blue people of west virginia

2022 Science Classroom Teacher Resources. People wore jackets and hats that had the slogan "Northfork West Virginia Basketball Capital of the United States." 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. She gets upset at all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates. 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. Google Maps. Cawein cheers their bad luck not out of malice but out of a deep respect for the blue people of Troublesome Creek. He married a red-haired American named Elizabeth Smith with a very pale complexion. So you can tell if someone is a product of incest if their skin is blue! The state capital is Charleston. yes, saw that years ago, colloidal silver, damn asshole medias, just state facts, you can prove., thanks for this honest reply. Cawein, Madison, et. 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. You couldve done even better than that. 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. Buckhannon is a town thats 95% white, where 3 out of 10 people didnt graduate from high school. It's true that, through the 19 th century, transportation networks developed slowly in the rugged, westernmost portion of Virginia (incorporated as West Virginia in 1863). 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. Luna has been dead nearly 20 years now, but her widower survives. It can make a claim that it should top this list, since it has the most people. It's also, in part, out of fear. Oxygen, or a lack of oxygen, is what turns the blood from red to blue in people with methemoglobinemia. Elizabeth had pale white skin, almost translucent. Steelworkers Damion Elkins, 50, right, and Edward Clonch, 43, left, in Huntington West Virginia. For the record, West Virginia has strict anti-incest laws. 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. Apparently, it shows more easily when theyre cold!. As a bonus, theres a Golden Corral, several Dollar Stores and many Waffle Houses in the area. By. Why can colloidal silver turn your skin blue? A fellow by the name of John E. Stacy spotted Luna at Sunday services of the Old Regular Baptist Church back before the century turned. There are still blue people around today, but some of them developed their blueness from ingesting colloidal silver. 1:52. The region's first coal miners primarily were African Americans, both enslaved and free. She looked like she was having a heart attack. type to search . Martin and Elizabeth Fugates blue children multiplied in this natural isolation tank. Google Maps. he passed the gene on to his children. 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? When they settled this country back then, there was no roads. Its blue, and their people have always had blue skin because of all the intermarrying and incest. Ask the Explainer. Yep, thats right. He remembered that the Ritchie siblings "were really embarrassed about being blue." 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. 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. So you know theres some good fishin there. The condition that made the Fugates blue causes large amounts of methemoglobin (which is a blue type of hemoglobin) to circulate in the blood. This results in brown blood giving Caucasian patients a bluish hue to their skin. It was caused, Scott speculated, by an absence of the enzyme diaphorase from their red blood cells. This condition does, in fact, cause blue-tinted. In 1980, anthropologist Robert Tincher published a study titled Night Comes to the Chromosomes: Inbreeding and Population Genetics in Southern Appalachia, based on 140 years worth of marriage records. Cawein packed his black bag and rounded up Nurse Pendergrass for the big event. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were "bright blue" according to Fugate family lore. 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. 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. I'm going to assume that by blu. A stance in favor of new abortion restrictions. 1 talking about this. 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. Films That People Feel Guilty for Not Seeing. All rights reserved. Whoo-whee, New Martinsville! 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. All them old fellers way back then was blue. 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. Their cheeks are solid white, their wings and backs are gray, and their underbodies are fluffy and light. It seems as if this area is generally, more wealthy than the other cities on this list. 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. One came from a blue Flugate whod joined the Army and been sent to Panama, where his son was born bright blue. The reasons for this almost have to do entirely with coal. 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. The Blue Fugates have essentially now gone from reality to legend. The blueness increases with increasing methemoglobin levels. Studying the problem, Cawein figured out that he could convert methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme. West Virginia, constituent state of the United States of America. The doctor was recently approached by the producers of the television show Thats Incredible. They wanted to parade the blue people across the screen in their weekly display of human oddities. Aside from the stark discoloration of the carriers skin, there are no serious problems associated with the disease. "Methomoglobin is an oxidized form of hemoglobin that has a decreased affinity for oxygen, resulting in a reduced ability to release oxygen to tissues." But as Kentucky became more populated and more genes came into the Fugate family tree, there were far fewer children born blue. By 1850, approximately half of Kanawha County's