbelievable - the house is so filthy.”

Following Mark's numerous visits, he created a GoFundMe to assist the family in funding essential home improvements.

It has so far succeeded in raising tens of thousands of dollars, which have been used to finance the family's house renovations and new vehicles.