And how many generations had lived like that?
The answers were buried deep within old documents.
Researchers who have examined the history of the Dalhart family have discovered patterns that have raised serious concerns.
For generations, marriages had taken place almost exclusively within the same small group of relatives.
The family had remained genetically isolated for decades.
The children found in the barn were not the result of a supernatural phenomenon.
They were the result of repeated human decisions from generation to generation.
The isolation had had consequences.
The mountains had protected the family from the outside world.
But they had
also trapped them.
As investigators continued their search of the property, they discovered diaries, handwritten notes, and fragments of family documents hidden inside the abandoned farmhouse.
The documents revealed a family obsessed with its own protection.