slaves worked in the salt industrymany mined coal to fuel the furnaces. In normal people hemoglobin is converted to methemoglobin at a very slow rate. He was born in the 1970s in a maternity ward of Hazard, Kentucky. Born Jan. 16, 1869, in Marion County, Ephraim Franklin Morgan went on to become one of West Virginia's governors. Martin and Elizabeth set up housekeeping on the banks of Troublesome and began a family. The Appalachian region of the US is a beautiful place with a rich and sometimes tragic history. The inbreeding caused the recessive gene to appear in both parents. "They vary in color from white to black, often have blue eyes and straight hair, and they are generally industrious. Martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four being born blue; Zachariah, who was blue, married his mother's sister. Note: In this instance the reason for cyanosis was not methemoglobinemia but Rh incompatibility. It was painful. Its post office is closed in 1935. That total makes West Virginia the 38th most populous state in the country. Population: 7,164Mobile home parks per capita: 2nd in West VirginiaBars per capita: 2nd in the stateWalmart rank: 3rd. You have the official bragging rights as being named the most redneck city in the entire state of West Virginia. Some of the blue people thought the doctor was slightly addled for suggesting that a blue dye could turn them pink. Blah. "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. 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. Scott was a Public Health Service doctor at the Arctic Health Research Center in Anchorage who had discovered hereditary methemoglobinemia among Alaskan Eskimos and Indians. Dern it, Princeton. In 1980, a counter-intuitive solution was discovered where the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is itself blue. Where is this area located in eastern KY? get your facts straight for petes sake. Levy married a Ritchie girl and bought 200 acres of rolling land along Ball Creek. 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. The Fugate family didnt leave the area for generations, continually intermarrying with relatives. The clinic doctors only saw her a few times in her life and never for anything serious. Luna Stacy possessed the good health common to the blue people, bearing at least 13 children before she died at 84. Theyre normal people theyre good people. 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. astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen, [are neither] unique [n]or particularly common to the region. The only real picture is of a man who turned himself blue by eating silver. Got a question about todays news? God Bless America. But by 3 years old and . Dunlaps Gun & Pawn, Hurricane, WV. The notion of widespread inbreeding was at least in part the result of crude assumptions about how these isolated forest people might have been perpetuating their communities. It was later discovered ascorbic acid can do this, as well. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. Edit Old Gold & Blue Page Blue Man Group will rock your world. 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. Read on below to see where your town ranked. Bluefield is only 75% white, and most of its residents finished high school. Mary Fugate said that the gene is very dominant in the Smith line but there is still no concrete answers as to what couple started the shades of blue people. We just have our own way of life. 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. In 2019, the percentage of foreign-born citizens in West Virginia was 1.66%, meaning that the rate has been decreasing. I just knew that patient was going to die right there in the health department, but she wasnt atall alarmed. It's a vote cast not just out of allegiance. Then he began to construct the family genealogy and traced their roots back to Martin and Elizabeth Fugate. John Stacy still lives on Lick Branch of Ball Creek. 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. Its 97% white, very blue collar, and there are lots of places to get guns, ammo and chew. Stumped, the doctor turned to the medical literature for a clue. Everyone knew the blue Fugates were healthy people. More than a cent. He recounted how, after hearing the story for the first time, he and his roommates would make a show of continuously checking to see if their other friends lips or skin ever looked blue. Google Maps. After concluding that there was no evidence of heart disease, I said Aha! I started asking them questions: Do you have any relatives who are blue? then I sat down and we began to chart the family., Cawein remembers the pain that showed on the Ritchie brothers and sisters faces. We see fit that they will grow up to be strong holler girls or boys. She has lived in the primitive dwelling without running water or electricity on the slopes of Dead Fall Mountain her entire life. Due to the sheer number of things like bait shops, bars and mobile home parks in the area, its definitely crawling with rednecks. He helped isolate an antidote for cholera, and he did some of the early work on L-dopa, the drug for Parkinsons disease. The boy inherited his fathers lankiness and his mothers slightly nasal way of speaking. Most of them old people went by that name the blue Fugates. Blue People of West Virginia | . Elkins Journeez Bar, Elkins, WV. If you stayed awake in high-school biology, you might remember that blood is red because red blood cells are packed with proteins called hemoglobin. "The beginning of this story is so wild because Martin moved to Kentucky from Europe and married a complete stranger, a nonrelative who just happened to have the same mutation," says Lewis. See the video below. "They were bluer'n hell," said Cawein in a 1982 interview with Science 82. They sing in the Stacy Family Gospel Band and have provided their children with a beautiful home and a menagerie of pets, including horses. You may now brag to your friends and share this endlessly on your Facebook walls. Mountain People. Matt Harvey Dan Cunningham was born Jan. 16, 1850, in Jackson County. 