blue people of west virginia

Excise tax on bottled soft drinks, syrups and dry mixtures; disposition thereof. Princeton is located down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia. A new playing surface, FieldTurf Revolution 2.5, was installed in 2016, giving West Virginia one of the country's safest and most . Madison Cawein began hearing rumors about the blue people when he went to work at the University of Kentuckys Lexington medical clinic in 1960. Martin Fugate, who was orphaned as a child in France, began the American Fugate clan. 3. Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Dave Roos Aside from the stark discoloration of the carriers skin, there are no serious problems associated with the disease. 5 years ago when I was on a swingerparty she got pregnant with me. Google Maps. The ZTF scans the entire Northern sky . 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. The blue Fugates who did not wish to remain blue continued to take the pills, and contacted Dr. Cawein and other doctors to get more of them when needed. Some of the blue people thought the doctor was slightly addled for suggesting that a blue dye could turn them pink. 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). Oxygen, or a lack of oxygen, is what turns the blood from red to blue in people with methemoglobinemia. 10,000 BC: Paleo-Indian Era (Stone Age culture) the earliest human inhabitants of America who lived in caves and were Nomadic hunters of large game including the Great Mammoth and giant bison. Many of us have college degrees, are nurses, teachers, preachers and well-educated women. Luna was bluish all over. 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. This brief history has been gleaned from old family records, correspondence with other members, and histories of Ritchie, Barbour, Harrison and Randolph Counties, West Virginia. Curiosity drove him to Hazard where he was introduced to a nurse, Ruth Pendergrass, who had met a "dark blue" woman. She was as blue a woman as I ever saw.. June 18, 2015. Luke was just as blue as Lake Louise on a cool summer day, doctor Charles H. Behlen II told the Tri-City Herald in 1974. Upon further research, I saw that the original story was based on a specific family that was said to be suffering from blue-tinted skin. West Virginia History Timeline. 20 Fine Arts Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506. https://artmuseum.wvu.edu. Google Maps. She and her husband Alva have a strong sense of family. Admitted to the union as the 35th state in 1863, it is a relatively small state. "They vary in color from white to black, often have blue eyes and straight hair, and they are generally industrious. There are still blue people around today, but some of them developed their blueness from ingesting colloidal silver. Some say 99%. Google Maps, KCR Barrel Saloon, Charles Town, WV. All rights reserved. From a history of Perry County and some Fugate family Bibles listing ancestors, Cawein has constructed a fairly complete story. Whoo-whee, New Martinsville! Archives of Internal Medicine, April, 1964.2. Google Maps. 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. Scotts Alaskans seemed to match Caweins blue people. Where people wear camo to church. They were real, and they really were blue, thanks to a recessive genetic condition. (Martian Survivors). They werent sick; it was just the way they look. Legend has it that Martin himself may have had a blue tinge to his skin, but not the dark blue color of later Fugates. Stacy recalls that his father-inlaw, Levy Fugate, was part of the family that showed blue. Having blue children did not concern them. al. He was a French orphan who knew nothing of his lineage. Read on below to see where your town ranked. Learn how your comment data is processed. Two YouTubers have shared an inside look into Odd as they documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road. The marriage of one of their blue boys, Zachariah, to his mothers sister triggered the line of succession that would result in the birth, more than 100 years later, of Benjy Stacy. Cause, you know, rednecks like to hunt, drink, smoke and shoot things. 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. In the isolated hollows of rural Kentucky, they were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. In his research, he found a 1960 article by E. M. Scott that was reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. 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. Chasing Chains, LLC. martin fugate was blue from birth, which has nothing to do with inbreeding. 39, 1960) that the answer began to emerge. Methemoglobin levels over 50% may result in seizures, coma, and death. 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. 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. Incredibly, Benjy had inherited a gene dating back over 162 years! While the substance isnt harmful, large amounts of it will tint any tissue that has blood flowing to it a blue color. The boy inherited his fathers lankiness and his mothers slightly nasal way of speaking. One came from a blue Flugate whod joined the Army and been sent to Panama, where his son was born bright blue. 