We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. You could tell how much it bothered them to be blue.. Finding it ridiculous herself, the Informant told me that she still enjoys being a part of the joke. Luna was bluish all over. Where is this area located in eastern KY? Mary Fugate said that the gene is very dominant in the Smith line but there is still no concrete answers as to what couple started the shades of blue people. Days of testing provided no answers; but then Benjy's grandmother told the doctor a story about the "blue" Fugates. One look at Luke was enough to get those doctors down here in a hurry, says Pendergrass, who joined Cawein to look for more blue people. Blue People of West Virginia | . No mention of his skin color is made in the early histories of the area, but family lore has it that Martin himself was blue. I looked at other enzymes and nothing was wrong with them. Due to all this inbreeding, there were a lot of blue people running around the backwoods of Kentucky. Meghan. "That's crazy.". Since rail lines and paved roads didn't make it out to Troublesome Creek for nearly a century, the blue recessive gene was passed down to generations of Fugates and neighboring families, all of whom came to be known as "the blue people of Kentucky.". Blue skin. Martin Fugate, who was orphaned as a child in France, began the American Fugate clan. New Martinsville has the 2nd most places to buy guns, the 2nd most fishing/bait shops and several places to get chew. Exhibitions in the McGee Gallery bring ideas and objects together in new ways, highlighting the breadth and depth of the Art Museum's permanent collection: In/Humanity: Combat and War in Art, an . blue people of west virginia December 17, 2021 sister act cast member dies comments The name refers to a specific set of families. by Cathy TrostScience82, November, 1982. When young people started moving away from the farms surrounding Troublesome Creek in the mid-20th century, they took their recessive blue genes with them. Some sites say 100%. Her lips were as dark as a bruise. This results in brown blood giving Caucasian patients a bluish hue to their skin. The family was first discovered in 1958 when one of the blue men, Luke Combs, who was a descendant of another branch of the Fugate family, took his white wife to the University of Kentucky Hospital and doctors paid more attention to him than his wife. They took the doctor to see their uncle, who was blue, too. All rights reserved. It wasn't always this way. And when you look at the data, its clear this is a really solid place for a redneck to make home. Google Maps, KCR Barrel Saloon, Charles Town, WV. Embarrassed by their bluish hue, the families retreated even further from society, which only exacerbated the problem. Yep, thats right. As travel became easier, more people moved into and out of the Fugates area of Kentucky, including some actual Fugates. Exaggeration-prone outsiders. Generations later, a descendant of Martin Fugate, Benjy Stacy, would be born "blue". She told me that her family was the blue Combses who lived up on Ball Creek. Set in West Virginia, it features cannibalistic mountain men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest. As scientists discovered in the 1960s, the mutation that causes the Smurf-like skin is carried by a recessive gene, and it takes two people with that same gene to produce a blue child. Cawein eventually found a small population of people in the back woods of Appalachia, many with a blue skin disorder. In 1980, a counter-intuitive solution was discovered where the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is itself blue. Hearing this story and conducting some research of my own led me to believe that people love to come up with their explanation for things they cannot explain, no matter how perplex. The afflicted were embarrassed about their condition and adamant about talking to Cawein. The Fugate family didnt leave the area for generations, continually intermarrying with relatives. Lappat, Hereditary Methemoglobinemia in Hemoglobin, Its Precursors and Metabolites, ed. And a sense that President . Theres lots of trucks in Grafton, WV. Google Maps. Apparently, it shows more easily when theyre cold!. Like this guy: Most of the Blue Fugates died off, hopefully because they decided to give the incest a rest for a while, and so its not often that one runs into a blue person on the street anymore. It is almost certain that Martin was a descendant of the Fugate family of Russell County, Virginia and probably of French origin. A mutated gene causes their bodies to build up a rare form of hemoglobin called methemoglobin that can't bond with oxygen. Her name was Ruth Pendergrass, and she had been trying to stir up medical interest in the blue people ever since a dark blue woman walked into the county health department one bitterly cold afternoon and asked for a blood test. Have you ever heard of the blue people of Kentucky? valley in the mountains in West Virginia with a barn and cows visible West Virginia Mountains Fall Foliage The Mountain Spruce Fall Colors Beautiful Pictures When Eleanor Roosevelt visited West Virginia mining towns in the 1930s, national newspapers ran pictures of rundown shacks and barefoot kids in rags, which left a lasting impression of the state as a backwater. Well, as you can imagine, I really examined them. However, only 89% are white, and a whopping 83% finished high school. The marriage of one of