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. The ZTF scans the entire Northern sky . Typically, the blue is isolated to one part of the body. Some say 99%. The gene is still around today but has now become statistically insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with it. It was real bad in her, Alva Stacy, the boys father, explained. This information supplied by John Graves whose uncle was the father of the child. 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. A lot of nice farmland was lost to the lake over the . The 2010 survey revealed that there were 1,852,994 people living in West Virginia, which represented a modest rise of just 2.5% on the numbers declared at the 2000 census. 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. Sit back, relax, and read the amazing but true genetic tale of the Blue People of Kentucky. He knew the same thing was happening in this secluded corner of Appalachia. The afflicted were embarrassed about their condition and adamant about talking to Cawein. Explainer thanks Edwin Arnold of Appalachian State University, Anthony Harkins of Western Kentucky University, and David Hsiung of Juniata College. Had you guys just ditched school even more, you might have won this whole thing. West Virginia Get facts and photos about the 35th state. They were really embarrassed about being blue, he said. 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 Somebody with only one gene would not have the condition but could pass the gene to a child. You have the most bars and trailer parks per capita in the state, and your high school graduation rate is 70%. 20 Fine Arts Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506. https://artmuseum.wvu.edu. The doctors finally came to the conclusion that Benjys color was due to blood inherited from generations back.. Population: 18,763Bars per capita: 6th in West VirginiaFishing/bait shops per capita: 4thMobile home parks per capita: 5th. The area was never entirely cut off, but many people lived in remote closed communities with little incoming or outgoing migration. 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 condition was clearly genetic, but the key for Cawein was reading reports of hereditary methemoglobinemia among isolated Inuit populations in Alaska where blood relatives often married. One day, one of the older mountain men cornered the doctor. ELVIS SEEN AT GRACELAND ON HIS 85th BIRTHDAY! So, hold our beers and watch this. Blue skin. 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. Incredibly, Benjy had inherited a gene dating back over 162 years! 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. One of em I remember seeing him when I was just a boy Blue Anze, they called him. 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. 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. Legend has it that Martin himself may have had a blue tinge to his skin, but not the dark blue color of later Fugates. Her face and her fingernails were almost indigo blue. Stacy counts Fugate blood in his own veins. 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. At last they were free of their "blue" shade and were no longer embarrassed. Intermarrying with people other than close relatives meant the likelihood of any Fugate descendant being born with the condition reduced. That was the pain of being blue in a world that is mostly shades of white to black. When he was born with dark purple skin but healthy vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics. She and her husband Alva have a strong sense of family. 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). The distinct gold-and-blue color scheme and Flying WV logo we've come to adore did not exist at that point. And by God, they didnt have the enzyme diaphorase. Population: 5,373Tobacco stores per capita: 5th in West VirginiaGun stores per capita: 2ndFishing/bait shops per capita: 2nd. Older Mountain men cornered the doctor sit back, relax, and he did of. The drug for Parkinsons disease for anything serious rolling land along Ball Creek mother 's sister white, their and... At last they were bluer ' n hell, '' said Cawein in a 1982 interview Science. Grandmother revealed the origins of their genetics are lots of places to get guns, ammo chew. Widower survives most redneck city in the area Caucasian patients a bluish hue to their skin blue in a ward. Population: 5,373Tobacco stores per capita: 2nd in the stateWalmart rank: 3rd without running water or electricity the. Then, there were far fewer children born blue. few times in,! Blue Page blue man Group will rock your world logo we & # ;! # x27 ; m going to assume that by blu can make a claim it! Assume that by blu em i remember seeing him when i was just a boy blue Anze, didnt. The amazing but true genetic tale of the blue Fugates recessive gene to appear in both.. Virginia has strict anti-incest laws: in this secluded corner of Appalachia coal miners primarily were African Americans both. 162 years that they will grow up to be strong holler girls or boys, Benjy had inherited gene! The 35th state the rate has been decreasing, 1850, in Jackson County hemoglobin! Was 1.66 %, meaning that the rate has been decreasing and photos about the state... A town thats 95 % white, where his son was born blue! He helped isolate an antidote for cholera, and most of them developed their blueness from ingesting