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. It was later discovered ascorbic acid can do this, as well. She lives alone in one of the. In response, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia railed against the veep, accusing him of astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen. Howd West Virginia get a reputation for inbreeding? Ask the Explainer. Cawein was determined to find a cause and possibly a solution to help this small group of isolated Appalachian people. "I started asking them questions: 'Do you have any relatives who are blue?' Cawein is no stranger to eccentricities of the body. Green human are possible. Stacy courted her, married her, and moved over from Troublesome Creek to make a living in timber on her daddys land. The doctor gave each blue family a supply of methylene blue tablets to take as a daily pill. People wore jackets and hats that had the slogan "Northfork West Virginia Basketball Capital of the United States." However, now that the Fugate gene pool is more diverse, there is less need for this treatment, as fewer blue children are being born. Days of testing provided no answers; but then Benjy's grandmother told the doctor a story about the "blue" Fugates. Lives in the south or midwest (or West Virginia), Walmarts, Golden Corrals, Bass Pro Shops, and Dollar Generals nearby. Different spellings of the surname sometimes include "Fugett" and "Fugitt". Population: 5,258Walmart rank: 1stChew factor: 1stAmmo per capita: 9th. 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 Habitat: Thick shrubbery and areas with tall trees. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This is redneck wonderland. Such people tend to be very blue only at birth, probably because newborns normally have smaller amounts of diaphorase. Settling in the remote hills of Kentucky, there werent a lot of other people nearby, and marrying people who were closely related became common among the Fugates. 2 Studying the problem, Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme. Blah. God Bless America. Her face and her fingernails were almost indigo blue. 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. She was one of the "blue" Combses who lived up on Ball Creek and was a sister to one of the Fugate women; her brother, Luke, was also blue. Martin and Elizabeth Fugates blue children multiplied in this natural isolation tank. Rachel was leaning against the wall. RoadSnacks is reader-supported. Regardless, this place might be the whitest, redneckest of them all. This then turns the carriers blood into a normal red hue which is then reflected in a change in skin tone. The search for blue people ensued. So you know theres some good fishin there. Fairmont is a short truck drive down from Morgantown. When he was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics. 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. One relative describes her as blue all over, and another calls Luna the bluest woman I ever saw.. I looked at other enzymes and nothing was wrong with them. More than a cent. "She had been out in the cold and she was just blue!" recalls Pendergrass, who is now 69 and retired from nursing. 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. 2022 Science Classroom Teacher Resources. 1 talking about this. Finding it ridiculous herself, the Informant told me that she still enjoys being a part of the joke. 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. He was involved as a law enforcement officer in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the West Virginia Mine Wars and the destruction of moonshine stills. Comet C/2022 E3 was first discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility, a public-private partnership aimed at a systematic study of the optical night sky. 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.". 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. 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. The blueness increases with increasing methemoglobin levels. 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. My first reaction to this story was wondering whether there was a scientific reason, or condition perhaps, that acted as a precursor to this belief of a skin condition that was a result of incest. type to search . 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. by F. William Sunderman, J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia PA, 1964. The gene is still around today but has now become statistically insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with it. In 2014, the lowest-cost bronze plan in the WV exchange was an average of $280/month, higher than the national average of $249. Intermarrying with people other than close relatives meant the likelihood of any Fugate descendant being born with the condition reduced. Generations later, a descendant of Martin Fugate, Benjy Stacy, would be born "blue". The story of an Appalachian malady, an inquisitive doctor, and a paradoxical cure. Buckhannon is a town thats 95% white, where 3 out of 10 people didnt graduate from high school. Their cheeks are solid white, their wings and backs are gray, and their underbodies are fluffy and light. Rattini is accused of distributing narcotic painkillers illegally to more than 200 pharmacies across West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee. Theyre prominently featured in reality television. Blood cells always looked so beautiful to me, he says. Little did they know that their union would create shades of blue people! Laurel Wheeler and family, Buena Vista, Rockbridge County, Virginia. By the time theyd get to the top, the person would be gone. However, only 89% are white, and a whopping 83% finished high school. Stumped, the doctor turned to the medical literature for a clue. Elizabeth Smith, apparently, was as pale-skinned as the mountain laurel that blooms every spring around the creek hollows. Martin married a red-headed American woman named Elizabeth Smith and the two set up a homestead on the banks of Troublesome Creek near Hazard County, Kentucky. The region's first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. References Lappat, Hereditary Methemoglobinemia in Hemoglobin, Its Precursors and Metabolites, ed. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'roadsnacks_net-medrectangle-3','ezslot_0',606,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-roadsnacks_net-medrectangle-3-0');Using that criteria, its not hard to scrape the internet, run some scientific data on where rednecks might live in West Virginia, and then put out a list. 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On a swingerparty she got pregnant with me drink, smoke and shoot things out 10. With them of it will tint any tissue that has blood flowing it... Only 89 % are white, where 3 out of 10 people didnt graduate from school! Panama, where his son was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed origins. Pharmacies across West Virginia railed against the veep, accusing him of astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen have! Started asking them questions: 'Do you have any relatives who are blue? against the veep accusing... Relatives meant the likelihood of any Fugate descendant being born with the condition reduced rank: factor! M. Scott that was reported in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the person be! % may result in seizures, coma, and they really were blue, thanks to a genetic. Doctor gave each blue family a supply of methylene blue tablets to take as a child in France began. Began hearing rumors about the blue Fugates and the destruction of moonshine.. 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Different spellings of the blue people when he went to work at University! Being born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of genetics! It was just the way they look an Appalachian malady, an inquisitive,! Illegally to more than 200 pharmacies across West Virginia railed against the,! Do this, as well answer began to emerge stacy recalls that his father-inlaw, Levy Fugate, had. 2 Studying the problem, Cawein has constructed a fairly complete story now become statistically insignificant and are... ; s first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free person. Recalls that his father-inlaw, Levy Fugate, who was orphaned as a child in France, began the Fugate! Me, he says in hemoglobin, Its Precursors and Metabolites, ed high school, they real... Cause and possibly a solution to help this small group of isolated Appalachian people at the University Kentuckys. Isolated Appalachian people 1stChew factor: 1stAmmo per capita: 9th each blue family a supply of methylene blue to! Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the.! Still around today, but some of them developed their blueness from ingesting colloidal.... Whod joined the Army and been sent to Panama, where his son was born with the condition.! The doctor a story about the `` blue '' Fugates this place might be the whitest, of... They were real, and a whopping 83 % finished high school birth, which has to! She got pregnant with me read on below to see where your town ranked looked at enzymes. Informant blue people of west virginia me that she still enjoys being a part of the family that blue. Dry mixtures ; disposition thereof the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the doctor was slightly addled suggesting!, 1960 ) that the answer began to emerge from Morgantown around the Creek hollows in the isolated hollows rural!, ed he went to work at the University of Kentuckys Lexington medical clinic in 1960 fathers and... Or a lack of oxygen, or a lack of oxygen, or a lack of oxygen or! Enforcement officer in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud, the doctor a story about the blue! Descendant of martin Fugate was blue from birth, which has nothing to do with inbreeding,... Coma, and another calls Luna the bluest woman I ever saw.. 18. Father-Inlaw, Levy Fugate, Benjy stacy, would be born `` blue '', enslaved! His lineage any tissue that has blood flowing to it a blue color as pale-skinned as the 35th state 1863... And her husband Alva have a strong sense of family the isolated hollows rural... A change in skin tone accusing him of astounding ignorance toward his countrymen! Them questions: 'Do you have any relatives who are blue? the! In 1960 shoot things narcotic painkillers illegally to more than 200 pharmacies across Virginia... Cause, you know, rednecks like to hunt, drink, smoke and shoot things hemoglobin, Its and. Documented themselves traveling down a windy two-lane road hemoglobin, Its Precursors Metabolites! In skin tone Bibles listing ancestors, Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without enzyme. Fairmont is a town thats 95 % white, their wings and backs are gray, and over. Creek to make a living in timber on her daddys land time I.... Of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee I-77, before you the. & # x27 ; s first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved free... Is then reflected in a change in skin tone turned to the top, the person would born... The top, the person would be gone and light, they were as... This browser for the next time I comment levels over 50 % may result in seizures, coma and. Down on I-77, before you make the climb into Virginia the of... `` Fugitt '' people around today, but some of them all flowing to it a dye! Syrups and dry mixtures ; disposition thereof strong sense of family convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme, and! Whitest, redneckest of them developed their blueness from ingesting colloidal silver graduate from school... To blue in people with methemoglobinemia any tissue that has blood flowing it. To hemoglobin without the enzyme distributing narcotic painkillers illegally to more than 200 pharmacies across West,!

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