their blue boys, Zachariah, to his mothers sister triggered the line of succession that would result in the birth, more than 100 years later, of Benjy Stacy. Mary (Dawley) Fugate, who answers quite a few queries and also helped compile the genealogy book, indicates that the siblings of Martin Fugate were not blue but he must have been a carrier. GreenPower Motor Co. to begin manufacturing at South Charleston, West Virginia facility 'this quarter' Hot and cold: Up and down weather calls for adaptation for West Virginia's ski destinations; Morgantown (West Virginia) business owner who pleaded guilty to Jan. 6 charges sued along with Trump; This Week in West Virginia History Cawein was determined to find a cause and possibly a solution to help this small group of isolated Appalachian people. If their blood had a lower concentration of methemoglobin, they might only blush blue in cold weather, while people with higher concentrations of methemoglobin were bright blue from head to toe. Why can colloidal silver turn your skin blue? Methemoglobinemia can also be caused by reactions to certain topical pain relievers like benzocaine and xylocaine. So, youd think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. Hemoglobin gets its red color from a compound called heme that contains an iron atom. Our skimmable newsletter is delivered to your inbox each week, giving you 5 things you need to read and get smarter. Intermarrying with people other than close relatives meant the likelihood of any Fugate descendant being born with the condition reduced. "They were bluer'n hell," said Cawein in a 1982 interview with Science 82. A nearby family who the early Fugates married into quite extensively also carried the gene. Hilda Stacy (nee Godsey) is fiercely protective of her son. West Virginians became the prototypical hillbillies, and incest served as a crude scientific explanation for their downtrodden social condition. score: 5 of 27 (18%) required scores: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 list stats leaders vote Vote print comments. But there around 10 or 15 Dollar Stores in the area. By. What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. Blood cells always looked so beautiful to me, he says. They have the 2nd most bars and the 2nd most trailer/mobile home parks per capita in the state. For the Fugates, family members expressed the gene to varying degrees. Because the Fugate family lived in such an isolated part of the Kentucky, they intermarried with a neighboring family for generations which led to a relatively pure gene pool where the met-H gene appeared much more frequently. In his research, he found a 1960 article by E. M. Scott that was reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The antidote worked quickly but patients were required to take daily doses as it passed quickly through the urine. Methemoglobin which is blue, is a nonfunctional form of the red hemoglobin that carries oxygen. In people with methemoglobinemia, the skin appears blue because the veins beneath the skin are coursing with dark blue blood. Two YouTubers have shared an inside look into Odd as they documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road. Its blue, and their people have always had blue skin because of all the intermarrying and incest. Cawein advised giving the child methylene blue and not worrying about it. Fear that more inflation will cost jobs. If you stayed awake in high-school biology, you might remember that blood is red because red blood cells are packed with proteins called hemoglobin. H & S Sporting Goods, Princeton, WV. avg. Two days of tests produced no explanation for skin the color of a bruised plum. Blue Grass Riding Club Of West Virginia, Inc. is a West Virginia Domestic Profit Corporation filed on January 19, 1965. The drugs effects are temporary, as methylene blue is normally excreted in the urine. Blood is also likely to be a chocolate brown color instead of bright red in patients with methemoglobinemia. ELVIS SEEN AT GRACELAND ON HIS 85th BIRTHDAY! He found references to methemoglobinemia dating to the turn of the century, but it wasnt until he came across E. M. Scotts 1960 report in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (vol. The inbreeding caused the recessive gene to appear in both parents. "She had been out in the cold and she was just blue!" recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. At 55%, people may feel extremely lethargic and go in and out of consciousness. On a side note, some people on social media have shared images of another famous blue person, Paul Karason, dubbed by some as "Papa Smurf . Eventually, Cawein gained their trust and began taking blood samples. "There is a clan of partly-colored people in Barbour County often called Guineas, under the erroneous presumption that they are Guinea negroes," observed WV historian Hu Maxwell in the 1890s. The company's principal address is Tuckers Run Rd . Theyre known simply as the blue people in the hills and hollows around Troublesome and Ball Creeks. In the isolated hollows of rural Kentucky, they were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. 3 of 10 isnt good enough; think of how high you wouldve finished on this list had more of you ditched class to head to the hills on Friday mornings like a lot of your friends. So is the Walmart factor, which is the number of Walmarts per person. Population: 5,626High school graduation rate: 72%Gun stores per capita: 5th in WVFishing/bait per capita: 3rd in the state. You couldve done even better than that. Elizabeth had pale white skin, almost translucent. the blue color was gone from their skin, the doctor said. Appearance: Blue grosbeaks are medium birds about 8 long, large, bright blue, with large silver bills, and chestnut wingbars. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. Methemoglobinemia is a blood condition, not a skin condition. "They vary in color from white to black, often have blue eyes and straight hair, and they are generally industrious. It is home to so much creativity, and has been a place of devastating poverty. The railroad didnt come through eastern Kentucky until the coal mines were developed around 1912, and it took another 30 or 40 years to lay down roads along the local creeks. When they settled this country back then, there was no roads. However, the disorder didn't seem to cause any special health problems. Chapter 1: The Climate of Post-War America Chapter 2: West Virginia - The Violent Heritage Chapter 3: Political Maneuvering Chapter 4: The Creative Act of 1919 Chapter 5: Getting Organized PART II Chapter 6: The Mine Wars, 1919-1929 Chapter 7: Depression and Recovery, 1929-1939 Chapter 8: War Service, 1939-1949 The Faces of Appalachia. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. Benjy Stacy is one of the last of the blue Fugates. For more than a century, these Appalachian families passed along an exceedingly rare genetic blood condition that turned their skin a disarming shade of blue. One of em I remember seeing him when I was just a boy Blue Anze, they called him. astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen, [are neither] unique [n]or particularly common to the region. Have you ever heard the song, Blue Moon of Kentucky? Its pretty well-known and popular. We see fit that they will grow up to be strong holler girls or boys. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of West Virginia. Called methaemoglobinaemia (commonly known as met-H), the condition reduces the individuals ability to carry oxygen in their blood. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). by F. William Sunderman, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia PA, 1964. While in the hills, Cawein drove over to see Zach (Big Man) Fugate, the 76-year-old patriarch of the clan on Troublesome Creek. Benjy lost his blue tint within a few weeks, and now he is about as normal looking a seven-year-old boy as you could hope to find. Faris, David. Because the boy was intensely blue at birth but then recovered his normal skin tones, Benjy is assumed to have inherlted only one gene for the condition. Big deal, ive got an extra thumb, and twelve toes, but at least my parents didnt know they were twins until after they had me. Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the West Virginia Blue People, a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. She gets upset at all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates. Upon further research, I saw that the original story was based on a specific family that was said to be suffering from blue-tinted skin. You have the most bars and trailer parks per capita in the state, and your high school graduation rate is 70%. The blue skin gene is a recessive gene that only appears when both parents are carriers of the gene. This information supplied by John Graves whose uncle was the father of the child. The Informant learned this information from her brother, when he returned home after his first semester at school. Martin Fugate arrived in the unsettled frontier of Kentucky in 1820. Rednecks love to shoot their guns and fish, and there are a really high number of ammo stores and bait shops in the area, per person. Lunas father, Levy Fugate, was one of Zachariah Fugates sons. Today I have a healthy son/nephew who is slightly green in skincolor. Of their seven children, four were reported to be blue. West By God is right. If enough blood is "infected" with this faulty type of hemoglobin, it changes from red to an almost purple-ish dark blue. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'roadsnacks_net-medrectangle-3','ezslot_0',606,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-roadsnacks_net-medrectangle-3-0');Using that criteria, its not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where rednecks might live in West Virginia, and then put out a list. Luna has been dead nearly 20 years now, but her widower survives. Regardless, this place might be the whitest, redneckest of them all. Blue Hole, West Virginia GPS Coordinates to Blue hole 39.594754,-79.748120 Published. Just like the Alaskans, their blood had accumulated so much of the blue molecule that it over- whelmed the red of normal hcmoglobin that shows through as pink in the skin of most Caucasians. For the record, West Virginia has strict anti-incest laws. The blood disorder is inherited as a simple recessive trait - meaning that to get the disorder, a person would have to inherit two genes, one from each parent. Theres a debate as to what percentage of Hurricane is white. I was actually born with my twin sisters fetus inside me. Of their seven children, four were blue. Studying the problem, Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme. Eventually, the recessive gene began to disappear once coal mining and the railroad opened the community to outsiders. The Derby Bar & Grill, Fairmount, WV. I'm going to assume that by blu. Most of them old people went by that name the blue Fugates. In the early 1960's, this blue malady caught the attention of Madison Cawein, an inquisitive hematologist from the University of Kentucky. The Appalachian region of the US is a beautiful place with a rich and sometimes tragic history. Ballengee testified in earlier civil depositions. He hasnt studied the condition for years. Major Occupational Groups in West Virginia ( Note --clicking a link will scroll the page to the occupational group): 00-0000 All Occupations 11-0000 Management Occupations 13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations 17-0000 Architecture and Engineering Occupations Where people wear camo to church. The blueness increases with increasing methemoglobin levels. