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Be There in Five

Influencer Unsolved Mysteries: White Shanty at Home

Be There in Five

Kate Kennedy

Personal Journals, Entertainment News, News, Society & Culture

4.87.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2024

⏱️ 133 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, inspired by the nostalgic TV masterpiece (excl. reboot) on Lifetime, Unsolved Mysteries, Kate introduces a (maybe?) new series she’s testing called “Influencer Unsolved Mysteries,” where she wants to deep dive into niche influencer lore, specifically times when fans/followers have been left with unanswered questions or presented with mysterious explanations for something that wouldn’t usually be our business, but they told us about it first and it’s their literal business. The first episode of IUM discusses Seth and Jenna Wright, Ballerina Farm relatives who were formerly known as @whiteshantyathome, and their home construction project that grew their social media following in 2019-2020 due to sharing the process of building an unusual but grand English manor-style home made entirely of limestone by hand in Utah. They appeared to pour their hearts and souls into creating their “little piece of England” on a homestead in Utah, where they planned to raise their seven homeschooled kids (and Scottish Highland cows that matched their aesthetic). But one night in August 2020, everything they worked for went up in flames in the blink of an eye, and the half-finished custom home they built themselves stone by stone was destroyed in a matter of minutes by a house fire. What happened? What details did we miss about that tragic night due to their not explaining more until they went private? Why did they nearly disappear from social media for the past four years? Why are they back now? Is it to share their latest renovation? Or because they became known for posting far-right conspiracy theories the last time they were active in the fall of 2020? Tune into this BTI5 deep dive to see what we can find.If you like this series, call or text 775-HEY-BETH to nominate your next influencer mystery. No topic is too light or heavy, whether an active account abruptly went dark, a friendship had a falling out, or a normal-seeming person went from zero to zealot faster than you can say, “Do your research.” The goal isn’t to drag anybody, but to have a watering hole for those of us who were chronically online before it was a term and check in on the bloggers and influencers of yesteryear we obsessed over, how they relate to current issues, and revisit their stories through a comedic, critical, and [where warranted] compassionate lens.SUPPORT OUR SPONSORSOrder Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here!Helix is offering 25% off all mattress orders AND two free pillows for our listeners! Go to HelixSleep.com/BeThereInFive (https://www.google.com/url?q=http://HelixSleep.com/BeThereInFive&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1728092915499082&usg=AOvVaw3nf7I5SNsYfy0NLZ8FMCSV). This is their best offer yet and it won’t last long! With Helix, better sleep starts now.Simplify your kiddo’s mealtime with 30% OFF your first order. Go to LITTLESPOON.COM/BETHEREINFIVE (https://www.google.com/url?q=http://LITTLESPOON.COM/BETHEREINFIVE&sa=D&source=calendar&ust=1728092915499082&usg=AOvVaw0H9cpuZxhav4gf5MnTGZhl) and enter our code BETHEREINFIVE at checkout to get 30% OFF your first Little Spoon order.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

In the quiet town of Milburn, Utah, nestled among the peaceful mountains and rolling farmland,

0:18.0

a couple's dream home stood as a symbol of hope, love, and years of hard work.

0:24.0

But on the night of August 5, 2020,

0:26.6

that dream would turn into a nightmare.

0:28.9

Tonight, we did back into Ballarina Farm,

0:31.6

but we had two hours south from the hog farm down to the scene

0:36.2

where tragedy struck Hannah Neelman's brother and sister-in-law, entrepreneurs and influencers

0:40.8

formerly at White Shanty at home on Instagram. Seth and Jenna Wright. and It was supposed to be a storybook English manner entirely made of stone, but Utah style.

0:55.9

Inexplicably palatial, with European architecture that seems slightly out of place relative

1:01.0

to its proximity to a swig.

1:03.0

She wanted it to look like it was from a storybook and 500 years old.

1:07.0

The family was best known in their community for having an event venue in the area called The White Shanty which you may recall as the

1:15.4

crime scene of the crime from the secret lives of Mormon wives because it is the

1:20.6

venue where Whitney did not show up

1:23.0

to Taylor Frankie Paul's baby shower.

1:24.9

They used the sale of that business

1:26.6

to fund the building of this dream home.

1:29.8

What I've been calling in my head,

1:31.7

Downton Shabby, in a state that has the grandeur of an English

1:35.4

manner and the Shabby-cheek interior of a repurpose barn and Waco.

1:39.8

According to her, they contracted out the foundation and framing, but everything else was hand-built by Seth, the patriarch of the family and her husband.

1:48.0

He split and laid each limestone himself, handmade and welded, each window that the kids pitched in and helped forge.

...

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