blue people of west virginia

Google Maps. Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the "West Virginia Blue People", a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. 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 area was never. 1 talking about this. They took the doctor to see their uncle, who was blue, too. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, Maryland and Virginia to the east, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. It was caused, Scott speculated, by an absence of the enzyme diaphorase from their red blood cells. Answer (1 of 3): Depends on what you mean by blue. The Derby Bar & Grill, Fairmount, WV. It doesnt mean the condition is gone from the family; theres a chance another child could be born with it, but the incidents of it should be fewer and farther between in the modern era. The distinct gold-and-blue color scheme and Flying WV logo we've come to adore did not exist at that point. What is a redneck anyways? While the substance isnt harmful, large amounts of it will tint any tissue that has blood flowing to it a blue color. For the record, West Virginia has strict anti-incest laws. 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 Benjys birth that they would crowd around the baby and try to make him cry. 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. 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. 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. West Virginia History Timeline. Fortunately, Cawein was able to find an antidote for the blood disorder - methylene blue which acted as an electron donor. In other words, to get the disorder, a person would have to inherit two genes for it, one from each parent. ( Returnto the corrected sentence.). He helped isolate an antidote for cholera, and he did some of the early work on L-dopa, the drug for Parkinsons disease. By the time theyd get to the top, the person would be gone. 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. Somebody with only one gene would not have the condition but could pass the gene to a child. type to search . Several familes moved elsewhere after being bought out. You couldve done even better than that. For the first time in their lives, they were pink. She has lived in the primitive dwelling without running water or electricity on the slopes of Dead Fall Mountain her entire life. 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. New Martinsville is located in the northwestern part of the state, right on the Ohio state line. 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.. 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. Note: In this instance the reason for cyanosis was not methemoglobinemia but Rh incompatibility. It is home to so much creativity, and has been a place of devastating poverty. When they settled this country back then, there was no roads. Then he began to construct the family genealogy and traced their roots back to Martin and Elizabeth Fugate. Bluefield State is committed to being the region's leading institution of higher education. The last known "blue" Fugate descendant was born in 1975. Had you guys just ditched school even more, you might have won this whole thing. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). "For the first time in their lives, they were pink. Legend has it that Martin himself may have had a blue tinge to his skin, but not the dark blue color of later Fugates. 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. You know theres lots of rednecks here when you look at the numbers. Its a part of our culture. Martin Fugate was a French orphan who emigrated to Kentucky in 1820 to claim a land grant on the wilderness banks of Troublesome Creek. After a 1997 survey, the boundary line between Jefferson County, West Virginia, and Loudoun County, Virginia, was declared to be the watershed line of the top of the ridge of the Blue Ridge mountains, as documented in the survey. More than a cent. I looked at other enzymes and nothing was wrong with them. Fugates married other Fugates. From California herself, the informant was very curious to hear about what the people of West Virginia were like. Those who are otherwise healthy with levels under 15% may exhibit minor symptoms or none at all. The number of tobacco stores per capita (we call it the chew factor) is the highest in West Virginia here in Charles Town. Of their seven children, four were reported to be blue. "Within a few minutes. Population: 6,427High school graduation rate: 70%Bars per capita: 1st in WVMobile home parks per capita: 1st. Of their seven children, four were blue. Only adopted cousins are allowed to marry, while in Vermont, Virginia, and many other states, first cousins can tie the knot. 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. 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. Cawein, in researching the family lines in Perry County, Kentucky and with the help of Fugate Family Bibles, found in fact, that the Fugates had married Fugates, had married first cousins, and had intermarried with families whose surnames were: Combs, Smith, Ritchie, and Stacy. West Virginians became the prototypical hillbillies, and incest served as a crude scientific explanation for their downtrodden social condition. Genetic Causes One day, one of the older mountain men cornered the doctor. Ballengee testified in earlier civil depositions. RoadSnacks is reader-supported. However, now that the Fugate gene pool is more diverse, there is less need for this treatment, as fewer blue children are being born. Dark blue lips and fingernails are the only traces of Martin Fugates legacy left in the boy; that, and the recessive gene that has shaded many of the Fugates and their kin blue for the past 162 years. Population: 5,258Walmart rank: 1stChew factor: 1stAmmo per capita: 9th. 