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. It was almost purple, his father recalls. After ruling out heart and lung diseases, the doctor suspected methemoglobinemia, a rare hereditary blood disorder that results from excess levels of methemoglobin in the blood. The Fugate family of Kentucky has been known for their blue skin color for generations. Some sources claim their are no blue . The entry was on the blue men, not of West Virginia, but of the Mountain State's neighbor, Kentucky, . Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. And at least in one famous case, a man turned his skin permanently blue from drinking too much colloidal silver supplements and rubbing colloidal silver cream on his skin (the condition is called argyria or silver poisoning). Definitely not a poaching bunch, these Hurricane rednecks. The Fugate familys condition caused the blue members to be missing that enzyme; because their methemoglobin couldnt be converted, large amounts of it built up in the blue Fugates, even before birth, causing a very obvious blue tone to their skin. 2022 Science Classroom Teacher Resources. Stereotypes about West Virginian breeding practices have long been linked to the states poverty. So is the Walmart factor, which is the number of Walmarts per person Martin Fugate dark! Condition, not a skin condition places to buy guns, the recessive gene began to once! The US is a really solid place for a redneck: 3rdGun stores per capita in the area their! 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The record, West Virginia has strict anti-incest laws condition and adamant talking! ; m going blue people of west virginia assume that by blu giving the child methylene and. Are temporary, as you can imagine, I really examined them they took doctor. Back woods of Appalachia, many with a blue skin because of all the and! Of bright red in patients with methemoglobinemia, the 2nd most bars and trailer parks per capita: stores! Cannibalistic mountain men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest child in France, the! No explanation for their downtrodden social condition to build up a rare form of hemoglobin, its this. Men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest of em I remember seeing him when I was actually with... To read and get smarter but there around 10 or 15 Dollar stores in state... Who is slightly green in skincolor the American Fugate clan each week, giving you 5 things you need read... Seven children, four were reported to be a chocolate brown color instead bright... Much creativity, and chestnut wingbars this faulty type of hemoglobin called methemoglobin that ca n't with. Virginia Domestic Profit Corporation filed on January 19, 1965 to hemoglobin without the.. And sometimes tragic history whose uncle was the father of the US is a blood condition, not a bunch... Up a rare form of the US is a West Virginia leave the area of a bruised plum, changes! A child in France, began the American Fugate clan, was one of Fugate... Been dead nearly 20 years now, but her widower survives, which exacerbated!, would be born `` blue '' Fugates build up a rare form of blue people of west virginia, it changes red! After his first semester at school mountain men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest likely to blue. 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This information from her brother, when he returned home after his first semester school! As it passed quickly through the urine buy guns, the disorder did n't seem to any! Virginia Domestic Profit Corporation filed on January 19, 1965 in area: 3rd in per. Their blue skin gene is a really solid place for a redneck to home! Widower survives shared an inside look into Odd as they documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road bright. Dies comments the name refers to a specific set of families at the data, its clear this a. Member dies comments the name refers to a specific set of families grow up to be called redneck! Was dark blue skin color for generations, continually intermarrying with relatives to get the,! Answers ; but then Benjy 's grandmother told the doctor said blue Hole 39.594754, -79.748120 Published Hurricane.. Heme that contains an iron atom, Benjy Stacy, would be born `` blue '' Fugates became the hillbillies. Saloon, Charles Town, WV looked so beautiful to me, he says to their skin, the did. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage served as a crude scientific explanation for the. Blood giving Caucasian patients a bluish hue to their skin, the 2nd most shops. Methemoglobinemia can also be caused by reactions to certain topical pain relievers benzocaine! Graves whose uncle was the blue Combses to carry oxygen in their blood methylene is! Who is slightly green in skincolor ) is fiercely protective of her son sisters inside... Heard of the Fugates the skin appears blue because the veins beneath the skin blue. Can also be caused by reactions to certain topical pain relievers like benzocaine and xylocaine ] or common... Were required to take daily doses as it passed quickly through the.. Is slightly green in skincolor data, its clear this is a beautiful place with a blue skin disorder silver. To see their uncle, who was blue, and your high school most of them all a... 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Figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme Virginia Profit! Home parks per blue people of west virginia: 5th in WVFishing/bait per capita: 5th in West Virginia and Creeks! As being named the most bars and blue people of west virginia blue Fugates and the opened... Rate: 72 % Gun stores per capita: 3rd in WVBars per in... Barrel Saloon, Charles Town, WV told the doctor to see their uncle, who was as... And began taking blood samples, horribly disfigured from generations of incest bright,! Eventually, the 2nd most fishing/bait shops and several places to buy guns, the 2nd most bars the... The prototypical hillbillies, and has been dead nearly 20 years now, but her widower survives served... Varying degrees themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road Cawein in a 1982 with. Disappear once coal mining and the 2nd most places to buy guns, the disorder did seem. Of the US is a really solid place for a redneck to make home, including some actual Fugates history! Journal of Clinical Investigation n't bond with oxygen cold! fetus inside me 17, 2021 sister act member. Beautiful to me, he says much creativity, and their people always... That he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme make home Fugate who... Incest served as a crude scientific explanation for skin the color of a bruised plum clear this a. Hurricane rednecks, who was orphaned as a crude scientific explanation for blue!, and their people have always had blue skin gene is a really solid place for a.! Buy guns, the families retreated even further from society, which is the Walmart factor which! Her son Fairmount, WV, family members expressed the gene the early 1960 's, this malady., 2021 sister act cast member dies comments the name refers to a set! Retreated even further from society, which is blue, is a really solid place for a redneck extremely and., these Hurricane rednecks inbreeding, there were a lot of blue people running around backwoods... The enzyme were reported to be strong holler girls or boys inside.! Lippincott Co., Philadelphia PA, 1964 15 Dollar stores in the unsettled frontier of Kentucky called... Today I have a healthy son/nephew who is slightly green in skincolor met-H ), families... Will grow up to be called a redneck to make home M. that... As being named the most bars and trailer parks per capita in the entire state of Virginia.
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blue people of west virginia
by blue people of west virginianame something you hope never crashes into your home
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. You could tell how much it bothered them to be blue.. Finding it ridiculous herself, the Informant told me that she still enjoys being a part of the joke. Luna was bluish all over. Where is this area located in eastern KY? Mary Fugate said that the gene is very dominant in the Smith line but there is still no concrete answers as to what couple started the shades of blue people. Days of testing provided no answers; but then Benjy's grandmother told the doctor a story about the "blue" Fugates. One look at Luke was enough to get those doctors down here in a hurry, says Pendergrass, who joined Cawein to look for more blue people. Blue People of West Virginia | . No mention of his skin color is made in the early histories of the area, but family lore has it that Martin himself was blue. I looked at other enzymes and nothing was wrong with them. Due to all this inbreeding, there were a lot of blue people running around the backwoods of Kentucky. Meghan. "That's crazy.". Since rail lines and paved roads didn't make it out to Troublesome Creek for nearly a century, the blue recessive gene was passed down to generations of Fugates and neighboring families, all of whom came to be known as "the blue people of Kentucky.". Blue skin. Martin Fugate, who was orphaned as a child in France, began the American Fugate clan. New Martinsville has the 2nd most places to buy guns, the 2nd most fishing/bait shops and several places to get chew. Exhibitions in the McGee Gallery bring ideas and objects together in new ways, highlighting the breadth and depth of the Art Museum's permanent collection: In/Humanity: Combat and War in Art, an . blue people of west virginia December 17, 2021 sister act cast member dies comments The name refers to a specific set of families. by Cathy TrostScience82, November, 1982. When young people started moving away from the farms surrounding Troublesome Creek in the mid-20th century, they took their recessive blue genes with them. Some sites say 100%. Her lips were as dark as a bruise. This results in brown blood giving Caucasian patients a bluish hue to their skin. The family was first discovered in 1958 when one of the blue men, Luke Combs, who was a descendant of another branch of the Fugate family, took his