Nathan Phelps, another estranged son who left Westboro at his 18th birthday in 1976, claims he never had a relationship with his abusive father when he was growing up and that WBC is an organization for his father to "vent his rage and anger." He alleges that, in addition to hurting others, his father used to physically abuse his wife and children by beating them with his fists and with the handle of a mattock to the point of bleeding. Phelps' brother Mark has supported and repeated Nathan's claims of physical abuse by their father.