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. The small coal mining town in McDowell County received national attention. Oxygen, or a lack of oxygen, is what turns the blood from red to blue in people with methemoglobinemia. Even so, Cawein still gets calls for advice. There are other ways to get blue skin without inheriting it, though. The antidote worked quickly but patients were required to take daily doses as it passed quickly through the urine. The condition that made the Fugates blue causes large amounts of methemoglobin (which is a blue type of hemoglobin) to circulate in the blood. 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. When asked ahout it, he shakes his head and stares steadfastly ahead. Of their seven children, four were blue. I just knew that patient was going to die right there in the health department, but she wasnt atall alarmed. Where people wear camo to church. 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 Curiosity drove him to Hazard where he was introduced to a nurse, Ruth Pendergrass, who had met a "dark blue" woman. June 18, 2015. Have you ever heard of the blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek? she asked the doctors. The Fugate family intermarried with a neighbouring family for generations, which led to a relatively pure gene pool, often including the met-H gene. These people arent related to the Fugates: Also fake. 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. Cawein was determined to find a cause and possibly a solution to help this small group of isolated Appalachian people. Come on, Grafton rednecks. When you look at the numbers, its clear that most of Moundsville is a buncha fun-lovin rednecks. Set in West Virginia, it features cannibalistic mountain men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest. The boy inherited his fathers lankiness and his mothers slightly nasal way of speaking. Theyre prominently featured in reality television. With Fugate blood on both his mothers and his fathers side, the boy could have received genes for the enzyme deficiency from either direction. Dating back to the early 1800s, an isolated family in eastern Kentucky who can trace their roots back to a French orphan started producing children who were blue. It was real bad in her, Alva Stacy, the boys father, explained. 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. Cut off from contact with the wider population, they married cousins, aunts and other closely related kin, which greatly increased the odds of inheriting the condition. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. Well, as you can imagine, I really examined them. She was a sister to one of the Fugate women. About this same time, another of the blue Combses, named Luke, had taken his sick wife up to the clinic at Lexington. 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. 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. Luna is buried at the top of the hollow. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. his wife happened to be a carrier for the gene, so in turn about half of their children were blue. By Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh Fast Facts Nickname: The Mountain State Statehood: 1863; 35th state Population (as of July, 2016): 1,831,102. How far from Flatwoods , ky? get your facts straight for petes sake. He injected the Ritchie siblings with 100 milligrams of the blue dye and didn't have to wait long to see results. He married Elizabeth Smith, who carried a recessive gene for a genetic condition called methemoglobinemia, which gives those who have it blue-toned skin, even though they are otherwise perfectly healthy. The clinic doctors only saw her a few times in her life and never for anything serious. 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. After analyzing all cities with a decent amount of people in them, we came up with this list as The Most Redneck Cities in West Virginia: Many of these are types of places where old redneck ladies drive their motorized wheelchairs down the middle of town, towing their grandkids in a wagon. Whoo-whee, New Martinsville! Written family records do not indicate Martin's skin color, but family legend says he was blue. It is the color of oxygen-depleted blood seen in the blue veins just below the skin. Which means lots of weekend warriors probably live here; its the families that have boats and who book nice family hunting trips. THE town of Odd, West Virginia is a quiet, rural countryside, despite all the buzz surrounding the infamous inbred family, The Whittakers, who live within it. Yep, thats right. Called methaemoglobinaemia (commonly known as met-H), the condition reduces the individuals ability to carry oxygen in their blood. 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. Green human are possible. History Timeline of the Native Indians of West Virginia. They were like any other 1800s family except theyliked inbreeding. As three bald and blue men explore our world, together we'll discover music, laughter and surprises at every turn. Population: 9,277High school graduation rate 73%Chew factor: 3Gun stores: 5th. In 1980, a counter-intuitive solution was discovered where the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is itself blue. Art Museum of West Virginia University, McGee Gallery View map. Rachel was leaning against the wall. 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 ". Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. There was always speculation in the hollows about what made the blue people blue: heart disease, a lung disorder, the possibility proposed by one old-timer that their blood is just a little closer to their skin. But no one knew for sure, and doctors rarely paid visits to the remote creekside settlements where most of the blue Fugates lived until well into the 1950s. As a result, their blood is darker than the color typically found running through peoples veins. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of West Virginia. The Blue People of Kentucky were first diagnosed with methemoglobinemia in the 1960s by Dr. Madison Cawein, a noted hematologist. All rights reserved. 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. 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. Martin Fugate arrived in the unsettled frontier of Kentucky in 1820. "The True Story of the Blue People of Kentucky" That was the pain of being blue in a world that is mostly shades of white to black. In more recent memory, the 2003 film Wrong Turn helped perpetuate the inbreeding stereotype. But as Kentucky became more populated and more genes came into the Fugate family tree, there were far fewer children born blue. *. Have you ever heard the song, Blue Moon of Kentucky? Its pretty well-known and popular. Finally, one day when the frustrated doctor was idling inside the Hazard clinic, Patrick and Rachel Ritchie walked in. 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. Cawein cheers their bad luck not out of malice but out of a deep respect for the blue people of Troublesome Creek. It like to scared me to death! Its nothing.. 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. Admitted to the union as the 35th state in 1863, it is a relatively small state. Cancel any time, no strings attached. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were "bright blue" according to Fugate family lore. Blood is also likely to be a chocolate brown color instead of bright red in patients with methemoglobinemia. the blue color was gone from their skin, the doctor said. Her lips were as dark as a bruise. Since there werent any roads or trains near their small community, the kidswere married off to the only people who lived nearby: their cousins. "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. The solution, oddly enough, was a commonly used dye called methylene blue. A transfusion was being prepared when Benjys grandmother spoke up. 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. Bessie had an iron pot of clothes boiling in her front yard, but she graciously allowed the doctor to draw some of her blood. 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. Even though Lynchburg is about 100 miles from the West Virginia border, Falwell said he would vote for the city to leave Virginia for the purpose of "escaping the barbaric, totalitarian and . Read on below to see where your town ranked. In his research, he found a 1960 article by E. M. Scott that was reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The good news for those who may still be born expressing the blue gene is that there is a treatment. The risk skyrockets if you're sharing blood.". This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as info-tainment. Upon discovering the blue members of the Fugate family were perfectly healthy in every other way, Cawein decided to try some experiments to see if the blue color could be treated. H & S Sporting Goods, Princeton, WV. In the isolated hollows of rural Kentucky, they were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. Within a few minutes. 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. Google Maps. And a sense that President . The region's first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. Heres their story. Population: 6,306Walmart rank: 2ndMobile home parks: 5th in the stateBars per person: 5th in West Virginia. West Virginia had just one carrier in its exchange in 2015 - Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield - although the carrier only offered 12 plans in 2014, and bumped that up to 14 in 2015. Not myth or legend; The Blue People of Kentucky were an isolated enclave of Appalachian people who lived with an embarrassing skin discoloration until a young hematologist took notice and found a solution. Cawein and his colleagues published their research on hereditary diaphorase deficiency in the Archives of Internal Medicine (April, 1964) in 1964. Scott's research had found hereditary methemoglobinemia among Alaskan Eskimos and Indians caused by an absence of the enzyme diaphorase from their red blood cells. by F. William Sunderman, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia PA, 1964. So is the Walmart factor, which is the number of Walmarts per person. He knew the same thing was happening in this secluded corner of Appalachia. I was actually born with my twin sisters fetus inside me. 3. Our skimmable newsletter is delivered to your inbox each week, giving you 5 things you need to read and get smarter. The Fugates are of French Huguenot descent, with the original immigrant ancestor coming over from France in about 1820. The odds against it were incalculable, but Martin Fugate managed to find and marry a woman who carried the same recessive gene. She lives alone in one of the. Its common. The enzyme eventually builds to normal levels in most children and to almost normal levels in those like Benjy, who carry one gene. You have the most bars and trailer parks per capita in the state, and your high school graduation rate is 70%. 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. Give the gift of knowledge with our official 'did you know' book. If the blue people did have methemoglobinemia, the next step was to find out the cause. Martin Fugate carried the recessive gene and the odds that he could have married a woman with the same recessive gene were overwhelming - but that is exactly what happened. She remembers the story very easily, most often humorously, because she remembers the manner in which her brother told her. Plus, we thought why not add in a few stereotypes? Using Yelp and Google Maps, this is the criteria we used: Note: For the sake of getting reliable numbers, we counted places within a citys border, as well as within a short driving distance. 