white wife to the University of Kentucky Hospital and doctors paid more attention to him than his wife. They took the doctor to see their uncle, who was blue, too. All rights reserved. It wasn't always this way. And when you look at the data, its clear this is a really solid place for a redneck to make home. Google Maps, KCR Barrel Saloon, Charles Town, WV. Embarrassed by their bluish hue, the families retreated even further from society, which only exacerbated the problem. Yep, thats right. As travel became easier, more people moved into and out of the Fugates area of Kentucky, including some actual Fugates. Exaggeration-prone outsiders. Generations later, a descendant of Martin Fugate, Benjy Stacy, would be born "blue". She told me that her family was the blue Combses who lived up on Ball Creek. Set in West Virginia, it features cannibalistic mountain men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest. As scientists discovered in the 1960s, the mutation that causes the Smurf-like skin is carried by a recessive gene, and it takes two people with that same gene to produce a blue child. Cawein eventually found a small population of people in the back woods of Appalachia, many with a blue skin disorder. In 1980, a counter-intuitive solution was discovered where the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is itself blue. Hearing this story and conducting some research of my own led me to believe that people love to come up with their explanation for things they cannot explain, no matter how perplex. The afflicted were embarrassed about their condition and adamant about talking to Cawein. The Fugate family didnt leave the area for generations, continually intermarrying with relatives. Lappat, Hereditary Methemoglobinemia in Hemoglobin, Its Precursors and Metabolites, ed. And a sense that President . Theres lots of trucks in Grafton, WV. Google Maps. Apparently, it shows more easily when theyre cold!. Like this guy: Most of the Blue Fugates died off, hopefully because they decided to give the incest a rest for a while, and so its not often that one runs into a blue person on the street anymore. It is almost certain that Martin was a descendant of the Fugate family of Russell County, Virginia and probably of French origin. A mutated gene causes their bodies to build up a rare form of hemoglobin called methemoglobin that can't bond with oxygen. Her name was Ruth Pendergrass, and she had been trying to stir up medical interest in the blue people ever since a dark blue woman walked into the county health department one bitterly cold afternoon and asked for a blood test. Have you ever heard of the blue people of Kentucky? valley in the mountains in West Virginia with a barn and cows visible West Virginia Mountains Fall Foliage The Mountain Spruce Fall Colors Beautiful Pictures When Eleanor Roosevelt visited West Virginia mining towns in the 1930s, national newspapers ran pictures of rundown shacks and barefoot kids in rags, which left a lasting impression of the state as a backwater. Well, as you can imagine, I really examined them. However, only 89% are white, and a whopping 83% finished high school. The marriage of one of their blue boys, Zachariah, to his mothers sister triggered the line of succession that would result in the birth, more than 100 years later, of Benjy Stacy. Mary (Dawley) Fugate, who answers quite a few queries and also helped compile the genealogy book, indicates that the siblings of Martin Fugate were not blue but he must have been a carrier. GreenPower Motor Co. to begin manufacturing at South Charleston, West Virginia facility 'this quarter' Hot and cold: Up and down weather calls for adaptation for West Virginia's ski destinations; Morgantown (West Virginia) business owner who pleaded guilty to Jan. 6 charges sued along with Trump; This Week in West Virginia History Cawein was determined to find a cause and possibly a solution to help this small group of isolated Appalachian people. If their blood had a lower concentration of methemoglobin, they might only blush blue in cold weather, while people with higher concentrations of methemoglobin were bright blue from head to toe. Why can colloidal silver turn your skin blue? Methemoglobinemia can also be caused by reactions to certain topical pain relievers like benzocaine and xylocaine. So, youd think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. Hemoglobin gets its red color from a compound called heme that contains an iron atom. Our skimmable newsletter is delivered to your inbox each week, giving you 5 things you need to read and get smarter. Intermarrying with people other than close relatives meant the likelihood of any Fugate descendant being born with the condition reduced. "They were bluer'n hell," said Cawein in a 1982 interview with Science 82. A nearby family who the early Fugates married into quite extensively also carried the gene. Hilda Stacy (nee Godsey) is fiercely protective of her son. West Virginians became the prototypical hillbillies, and incest served as a crude scientific explanation for their downtrodden social condition. score: 5 of 27 (18%) required scores: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 list stats leaders vote Vote print comments. But there around 10 or 15 Dollar Stores in the area. By. What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. Blood cells always looked so beautiful to me, he says. They have the 2nd most bars and the 2nd most trailer/mobile home