Former members of a polygamist cult have revealed stunning truths about the depths of incest in their family lives.
YouTube host Amanda Rae spoke with Joe Robinsonwhose parents were half-siblings, as he shared the incredible truth about growing up as members of the Kingston Group known as The Order.
The Kingston Group, a Mormon sect whose members live in Salt Lake City, Utah, practices polygamy, with Joe revealing that members underwent a blood test to see which family members they could marry and reproduce.
The couple has different fathers, but similar experiences with both fathers having multiple wives.
YouTube host Amanda Rae spoke with Joe Robinson, whose parents were half-siblings
The couple grew up as members of the Kingston Group, an incestuous Mormon sect whose members live in Salt Lake City, Utah. The sect practices polygamy
The couple said one of the frequently asked questions was about incest and deformities, which is especially prevalent in Joe’s family as his parents were half-siblings and his father also married two of his mother’s sisters.
“I saw kids being born with missing ears and stuff like that, but it was rare to actually like that [more severe deformities]’, said Amanda, who also grew up in the sect.
“I feel like a lot of people are attractive.”
Joe added that everyone in his family – led by patriarch Daniel, who had 14 wives and 157 children – underwent a blood test to see which relatives could marry.
“I was at my mom’s house, everyone in line got their blood tested and then they left,” Joe remembers.
‘[We were] like “why are you doing this?” [and they said] “so we can see who you can marry,” he said, adding that he had undergone a test when he was “very young,” about ten years old.
“They were just open about it.”
Amanda said she didn’t remember being tested, and wasn’t sure if that was because she may have been too young, but remembered her friends having tests.
Joe added that everyone in his family – including patriarch Daniel, who had 14 wives and 157 children – had undergone a blood test to see which family members could marry each other.
While Joe recalled having a blood test, Amanda said she did not remember being tested, and was unsure if this was because she may have been too young.
“I remember growing up in the Order and finding out my friends were all getting tested and I thought something was up, guys,” she said.
Amanda added that, as far as she knew, her parents were not related.
Joe left the Order at the age of 20 after being expelled from the Kingston Group for questioning authority and asking why they negligently treated his mother’s cancer, who died just before he left.
He said he grew up knowing his parents were siblings, but he was raised to think this wasn’t weird, even if he questioned it.
“My father would do that [hear] Rumor has it that we think it’s weird,” Joe recalled.
‘But then he liked to organize a meeting, [and he’d say] Since this is always going to happen, you guys need to stop joking about it.
“You know he stands up for himself because he married a brother or sister.
Cult leader John Daniel Kingston (front and center), better known as Daniel, had 14 wives and 157 children
‘My mother has two sisters whom he also married; they all came from the same family.’
Joe added that another unusual – and unfortunate – byproduct of the cult was that he could never really fall in love with anyone – because they were related.
“There was one crush I had in the Order, of course it was my cousin,” he told Amanda.
She added, “Because everyone you know is someone with which you are related.
“But see the same thing: I had crushes and I didn’t know I was related to them.”
Amanda said she had witnessed strange marriages between people who were related, but it felt like it “should be quiet.”
‘Bbecause my dad did it and the leader did it,” she explained. “Are you really going to question the leadership, and then you have such a bad mark on your name?”
Amanda, who is now 28, left the Order in 2013, becoming her father Paul’s first child to leave the sect.