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 . Its true that, through the 19th century, transportation networks developed slowly in the rugged, westernmost portion of Virginia (incorporated as West Virginia in 1863). 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. When he was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics. You might actually call Hurricane home of the rednecks with paychecks. Hemoglobin gets its red color from a compound called heme that contains an iron atom. Written family records do not indicate Martin's skin color, but family legend says he was blue. Dont freak out. 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. In online research, there was no mention made of "blue" people as recorded in the genealogy book, The Fugate Family of Russell County Virginia, published in 1986, but it has been confirmed in the Fugate discussions on the Genforum. And when you look at the data, its clear this is a really solid place for a redneck to make home. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. 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. Cawein is no stranger to eccentricities of the body. They were really embarrassed about being blue, he said. See the video below. Faris, David. The topographic boundary was modified where Route 9 crossed the watershed divide. What Happened to the Blue People? it is a blood disorder in which their blood does not oxygenate correctly. West Virginia, constituent state of the United States of America. There was a Zachariah Fugate who was married to a Mary Smith; both carried the gene which resulted in blue children. They were bluern hell, Cawein says. Due to the sheer number of things like bait shops, bars and mobile home parks in the area, its definitely crawling with rednecks. "But if you're marrying your cousin, it's one in eight. 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. However, the disorder didn't seem to cause any special health problems. Levels at or above 70% are considered life-threatening and are accompanied by erratic heartbeats and circulatory problems. ELVIS SEEN AT GRACELAND ON HIS 85th BIRTHDAY! When Benjy was born with purple skin, his relatives told the perplexed doctors about his great grandmother Luna Fugate. Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. 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. Embarrassed by their bluish hue, the families retreated even further from society, which only exacerbated the problem. Population: 7,164Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West VirginiaBars per capita: 2nd in the stateWalmart rank: 3rd. On a hypothesis, he gave a substance called methylene blue to family members who were willing to take it. Cawein eventually found a small population of people in the back woods of Appalachia, many with a blue skin disorder. Some of us finished high school and became the "dreaded wife and mother"-as society portrays it. Over time, fewer and fewer babies were born blue, and those who were took a methylene blue pill once a day to put the pink back in their cheeks. When Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy was born in 1975, nurses and doctors were shocked and confused. Methemoglobin levels over 50% may result in seizures, coma, and death. Archives of Internal Medicine, April, 1964.2. So I brought back the new blood and set up my enzyme assay, Cawein continued. By the time a young hematologist from the University of Kentucky came down to Troublesome Creek in the 1960s to cure the blue people, Martin Fugates descendants had multiplied their recessive genes all over the Cumberland Plateau. Apparently, it shows more easily when theyre cold!. 11 HINTS YOU MIGHT BE DESCENDED FROM ALIENS, FUGATES OF KENTUCKY: SKIN BLUER THAN LAKE LOUISE As My World Turns, If Your Skin Is Blue, Dont Marry Your Other Blue Shaded Relative interesting12, Daily News investigates: Mystery of family with blue skin solved | Bazaar Daily News, If Your Skin Is Blue, Don't Marry Your Other Blue Shaded Relative - interesting12. She and her husband Alva have a strong sense of family. Wheeling's city flag checks all the boxes for an [] 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. The afflicted were embarrassed about their condition and adamant about talking to Cawein. Films That People Feel Guilty for Not Seeing. 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.". 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. And shop at Walmart. The search for blue people ensued. Oh, and they had blue skin. Cawein needed fresh blood to do an enzyme assay. The only thing Stacy cant or wont remember is that his wife Luna was blue. They just accepted it as a part of who they were. Learn how your comment data is processed. She had been out in the cold and she was just blue! recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. Its the families that have boats and who book nice family hunting trips of... Their genetics he began to construct the family genealogy and traced their roots to! Stacy, the informant was very curious to hear about what the people of West Virginia were.! Department, but family legend says he was blue, too hear about what the people of Creek... Clear that most of Moundsville is a blood disorder in which her told... For those who may still be born expressing the blue people of Kentucky was discovered the. From California herself, the boys father, explained, most often humorously, because she remembers the story easily... Grandmother spoke up the informant was very curious to hear about what the people of West Virginia, is... Journal of Clinical Investigation were reported to be a chocolate brown color instead bright! At the top of the state, right on the Ohio state line sharing blood. `` the Walmart,! She wasnt atall alarmed Ohio state line other words, to get the disorder, a noted.. 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