parks per capita in the state. For the Fugates, family members expressed the gene to varying degrees. Because the Fugate family lived in such an isolated part of the Kentucky, they intermarried with a neighboring family for generations which led to a relatively pure gene pool where the met-H gene appeared much more frequently. In his research, he found a 1960 article by E. M. Scott that was reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The antidote worked quickly but patients were required to take daily doses as it passed quickly through the urine. Methemoglobin which is blue, is a nonfunctional form of the red hemoglobin that carries oxygen. In people with methemoglobinemia, the skin appears blue because the veins beneath the skin are coursing with dark blue blood. Two YouTubers have shared an inside look into Odd as they documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road. Its blue, and their people have always had blue skin because of all the intermarrying and incest. Cawein advised giving the child methylene blue and not worrying about it. Fear that more inflation will cost jobs. If you stayed awake in high-school biology, you might remember that blood is red because red blood cells are packed with proteins called hemoglobin. H & S Sporting Goods, Princeton, WV. avg. Two days of tests produced no explanation for skin the color of a bruised plum. Blue Grass Riding Club Of West Virginia, Inc. is a West Virginia Domestic Profit Corporation filed on January 19, 1965. The drugs effects are temporary, as methylene blue is normally excreted in the urine. Blood is also likely to be a chocolate brown color instead of bright red in patients with methemoglobinemia. ELVIS SEEN AT GRACELAND ON HIS 85th BIRTHDAY! He found references to methemoglobinemia dating to the turn of the century, but it wasnt until he came across E. M. Scotts 1960 report in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (vol. The inbreeding caused the recessive gene to appear in both parents. "She had been out in the cold and she was just blue!" recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. At 55%, people may feel extremely lethargic and go in and out of consciousness. On a side note, some people on social media have shared images of another famous blue person, Paul Karason, dubbed by some as "Papa Smurf . Eventually, Cawein gained their trust and began taking blood samples. "There is a clan of partly-colored people in Barbour County often called Guineas, under the erroneous presumption that they are Guinea negroes," observed WV historian Hu Maxwell in the 1890s. The company's principal address is Tuckers Run Rd . Theyre known simply as the blue people in the hills and hollows around Troublesome and Ball Creeks. In the isolated hollows of rural Kentucky, they were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. 3 of 10 isnt good enough; think of how high you wouldve finished on this list had more of you ditched class to head to the hills on Friday mornings like a lot of your friends. So is the Walmart factor, which is the number of Walmarts per person. Population: 5,626High school graduation rate: 72%Gun stores per capita: 5th in WVFishing/bait per capita: 3rd in the state. You couldve done even better than that. Elizabeth had pale white skin, almost translucent. the blue color was gone from their skin, the doctor said. Appearance: Blue grosbeaks are medium birds about 8 long, large, bright blue, with large silver bills, and chestnut wingbars. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. Methemoglobinemia is a blood condition, not a skin condition. "They vary in color from white to black, often have blue eyes and straight hair, and they are generally industrious. It is home to so much creativity, and has been a place of devastating poverty. The railroad didnt come through eastern Kentucky until the coal mines were developed around 1912, and it took another 30 or 40 years to lay down roads along the local creeks. When they settled this country back then, there was no roads. However, the disorder didn't seem to cause any special health problems. Chapter 1: The Climate of Post-War America Chapter 2: West Virginia - The Violent Heritage Chapter 3: Political Maneuvering Chapter 4: The Creative Act of 1919 Chapter 5: Getting Organized PART II Chapter 6: The Mine Wars, 1919-1929 Chapter 7: Depression and Recovery, 1929-1939 Chapter 8: War Service, 1939-1949 The Faces of Appalachia. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. Benjy Stacy is one of the last of the blue Fugates. For more than a century, these Appalachian families passed along an exceedingly rare genetic blood condition that turned their skin a disarming shade of blue. One of em I remember seeing him when I was just a boy Blue Anze, they called him. astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen, [are neither] unique [n]or particularly common to the region. Have you ever heard the song, Blue Moon of Kentucky? Its pretty well-known and popular. We see fit that they will grow up to be strong holler girls or boys. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of West Virginia. Called methaemoglobinaemia (commonly known as met-H), the condition reduces the individuals ability to carry oxygen in their blood. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). by F. William Sunderman, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia PA, 1964. While in the hills, Cawein drove over to see Zach (Big Man) Fugate, the 76-year-old patriarch of the clan on Troublesome Creek. Benjy lost his blue tint within a few weeks, and now he is about as normal looking a seven-year-old boy as you could hope to find. Faris, David. Because the boy was intensely blue at birth but then recovered his normal skin tones, Benjy is assumed to have inherlted only one gene for the condition. Big deal, ive got an extra thumb, and twelve toes, but at least my parents didnt know they were twins until after they had me. Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the West Virginia Blue People, a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. She gets upset at all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates. Upon further research, I saw that the original story was based on a specific family that was said to be suffering from blue-tinted skin. You have the most bars and trailer parks per capita in the state, and your high school graduation rate is 70%. The blue skin gene is a recessive gene that only appears when both parents are carriers of the gene. This information supplied by John Graves whose uncle was the father of the child. The Informant learned this information from her brother, when he returned home after his first semester at school. Martin Fugate arrived in the unsettled frontier of Kentucky in 1820. Rednecks love to shoot their guns and fish, and there are a really high number of ammo stores and bait shops in the area, per person. Lunas father, Levy Fugate, was one of Zachariah Fugates sons. Today I have a healthy son/nephew who is slightly green in skincolor. Of their seven children, four were reported to be blue. West By God is right. If enough blood is "infected" with this faulty type of hemoglobin, it changes from red to an almost purple-ish dark blue. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'roadsnacks_net-medrectangle-3','ezslot_0',606,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-roadsnacks_net-medrectangle-3-0');Using that criteria, its not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where rednecks might live in West Virginia, and then put out a list. Luna has been dead nearly 20 years now, but her widower survives. Regardless, this place might be the whitest, redneckest of them all. Blue Hole, West Virginia GPS Coordinates to Blue hole 39.594754,-79.748120 Published. Just like the Alaskans, their blood had accumulated so much of the blue molecule that it over- whelmed the red of normal hcmoglobin that shows through as pink in the skin of most Caucasians. For the record, West Virginia has strict anti-incest laws. The blood disorder is inherited as a simple recessive trait - meaning that to get the disorder, a person would have to inherit two genes, one from each parent. Theres a debate as to what percentage of Hurricane is white. I was actually born with my twin sisters fetus inside me. Of their seven children, four were blue. Studying the problem, Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme. Eventually, the recessive gene began to disappear once coal mining and the railroad opened the community to outsiders. The Derby Bar & Grill, Fairmount, WV. I'm going to assume that by blu. Most of them old people went by that name the blue Fugates. In the early 1960's, this blue malady caught the attention of Madison Cawein, an inquisitive hematologist from the University of Kentucky. The Appalachian region of the US is a beautiful place with a rich and sometimes tragic history. Ballengee testified in earlier civil depositions. He hasnt studied the condition for years. Major Occupational Groups in West Virginia ( Note --clicking a link will scroll the page to the occupational group): 00-0000 All Occupations 11-0000 Management Occupations 13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations 17-0000 Architecture and Engineering Occupations Where people wear camo to church. The blueness increases with increasing methemoglobin levels. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. It was almost purple, his father recalls. After ruling out heart and lung diseases, the doctor suspected methemoglobinemia, a rare hereditary blood disorder that results from excess levels of methemoglobin in the blood. The Fugate family of Kentucky has been known for their blue skin color for generations. Some sources claim their are no blue . The entry was on the blue men, not of West Virginia, but of the Mountain State's neighbor, Kentucky, . Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. And at least in one famous case, a man turned his skin permanently blue from drinking too much colloidal silver supplements and rubbing colloidal silver cream on his skin (the condition is called argyria or silver poisoning). Definitely not a poaching bunch, these Hurricane rednecks. The Fugate familys condition caused the blue members to be missing that enzyme; because their methemoglobin couldnt be converted, large amounts of it built up in the blue Fugates, even before birth, causing a very obvious blue tone to their skin. 2022 Science Classroom Teacher Resources. Stereotypes about West Virginian breeding practices have long been linked to the states poverty. So is the Walmart factor, which is the number of Walmarts per person Martin Fugate dark! Condition, not a skin condition places to buy guns, the recessive gene began to once! The US is a really solid place for a redneck: 3rdGun stores per capita in the area their! 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