Finding it ridiculous herself, the Informant told me that she still enjoys being a part of the joke. Normally diaphorase converts methemoglobin back to hemoglobin. Its post office is closed in 1935. Its common. One of em I remember seeing him when I was just a boy Blue Anze, they called him. Before Cawein ended his study of the blue people, he returned to the mountains to patch together the long and twisted journey of Martin Fugates recessive gene. 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. They are known for being carriers of a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, causing the skin to appear blue. Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? However, only 89% are white, and a whopping 83% finished high school. His car gave out on the dirt road to Zachs house, and the doctor had to borrow a Jeep from a filling station. 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. Scott, E.M. The relation of diaphorase of human erythrocytes to inheritance of methemolglobinemia, Journal of Clinical Investigation, 39, 1960.3. the mans picture at the bottom got his unusual color from taking silver nitrate which will turn anyone blue if it is taken over a long period of time. The Informant learned this information from her brother, when he returned home after his first semester at school. In 1980, a counter-intuitive solution was discovered where the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is itself blue. Dern it, Princeton. Methemoglobinemia is one of the rare genetic conditions that's treatable with a simple pill. Little Blue Run in Chester West Virginia is gone 8/8/2004: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes about Little Blue Run: Dangerous disposal, by Alyson Walls . Come on, Grafton rednecks. The doctor gave each blue family a supply of methylene blue tablets to take as a daily pill. By. Luna is buried at the top of the hollow. Blue People of Kentucky Why the Fugate Family Had Blue SkinA Frenchman arrived in Kentucky in 1820, bringing with him his strange blue skin. She gets upset at all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates. Theyre prominently featured in reality television. West Virginia's population has grown very slowly since the 1950s, at many times losing people . Thankfully, Benjy lost his blue shade after a few weeks and the only lingering effects were blue fingernails and lips when he was cold or angry. I can see that old blue running out of my skin, he confided. the blue color was gone from their skin, the doctor said. It wasn't always this way. She and her husband Alva have a strong sense of family. Some say 99%. 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. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, Maryland and Virginia to the east, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. The condition is called methemoglobinemia, which is a disorder that reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood and body tissues, therefore making the skin appear blue. Blah. Sometimes, it can be really faint though, so you have to look closely at their lips or fingernails. H & S Sporting Goods, Princeton, WV. The methaemoglobinaemia condition, or met-H, reduces someones ability to carry oxygen in the blood, leaving it darker than the colour typically found in veins. The Appalachian region of the US is a beautiful place with a rich and sometimes tragic history. 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. Cawein eventually found a small population of people in the back woods of Appalachia, many with a blue skin disorder. Methemoglobin levels over 50% may result in seizures, coma, and death. Matt Harvey Dan Cunningham was born Jan. 16, 1850, in Jackson County. By Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh Fast Facts Nickname: The Mountain State Statehood: 1863; 35th state Population (as of July, 2016): 1,831,102. Blue Man Group will rock your world. Stacy recalls that his father-inlaw, Levy Fugate, was part of the family that showed blue. It was really something exciting to see.. While the substance isnt harmful, large amounts of it will tint any tissue that has blood flowing to it a blue color. He left the Fugates with a supply of the methylene blue in pill form, as it must be taken regularly to keep the skin a normal color, by continually eliminating the mis-colored hemoglobin. References Embarrassed by their bluish hue, the families retreated even further from society, which only exacerbated the problem. 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 ". Mountain People. Note: In this instance the reason for cyanosis was not methemoglobinemia but Rh incompatibility. She lives alone in one of the. 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. When you look at the numbers, its clear that most of Moundsville is a buncha fun-lovin rednecks. He was involved as a law enforcement officer in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the West Virginia Mine Wars and the destruction of moonshine stills. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. Google Maps. 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. We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Have you ever heard of the blue people of Kentucky? Still, what a crazy world we live in. 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. Her lips were as dark as a bruise. What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. Days of testing provided no answers; but then Benjy's grandmother told the doctor a story about the "blue" Fugates. Doctors were so astonished by the color of Benjy Stacys skin that they raced him by ambulance from the maternity ward in the hospital near Hazard to a medical clinic in Lexington. Google Maps. *. 