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Whateley family

The Whateley family is a churchgoing Radford household of four, Yobiah, Irene and their identical twin sons Abe and Wilbur, whose house holds a shrine-like bedroom, a butterfly collector's room and a hidden cellar, and is where the Radford Moth was first raised.
Type Family
Aliases The Whateleys
Members Yobiah Whateley, Irene Whateley, Abelforth "Abe" Whateley, Wilbur Whateley
Residence Whateley house
Status Irene reported dead and Abe presumed dead; Wilbur in custody (as of Radford Horror 08)
First appearance Radford Horror 01

Overview

Before the team arrives, the sheriff describes the Whateleys as a family that has seen a great deal of tragedy: one twin vanished after a computer-store robbery, the other had a breakdown and a car accident and has been in a vegetative state ever since, and then the mother walked off into the woods (Radford Horror 02). They go to church every Sunday. The family lives in a cookie-cutter subdivision less than a mile from the Luckys (Radford Horror 02).

Members

History

The disappearance of Irene

Irene stood at the kitchen's panoramic window making dinner, saw something, dropped her pan and walked out into the woods. Two sets of footprints, one apparently following the other, lead a dozen feet into the trees before the ground cover swallows them. Her disappearance is investigated alongside the Amanda Lucky case (Radford Horror 02).

The house

In the house, the Biz finds Abe's room, untouched since he vanished and covered in space and UFO paraphernalia, including a big shuttle poster, with a hundred-odd dollars hidden in a hollowed-out book. Wilbur's room holds his butterflies (Radford Horror 02).

During the stakeout in Radford Horror 06, Huell tackles a figure in an Apollo-style spacesuit in the woods and pulls off the helmet to reveal one of the Whateley boys. Later the team bolt-cuts the cellar doors beneath the garage and finds, in the dark root cellar, bare feet hanging two inches off the floor: a withered corpse in a NASA T-shirt, nailed to the wall by the wrists and ankles. The team photographs it, and Wilbur's bedroom window is found open and the boy gone (Radford Horror 06).

The solution

After the church fight, the sheriff's theory is that the cellar body is probably Abelforth, killed around April 17th; that Wilbur is a serial killer who faked his brother's departure; and that Mrs. Whateley's body was found in the back of the church, crucified, burned and disemboweled. DNA and dental tests are pending (Radford Horror 08). Wilbur's journal records finding a larva in the woods by the old-town church on June 3rd, a voice in his head, and "She hatched hungry. The dog is dead" on August 15th. Its April 16th to 18th entries describe moving the dog to the old church and "I did something," which the team lines up with Abe's disappearance. The team concludes that the moth influenced Wilbur (Radford Horror 08). See also the Radford Moth and the moth life cycle.

Afterward

Months later, Sheriff Underhill reports that Wilbur is in a mental hospital in Roanoke, "either being catatonic or pretending to be," and that the sheriff's office believes he faked his catatonia all along (Radford Horrors 02).

Unresolved

The cellar body is never confirmed on screen to be Abelforth: the sheriff calls it "probably Abelforth," pending DNA and dental tests. Irene was found crucified, burned and disemboweled; who or what did it is not established (Radford Horror 08).

Trivia

  • Yobiah is called "Josiah" in his first scene. Andre once slipped and called Abelforth "Albert" and the Whateley boys "Lucky boys" (Radford Horror 02, Radford Horror 08).

Appearances