Several familes moved elsewhere after being bought out. The area was never entirely cut off, but many people lived in remote closed communities with little incoming or outgoing migration. Due to all this inbreeding, there were a lot of blue people running around the backwoods of Kentucky. This small enclave was no longer isolated and they began to disperse and marry outside of their little clan diminishing the effect of the "blue" gene. Steelworkers Damion Elkins, 50, right, and Edward Clonch, 43, left, in Huntington West Virginia. Faris, David. Its nothing.. Inbreeding in eastern Kentucky has been turning offspring blue since the early 1880s. The clan kept multiplying. And by God, they didnt have the enzyme diaphorase. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). As a result of a coincidental meeting of recessive genes . At 55%, people may feel extremely lethargic and go in and out of consciousness. It is the color of oxygen-depleted blood seen in the blue veins just below the skin. One of em I remember seeing him when I was just a boy Blue Anze, they called him. Lunas father, Levy Fugate, was one of Zachariah Fugates sons. As a result of a coincidental meeting of recessive genes, intermarriage and inbreeding, members of the Fugate family were born with a rare condition that made them visibly discoloured. When they settled this country back then, there was no roads. Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. Genetic Causes For some, though, there was a pain not seen in lab tests. While the substance isn't harmful, large amounts of it will tint any tissue that has blood flowing to it a blue color. Hilda Stacy (nee Godsey) is fiercely protective of her son. If this story were true everyone in Alabama would be blue. In people with methemoglobinemia, the skin appears blue because the veins beneath the skin are coursing with dark blue blood. These people arent related to the Fugates: Also fake. Of their seven children, four were blue. By. Normally diaphorase converts methemoglobin back to hemoglobin. Dont freak out. It's a vote cast not just out of allegiance. 3. It can be brought on by several things: abnormal hemoglobin formation, an enzyme deficiency, and taking too much of certain drugs, including vitamin K, which is essential for blood clotting and is abundant in pork liver and vegetable oil. Published. If youll notice, he observes, tracing lines on his familys chart, which lists his mothers and his fathers great grandfather as Henley Fugate, Im kin to myself.. This condition does, in fact, cause blue-tinted. The only thing Stacy cant or wont remember is that his wife Luna was blue. You have the most bars and trailer parks per capita in the state, and your high school graduation rate is 70%. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. It was hard to get out, so they intermarried, says Dennis Stacy, a 51-year-old coal miner and amateur genealogist who has filled a loose-leaf notebook with the laboriously traced blood lines of several local families. The Appalachian region of the US is a beautiful place with a rich and sometimes tragic history. The entry was on the blue men, not of West Virginia, but of the Mountain State's neighbor, Kentucky, . You might actually call Hurricane home of the rednecks with paychecks. Legend has it that Martin himself may have had a blue tinge to his skin, but not the dark blue color of later Fugates. They have the 2nd most bars and the 2nd most trailer/mobile home parks per capita in the state. 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. When Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy was born in 1975, nurses and doctors were shocked and confused. Theres a debate as to what percentage of Hurricane is white. In 1820, Martin Fugate, who is believed to have been blue, moved to Troublesome Creek from France and just happened to shack up with Elizabeth Smith, who also carried the gene. 1 talking about this. More than a cent. From California herself, the informant was very curious to hear about what the people of West Virginia were like. It is almost certain that Martin was a descendant of the Fugate family of Russell County, Virginia and probably of French origin. '"He was almost purple,"' his father, Alva Stacy, recalls." 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. Population: 7,164 Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West Virginia Bars per capita: 2nd in the state Walmart rank: 3rd Elkins is way out in the middle of nowhere south of Morgantown, at the base of the Appalachians. Methemoglobinemia can also be caused by reactions to certain topical pain relievers like benzocaine and xylocaine. Houses belonging to people that lived in the valley were mostly torn down. He helped isolate an antidote for cholera, and he did some of the early work on L-dopa, the drug for Parkinsons disease. The distinct gold-and-blue color scheme and Flying WV logo we've come to adore did not exist at that point. The blueness increases with increasing methemoglobin levels. They were delighted., They changed colors! remembered Pendergrass. Heres their story. Fortunately, Cawein was able to find an antidote for the blood disorder - methylene blue which acted as an electron donor. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. It reduced the brightness of the blue on their skin. As three bald and blue men explore our world, together we'll discover music, laughter and surprises at every turn. The gene is still around today but has now become statistically insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with it. The doctor gave each blue family a supply of methylene blue tablets to take as a daily pill. They werent sick; it was just the way they look. Benjy Stacy is one of the last of the blue Fugates. Cawein needed fresh blood to do an enzyme assay. One of the girls, the Informant, was discussing an upcoming trip to visit her brother at West Virginia University. The gene would most likely appear in an inbred line. And shop at Walmart. Population: 18,763Bars per capita: 6th in West VirginiaFishing/bait shops per capita: 4thMobile home parks per capita: 5th. Because of the dispersion of fluids, the solution only lasts for about a day so the carrier would have to drink a serving every day. Have you ever heard of the blue people of Kentucky? The Northfork High School "Blue Demons" were a force to be reckoned with from 1971 to 1984, setting national records including most consecutive state championships. "If you took any random person in the population, maybe one in 100,000 would carry this gene, if that many," says Ricki Lewis, a science writer and author of the textbook "Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications," now in its 13th edition. Aside from the stark discoloration of the carriers skin, there are no serious problems associated with the disease. Those who are otherwise healthy with levels under 15% may exhibit minor symptoms or none at all. It was painful. In other words, to get the disorder, a person would have to inherit two genes for it, one from each parent. It began whenMartin Fugate, aFrench orphan, settled on the banks of eastern Kentuckys Troublesome Creek to claim a land grant in the early 19th century. Stacy counts Fugate blood in his own veins. This then turns the carriers blood into a normal red hue which is then reflected in a change in skin tone. Cawein is no stranger to eccentricities of the body. 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. While in the hills, Cawein drove over to see Zach (Big Man) Fugate, the 76-year-old patriarch of the clan on Troublesome Creek. They were real, and they really were blue, thanks to a recessive genetic condition. Blue Hole, West Virginia GPS Coordinates to Blue hole 39.594754,-79.748120 "She had been out in the cold and she was just blue!" recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. Definitely not a poaching bunch, these Hurricane rednecks. It has nothing to do with melanin, the amino acid that gives people darker skin tones. So you can tell if someone is a product of incest if their skin is blue! Blue human aren't possible. So, youd think people who are rednecks would be proud to be called a redneck. The odds against it were incalculable, but Martin Fugate managed to find and marry a woman who carried the same recessive gene. The 76-year-old diva used the less than divine choice of words for the Mountain State in a Twitter against Sen. Joe Manchin torpedoing President Biden's multitrillion-dollar spending plans. The Fugate family didnt leave the area for generations, continually intermarrying with relatives. The range of blue that could express itself in the blue Fugates ranged from light blue to dark blue like a blueberry, with even darker blue on the lips and fingernail beds. It can make a claim that it should top this list, since it has the most people. Cawein would have no part of it, and he related with glee the news that a film crew sent to Kentucky from Hollywood fled the two mean dogs in every front yard without any film. One of the supermarket tabloids once sent a reporter to find out about the blue people, and she was distressed with his preoccupation with intermarriages. score: 5 of 27 (18%) required scores: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 list stats leaders vote Vote print comments. Trudging up and down the hollows, fending off the two mean dogs that everyone had in their front yard, the doctor and the nurse would spot someone at the top of a hill who looked blue and take off in wild pursuit. As it was, the Fugates stayed in the same area well into the 20th century. Which means lots of weekend warriors probably live here; its the families that have boats and who book nice family hunting trips. In 1820, Martin Fugate, who is believed to have been blue, moved to Troublesome Creek from France and just happened to shack up with Elizabeth Smith, who also carried the gene. If youre curious enough, here are the least redneck places in West Virginia (if thats even possible): We aim to deliver infotainment about where you live that your real estate agent won't tell you. Green human are possible. 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. She told me that her family was the blue Combses who lived up on Ball Creek. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. ELVIS SEEN AT GRACELAND ON HIS 85th BIRTHDAY! The Fugates, a family living in the hills of Kentucky starting in the 19th century, were commonly known as the " Blue Fugates " [1] or the " Blue People of Kentucky ". Some say 99%. Many is more accurate since the practice is legal, or legal under certain circumstances, in more than 20 states. Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the "West Virginia Blue People", a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. Published November 21, 2021 Updated November 29, 2021 For nearly 200 years, the Fugates known as the blue people of Kentucky remained largely sealed off from the outside world as they passed their blue skin from generation to generation. Luna was bluish all over. Wingspan: 6.3-8.3 in (Black-Capped), 5.9-7.9 in (Carolina) Chickadees are tiny little birds that are very easy to recognize because of their "black cap" and black bib. Two YouTubers have shared an inside look into Odd as they documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road. Theyre normal people theyre good people. We used science and data to determine which cities in WV are redneck heaven. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of West Virginia. Additional comment actions. I couldnt tell you what caused it.. Luna Stacy possessed the good health common to the blue people, bearing at least 13 children before she died at 84. We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine the dirt on places across the country. Why can colloidal silver turn your skin blue? Yes, West Virginia is among the poorest if not the poorest state in the union as well as one of the most uneducated and least economically developed. You could tell how much it bothered them to be blue.. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. 1:52. 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