They were really embarrassed about being blue, he said. Others, however, did not like being blue, and it was these Fugates, who didnt like their blue coloring, who were the first to volunteer for Caweins experimental treatments. get your facts straight for petes sake. Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. In 2019, the percentage of foreign-born citizens in West Virginia was 1.66%, meaning that the rate has been decreasing. What Happened to the Blue People? June 18, 2015. What is a redneck anyways? By Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh Fast Facts Nickname: The Mountain State Statehood: 1863; 35th state Population (as of July, 2016): 1,831,102. The distinct gold-and-blue color scheme and Flying WV logo we've come to adore did not exist at that point. Cawein needed fresh blood to do an enzyme assay. The topographic boundary was modified where Route 9 crossed the watershed divide. Most lived to their 80s and 90s without serious illness associated with the skin discoloration. Population: 7,164Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West VirginiaBars per capita: 2nd in the stateWalmart rank: 3rd. 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). 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. The gene is still around today but has now become statistically insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with it. And they married the people who lived closest to them, the Combses, Smiths, Ritchies, and Stacys. He was involved as a law enforcement officer in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the West Virginia Mine Wars and the destruction of moonshine stills. By the end of this spectacular journey, you'll be saying "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT JUST HAPPENED BUT I LOOOVED IT." Read more Blue Man Group 4,830 reviews Fear that more inflation will cost jobs. Born Jan. 16, 1869, in Marion County, Ephraim Franklin Morgan went on to become one of West Virginia's governors. They werent sick; it was just the way they look. Theyre prominently featured in reality television. The following piece was collected at a dinner table with a group of girls out celebrating a friends birthday. 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. The American Heart Association had a clinic in Hazard, and it was there that Cawein met a great big nurse who offered to help. Some say 99%. Once he had the enzyme deficiency isolated, methylene blue sprang to Caweins mind as the perfectly obvious antidote. Laurel Wheeler and family, Buena Vista, Rockbridge County, Virginia. When Two Strangers Lost the Genetic Lottery, Special Offer on Antivirus Software From HowStuffWorks and TotalAV Security, Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, reactions to certain topical pain relievers. The Fugate Family of Russell County, Virginia: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Francis, Benjamin, Colbert, Zachariah, Henley & William Fugate, Settlers of Moccasin Valley from 1772. West Virginia Get facts and photos about the 35th state. She told me that her family was the blue Combses who lived up on Ball Creek. 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. Instead, football players bore a bronzesque gold helmet emblazoned with a blue outline of the state of West Virginia and the letters "WVU" inside an oval. More than a cent. Within a few minutes. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. 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. I can see that old blue running out of my skin, he confided. Everyone around here knows about the blue Fugates, says Hilda Stacy who, at 26, looks more like a sister than a mother to her children. He married a red-haired American named Elizabeth Smith who had a very pale complexion and their union formed a genetic mutation that resulted in their descendants being born with blue skin. Ballengee testified in earlier civil depositions. With Fugate blood on both his mothers and his fathers side, the boy could have received genes for the enzyme deficiency from either direction. It reduced the brightness of the blue on their skin. It was painful. His car gave out on the dirt road to Zachs house, and the doctor had to borrow a Jeep from a filling station. In another neighborhood of this rust-belt city of 46,000, Pam and Ted Keesee have their own. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. Have you ever heard the song, Blue Moon of Kentucky? Its pretty well-known and popular. avg. Most of them old people went by that name the blue Fugates. Wheeling's city flag checks all the boxes for an [] Blood is also likely to be a chocolate brown color instead of bright red in patients with methemoglobinemia. 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. the blue color was gone from their skin, the doctor said. Eventually, a nurse named Ruth Pendergrass heard of them, and, along with a hematologist named Madison Cawein III, decided to go meet these locally famous blue people in person. My grandmother Luna on my dads side was a blue Fugate. Different spellings of the surname sometimes include "Fugett" and "Fugitt". Luna was bluish all over. Besides the number of bars, mobile home parks and places to buy shotguns, its at the base of the hills, where you know the deer and turkey probably walk right into town. Tests for abnormal hemoglobin were negative. Houses belonging to people that lived in the valley were mostly torn down. They were bluern hell, Cawein says. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were "bright blue" according to Fugate family lore. 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. When asked ahout it, he shakes his head and stares steadfastly ahead. Films That People Feel Guilty for Not Seeing. As a bonus, theres a Golden Corral, several Dollar Stores and many Waffle Houses in the area. "The True Story of the Blue People of Kentucky" Theres a debate as to what percentage of Hurricane is white. Of their seven children, four were reported to be blue. New Martinsville has the 2nd most places to buy guns, the 2nd most fishing/bait shops and several places to get chew. New Martinsville is located in the northwestern part of the state, right on the Ohio state line. type to search . Despite those incredible odds, this is exactly what happened with the Fugates. For the Fugates, family members expressed the gene to varying degrees. Still, what a crazy world we live in. One relative describes her as blue all over, and another calls Luna the bluest woman I ever saw.. Today I have a healthy son/nephew who is slightly green in skincolor. We do not feel less-fortunate. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Mikeooney. This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as info-tainment. 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. 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. The last known "blue" Fugate descendant was born in 1975. by F. William Sunderman, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia PA, 1964. Madison Cawein began hearing rumors about the blue people when he went to work at the University of Kentuckys Lexington medical clinic in 1960. This then turns the carriers blood into a normal red hue which is then reflected in a change in skin tone. 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. When West Virginia University decided to put "Black Lives Matter" decals on the back of their football helmets, the reaction by the people of . Researchers believe this to truly be the case, a result of the family suffering from a genetic condition called methemoglobinemia, which is an excess of methemoglobin in the red blood cells of the body. 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. Dr. Cawein injected the dye into the volunteers, and they were amazed to see how quickly their skin changed from blue to a healthy pink, then gradually to a Caucasian white. Cawein cheers their bad luck not out of malice but out of a deep respect for the blue people of Troublesome Creek. Sit back, relax, and read the amazing but true genetic tale of the Blue People of Kentucky. The solution, oddly enough, was a commonly used dye called methylene blue. West Virginia's House congressional districts run from east to west, creating a three-way split that fractures pockets of blue support in the far northern and southwestern parts of the state . Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the "West Virginia Blue People", a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. He had to drive eight hours back to Hazard to search out the Ritchies, who lived in a tapped-out mining town called Hardburly. 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 Blah. Population: 5,373Tobacco stores per capita: 5th in West VirginiaGun stores per capita: 2ndFishing/bait shops per capita: 2nd. Oxygen, or a lack of oxygen, is what turns the blood from red to blue in people with methemoglobinemia. H & S Sporting Goods, Princeton, WV. Apparently, it shows more easily when theyre cold!. If this conversion continued, all the bodys hemoglobin would eventually be rendered useless. Blue Man Group will rock your world. 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 They were poor people, concurs Nurse Pendergrass, but they were good.References1. Im a hematologist, so something like that perks up my ears, Cawein says, sipping on whiskey sours and letting his mind slip back to the summer he spent tromping around the hills looking for blue people.. Where is this area located in eastern KY? But Cawein knew from earlier studies that the body has an alternative method of converting methemoglobin back to normal. 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. It was later discovered ascorbic acid can do this, as well. Folklore maintained the Fugates were blue due to heart disease or lung problems. Aside from the stark discoloration of the carriers skin, there are no serious problems associated with the disease. 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