Niamh Shackleton
A man who tried to help America's 'most inbred family' went on to be deceived by them.
Mark Laita met the Whittakers in 2004 and said that they were 'the most popular inbred family in the United States'.
He went on to spend a lot of time with the household in a bid to get to know them, even documenting their lives in Odd, West Virginia, on his YouTube channel.
The Whittakers haven't always been welcoming to Laita though and once 'pulled a gun' out on the photographer.
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In one of his YouTube videos, Laita chats to a cousin of the family, named John, who shared that they've experienced hostility from people before.
"When I was growing up, people would come here and they would throw eggs at the house," he said. "They would throw stuff at the house and scream all hours of the night. I mean, people [were] just rude."
With this in mind, when Laita first approached the family John's brother 'pulled a gun' on him. They went on to become friends with him once they learnt that he wasn't a threat.
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But there was a bump in the road when it came to the relationship between Laita and the Whittakers when he learned that he'd been lied to.
It's believed that they faked the death of one of their family members, called Larry, after he suffered a supposed heart attack.
Laita went on to donate $1,000 to Larry's funeral — only to later learn that the dead man was actually alive and well.
Fans found out that Larry’s death was just a hoax in an aptly titled YouTube video called ‘The Death of Larry Whittaker’.
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In the clip, Larry could be seen sitting outside of his family home, discussing his own alleged death.
When asked whether he was behind the news, he said: "No, I just heard of it last night on a video.”
Laita then explained he had given Larry’s daughter (known as BJ) money after she claimed she needed it to host her father’s funeral. She later confessed to her deception and apologized to Laita.
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Both parties seemingly reconciled after the 2024 incident as Laita has since been back to their home to film more content.
Despite previously being deceived by the family, Laita continues to try and help them; especially in the wake of their mobile home going up in flames last year.
Laita proceeded to create a GoFundMe page for them where, at the time of writing, $8,670 has been raised.