Most of them old people went by that name the blue Fugates. Google Maps. 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. 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. Cause, you know, rednecks like to hunt, drink, smoke and shoot things. 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. In his research, he found a 1960 article by E. M. Scott that was reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The bluest Fugates I ever saw was Luna and her kin, says Carrie Lee Kilburn, a nurse who works at the rural medical center called Homeplace Clinic. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. 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 was later discovered ascorbic acid can do this, as well. Normally diaphorase converts methemoglobin back to hemoglobin. Appearance: Blue grosbeaks are medium birds about 8 long, large, bright blue, with large silver bills, and chestnut wingbars. Set in West Virginia, it features cannibalistic mountain men, horribly disfigured from generations of incest. The famous painting of the blue Fugates is not based on an actual family photograph, but was a composite illustration created by artist Walt Spitzmiller for a 1982 magazine article. 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. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. Ballengee testified in earlier civil depositions. 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. 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. When Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy was born in 1975, nurses and doctors were shocked and confused. The gold of the helmet did not reflect the gold utilized in our colors today. The Fugate family of Kentucky once lived in the isolated community of Troublesome Creek. But his first love, which he developed as an Army medical technician in World War II, was hematology. Other people in the region knew the family well, and most were related to them, so seeing blue people and marrying them did not seem unusual to the locals. Their inbreeding led to several medical problems and recessive genes being passed down through each child, such as one that gave some of the offspring blue skin. Rachel was leaning against the wall. 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. His car gave out on the dirt road to Zachs house, and the doctor had to borrow a Jeep from a filling station. 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. Oh, and they had blue skin. Their cheeks are solid white, their wings and backs are gray, and their underbodies are fluffy and light. Elkins is way out in the middle of nowhere south of Morgantown, at the base of the Appalachians. 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. Fortunately, Cawein was able to find an antidote for the blood disorder - methylene blue which acted as an electron donor. Stereotypes about West Virginian breeding practices have long been linked to the states poverty. 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 . She gets upset at all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates. The Wilson Family of West Virginia. The inbreeding caused the recessive gene to appear in both parents. The man who discovered the cure for methemoglobinemia was Madison Cawein III, a hematologist (blood doctor) at the University of Kentucky who heard tales of the "blue people" and went looking for specimens in the 1960s. She shuns modern conveniences. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of West Virginia. A nearby family who the early Fugates married into quite extensively also carried the gene. The area was never entirely cut off, but many people lived in remote closed communities with little incoming or outgoing migration. Book is out of print, borrowed from Special Collections at the St. Louis County Library, St. Louis, MO. The Derby Bar & Grill, Fairmount, WV. Between 1880 and 1920, southern West Virginia's population grew from 93,000 to 446,000, due almost entirely to the coal industry. He injected the Ritchie siblings with 100 milligrams of the blue dye and didn't have to wait long to see results. Laughing, the Informant launched into a story of the "West Virginia Blue People", a story about a genetic condition the resulted from intermarriage. Inbreeding in eastern Kentucky has been turning offspring blue since the early 1880s. 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. Population: 18,763Bars per capita: 6th in West VirginiaFishing/bait shops per capita: 4thMobile home parks per capita: 5th. The methylene blue he used on them is a dye a blue dye, ironically. It's a vote cast not just out of allegiance. Sometimes they married first cousins. Habitat: Thick shrubbery and areas with tall trees. But by 3 years old and . Population: 6,427High school graduation rate: 70%Bars per capita: 1st in WVMobile home parks per capita: 1st. Read on below to see where your town ranked. More than a cent. The first known ancestor was David Wilson, who was born in Scotland about 1650; he had a son David, born about . Where people have deer horns on their hoods. This genetic defect comes from a rare recessive gene, so most people arent affected by it unless they happen to reproduce with another person who carries it. 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. You could tell how much it bothered them to be blue.. "For the first time in their lives, they were pink. Luna Stacy possessed the good health common to the blue people, bearing at least 13 children before she died at 84. By. While in the hills, Cawein drove over to see Zach (Big Man) Fugate, the 76-year-old patriarch of the clan on Troublesome Creek. As a result, their blood is darker than the color typically found running through peoples veins. 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. Her lips were as dark as a bruise. 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. "She had been out in the cold and she was just blue!" recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. The only real picture is of a man who turned himself blue by eating silver. Lives in the south or midwest (or West Virginia), Walmarts, Golden Corrals, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby. 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. Different spellings of the surname sometimes include "Fugett" and "Fugitt". Art Museum of West Virginia University, McGee Gallery View map. Some of the blue people thought the doctor was slightly addled for suggesting that a blue dye could turn them pink. Houses belonging to people that lived in the valley were mostly torn down. 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. "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. He tested first for abnormal hemoglobin, but the results were negative. Population: 10,486Mobile home parks in area: 3rd in WVBars per capita: 3rdGun stores per capita: 5th in West Virginia. In alphabetical order, these counties are: Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Braxton, Brooke, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mineral, Mingo, Monongalia, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Eventually, the recessive gene began to disappear once coal mining and the railroad opened the community to outsiders. Some sites say 100%. Its a part of our culture. The drugs effects are temporary, as methylene blue is normally excreted in the urine. Google Maps. One day, one of the older mountain men cornered the doctor. You couldve done even better than that. 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. 7000 BC: Archaic Period in which people built basic shelters and made stone weapons and stone tools Typically, the blue is isolated to one part of the body. Patrick and Rachel Ritchie, who lived in Hardburly, were also blue. then I sat down and we began to chart the family." The doctors finally came to the conclusion that Benjys color was due to blood inherited from generations back.. Called methaemoglobinaemia (commonly known as met-H), the condition reduces the individuals ability to carry oxygen in their blood. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. All rights reserved. What Happened to the Blue People? Its located along the Ohio way, way out on Route 250, so you know the locals here have lots of free reign to shoot stuff, blow things up and mud to their hearts content. Films That People Feel Guilty for Not Seeing. She remembers the story very easily, most often humorously, because she remembers the manner in which her brother told her. And shop at Walmart. It was caused, Scott speculated, by an absence of the enzyme diaphorase from their red blood cells. 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. "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. 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. By the time theyd get to the top, the person would be gone. The only thing Stacy cant or wont remember is that his wife Luna was blue. 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. T he West Virginia senator Joe Manchin has emerged as one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the passing of Joe Biden's ambitious domestic agenda, declaring he will vote against a key voting. I can see that old blue running out of my skin, he confided. Which means lots of weekend warriors probably live here; its the families that have boats and who book nice family hunting trips. They just accepted it as a part of who they were. Informant: "So, what my brother told me is that there's a story that there are people in the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, near the campus I guess, and there is skin is blue. 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. Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. Incredibly, Benjy had inherited a gene dating back over 162 years! They are known for being carriers of a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, causing the skin to appear blue. Its 97% white, very blue collar, and there are lots of places to get guns, ammo and chew. 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. Zach took the doctor even farther up Copperhead Hollow to see his Aunt Bessie Fugate, who was blue. Cawein needed fresh blood to do an enzyme assay. She and her husband Alva have a strong sense of family. 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 It reduced the brightness of the blue on their skin. Had you guys just ditched school even more, you might have won this whole thing. The search for blue people ensued. June 18, 2015. There are even video games about rednecks. (Baltimore: Gateway Press 1986). 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 . 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. 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. Little did they know that their union would create shades of blue people! 15,898 100 A Cinephile's Guide to Biographical Films. 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. 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