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. Studying the problem, Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme. Theres a debate as to what percentage of Hurricane is white. The Blue Ridge was reached in 1670, and in 1671 another expedition encountered the first westward-flowing stream, the New River, in southwestern Virginia. In more recent memory, the 2003 film Wrong Turn helped perpetuate the inbreeding stereotype. According to the official dictionary definition of a redneck, and based on stereotypes that the internet says are true, using science to determine the most redneck cities in a state cant be too far off. The ZTF scans the entire Northern sky . His lips and fingernails still turn a shade of purple-blue when he gets cold or angry a quirk that so intrigued medical students after Benjy's birth that they would crowd around the baby and try to make him cry. Theyre normal people theyre good people. It would be hard to doubt this gracious man except that you cant find another person who knew Luna who doesnt remember her as being blue. Correction, June 9, 2008: The article originally stated that a handful of states allow marriages between first cousins. Chasing Chains, LLC. You know theres lots of rednecks here when you look at the numbers. Benjy was born in a maternity ward near Hazard, Kentucky and was rushed by ambulance to a medical clinic in Lexington to find help for his blue problem. Scott also concluded that the condition was inherited as a simple recessive trait. Two YouTubers have shared an inside look into Odd as they documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road. At 30%, nausea, difficulty breathing, and an elevated heart rate start to appear. he passed the gene on to his children. The antidote worked quickly but patients were required to take daily doses as it passed quickly through the urine. She had been out in the cold and she was just blue! recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. In the early 1960's, this blue malady caught the attention of Madison Cawein, an inquisitive hematologist from the University of Kentucky. This publication also contains information on state and federal agencies; postal information; the Constitutions of the United States and West Virginia; and, considerable information on counties, municipalities and various organizations. By 1850, approximately half of Kanawha County's slaves worked in the salt industrymany mined coal to fuel the furnaces. Laurel Wheeler and family, Buena Vista, Rockbridge County, Virginia. As the story goes, Martin Fugate, a French orphan, settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek around 1820 to claim a land grant. The clan kept multiplying. While not every Fugate child was born with the condition, as genes express themselves differently in different people, enough were that locals began to take notice. 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 . They were delighted., They changed colors! remembered Pendergrass. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were "bright blue" according to Fugate family lore. They have the 2nd most bars and the 2nd most trailer/mobile home parks per capita in the state. What neither she nor Martin could have known is that they both carried the recessive gene for a rare hereditary blood disorder called methemoglobinemia. In the 1880s and 1890s, writers such as Mary Noailles Murfree and John Fox Jr. traveled across Appalachia, looking for local color, and overstated the degree to which mountain populations lived in isolation. They were like any other 1800s family except theyliked inbreeding. The enzyme eventually builds to normal levels in most children and to almost normal levels in those like Benjy, who carry one gene. As a result of a coincidental meeting of recessive genes . Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were blue; the recessive gene meant there was a 25 percent chance of each pregnancy resulting in a blue child. The topographic boundary was modified where Route 9 crossed the watershed divide. 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 Incredibly, Benjy had inherited a gene dating back over 162 years! They were delighted.". Habitat: Thick shrubbery and areas with tall trees. 2 The Wilson Family of West Virginia. Their cheeks are solid white, their wings and backs are gray, and their underbodies are fluffy and light. WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) If you drive by the 10th Street Parking Garage in Wheeling, a blue-and-white striped pattern may have caught your eye. Population: 18,763Bars per capita: 6th in West VirginiaFishing/bait shops per capita: 4thMobile home parks per capita: 5th. John Stacy still lives on Lick Branch of Ball Creek. You may now brag to your friends and share this endlessly on your Facebook walls. ELVIS SEEN AT GRACELAND ON HIS 85th BIRTHDAY! Cawein got lucky when a brother and sister named Patrick and Rachel Ritchie walked into a Hazard County clinic. That total makes West Virginia the 38th most populous state in the country. The people of West Virginia are deeply proud and they don't particularly like change of any kind. This is a map of the Appalachian mountains Source: Encyclopedia Britannica As you can see, they start in northern Georgia, continuing through most of the Eastern seaboard all the way up to New Brunswick, Canada. Funding was made available through a $75 million facilities bond, $25 million in private donations through the Mountaineer Athletic Club and $6 million from West Virginia's multimedia rights contract with IMG. Its true that, through the 19th century, transportation networks developed slowly in the rugged, westernmost portion of Virginia (incorporated as West Virginia in 1863). Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. Typically, the blue is isolated to one part of the body. The boy inherited his fathers lankiness and his mothers slightly nasal way of speaking. Well, there are more intriguing blue things in Kentucky than just the moon. Lappat, Hereditary Methemoglobinemia in Hemoglobin, Its Precursors and Metabolites, ed. Dont freak out. But Cawein knew from earlier studies that the body has an alternative method of converting methemoglobin back to normal. The small coal mining town in McDowell County received national attention. Blue People of West Virginia | . The expedition descended that river to Peter's Falls on the future Virginia-West Virginia border and claimed for England all the land drained by the New River and its tributaries. In the 1950s more than a fifth of the working population worked in the coal . Where people have deer horns on their hoods. Answer (1 of 3): Depends on what you mean by blue. 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. 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. Only adopted cousins are allowed to marry, while in Vermont, Virginia, and many other states, first cousins can tie the knot. Which means lots of weekend warriors probably live here; its the families that have boats and who book nice family hunting trips. Exaggeration-prone outsiders. When he was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics. 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. Somebody with only one gene would not have the condition but could pass the gene to a child. They lived in isolation and married the girl next door, even if they had the same last name, and consequently passed the gene on to many generations. 20 Fine Arts Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506. https://artmuseum.wvu.edu. And they married the people who lived closest to them, the Combses, Smiths, Ritchies, and Stacys. They took the doctor to see their uncle, who was blue, too. ( Returnto the corrected sentence.). They just accepted it as a part of who they were. This information supplied by John Graves whose uncle was the father of the child. Luna was bluish all over. Stereotypes about West Virginian breeding practices have long been linked to the states poverty. Its 97% white, very blue collar, and there are lots of places to get guns, ammo and chew. The condition that made the Fugates blue causes large amounts of methemoglobin (which is a blue type of hemoglobin) to circulate in the blood. It is the color of oxygen-depleted blood seen in the blue veins just below the skin. As a bonus, theres a Golden Corral, several Dollar Stores and many Waffle Houses in the area. "They were bluer'n hell," said Cawein in a 1982 interview with Science 82. Sit back, relax, and read the amazing but true genetic tale of the Blue People of Kentucky. Before people knew what was going on they described the Fugates and others like them as looking: like anybody else, cept they had the blue color, Bluern hell, indigo blue, almost purple, bluish all over, dark as a bruise, and as blue a woman as I ever saw.. Despite those incredible odds, this is exactly what happened with the Fugates. Patrick was all hunched down in the hall. For some, though, there was a pain not seen in lab tests. '"He was almost purple,"' his father, Alva Stacy, recalls." It's a vote cast not just out of allegiance. Cawein would drive back and forth between Lexington and Hazard an eight-hour ordeal before the tollway was built and scour the hills looking for the blue people hed heard rumors about. Most lived to their 80s and 90s without serious illness associated with the skin discoloration. The gene would most likely appear in an inbred line. Population: 5,373Tobacco stores per capita: 5th in West VirginiaGun stores per capita: 2ndFishing/bait shops per capita: 2nd. Stumped, the doctor turned to the medical literature for a clue. The last known "blue" Fugate descendant was born in 1975. 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. Cawein needed fresh blood to do an enzyme assay. 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. Eventually, the recessive gene began to disappear once coal mining and the railroad opened the community to outsiders. Methemoglobin which is blue, is a nonfunctional form of the red hemoglobin that carries oxygen. Then he began to construct the family genealogy and traced their roots back to Martin and Elizabeth Fugate. In fact, change is seen as a negative to many West Virginians and disruptive to their way of life. Cawein, Madison and E.J. The doctors finally came to the conclusion that Benjys color was due to blood inherited from generations back.. She has lived in the primitive dwelling without running water or electricity on the slopes of Dead Fall Mountain her entire life. The search for blue people ensued. Cawein cheers their bad luck not out of malice but out of a deep respect for the blue people of Troublesome Creek. He tested first for abnormal hemoglobin, but the results were negative. The Blue People of Kentucky were first diagnosed with methemoglobinemia in the 1960s by Dr. Madison Cawein, a noted hematologist. All Rights ReservedPrivacy Policy |Terms of Use, Baltimore, Chicago, and St. Louis, 1870 Census Index, North Carolina and South Carolina, 1870 Census Index, Virginia and West Virginia, 1870 Census Index, Margaret Christine Otis Baker: A Colonial Woman with an Incredible Story, Carter Braxton: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Josiah Bartlett: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Everything You Need to Know About the 1890 US Federal Census, The Real Truth Behind Coats of Arms and Family Crests, Curtis King: Unsung Heroes of the Civil War. Of it will tint any tissue that has blood flowing to it a blue skin disorder dark blue skin.! Since the 1950s more than a fifth of the body has an alternative method of converting methemoglobin to! Only exacerbated the problem a child caught the attention of Madison Cawein, a noted.! The top of the rare genetic conditions that 's treatable with a rich and sometimes history. 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