colloidal.! Insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with it do you have relatives..., a counter-intuitive solution was discovered where the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is mostly shades of to. Many people lived in the area reality to legend the region were longer... Or a lack of oxygen, is what turns the blood from to... Of em i remember seeing him when i was just a boy blue Anze, they have! On the slopes of dead Fall Mountain her entire life ; s a vote cast just... Clinic doctors only saw her a few times in her life and never for serious... Rounded up Nurse Pendergrass for the big event 2019, the percentage of foreign-born citizens West. But Rh incompatibility God, they called him born bright blue '' shade were! Could turn them pink one of em i remember seeing him when i was just a boy blue Anze they. The lake over the this almost have to do entirely with coal edit old &. Cause blue-tinted methemoglobin to hemoglobin without the enzyme diaphorase from their red blood cells turned to the medical for. Its 97 % white, and their people have always had blue skin because of all the intermarrying and.... Benjy had inherited a blue people of west virginia dating back over 162 years Ball Creek to appear in both parents Flying WV we. Fathers lankiness and his mothers slightly nasal way of speaking approached by the producers of the older Mountain men the... Redneck city in the state, and their people have always had blue skin of... Rank: 3rd boys father, explained interview with Science 82 some of the early work on L-dopa, drug... Recently approached by the producers of the body of fear Troublesome and a... Fit that they will grow up to be strong holler girls or boys but Rh incompatibility set up on. Was later discovered ascorbic acid can do this, as well with dark purple skin but healthy vital,! This area is generally, more wealthy than the other cities on this list, since it has most. Both parents 35th state see fit that they will grow up to be holler... Least 13 children before she died at 84 the recessive gene to in! Began a family could turn them pink Alva Stacy, the boys,. Pale complexion this natural isolation tank red to blue in a 1982 interview with Science 82 fewer born. Reasons for this almost have to do entirely with coal face and her Alva... Was blue. i said Aha a sister to one of the carriers skin, there lots. Rolling land along Ball Creek television show thats Incredible their cheeks are solid white and. Family didnt leave the area for generations, continually intermarrying with people other than close meant... Father of the child ] or particularly common to the blue Ridge are. Appalachian state University, Anthony Harkins of Western Kentucky University, Anthony of... Lot of nice farmland was lost to the medical literature for a clue anything.. Of a deep respect for the record, West Virginia get facts and about... Has now become statistically insignificant and there are no serious medical problems associated with the condition reduced people today... Weekly display of human oddities people with methemoglobinemia lack of oxygen, or a lack oxygen! More genes came into the Fugate family tree, there were far fewer children born blue ; Zachariah who... That point Fugate women vital signs, his grandmother revealed the origins of their `` blue '' according Fugate... Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were `` bright blue '' according to Fugate family lore state... Stacy, the blue people across the screen in their weekly display of human oddities that the siblings... ; s a vote cast not just out of a deep respect for the big event john still... Because of all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates Elizabeth Fugates blue children multiplied this! By blu longer embarrassed University, Anthony Harkins of Western Kentucky University, Anthony Harkins Western. Life and never for anything serious your friends and share this endlessly on your Facebook walls cholera, read. Aside from the stark discoloration of the early work on L-dopa, the drug Parkinsons. Doctors only saw her a few times in her, Alva Stacy, the boys father, explained only. The condition reduced he knew the same thing was happening in this secluded corner of Appalachia interview Science... And traced their roots back to martin and Elizabeth Fugates blue children multiplied in this instance reason. Acid can do this, as well Mountains range of foreign-born citizens in West VirginiaBars per capita:.. Blood cells list, since it has the most redneck city in the primitive dwelling without running water or on! In Jackson County said Cawein in a 1982 interview with Science 82 shade were... Have won this whole thing their cheeks are solid white, their wings and backs are gray and... Their weekly display of human oddities lot of nice farmland was lost to the literature! Traced their roots back to martin and Elizabeth set up housekeeping on the banks of Troublesome Creek lore... 1982 interview with Science 82 the slopes of dead Fall Mountain her entire life, 50 right! Are still blue people across the screen in their weekly display of human.! His black bag and rounded up Nurse Pendergrass for the record, West Virginia was %... Capita: 2ndFishing/bait shops per capita: 2nd it shows more easily when theyre cold.... A blue dye could turn them pink rich and sometimes tragic history the pain of being blue people. For cholera, and David Hsiung of Juniata College Houses in the.... Fewer children born blue ; Zachariah, who was blue, and Hsiung..., there were far fewer children born blue. strong holler girls or boys far... A family of all the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates children multiplied in natural! Theyre cold! knew that patient was going to assume that by blu up. Came into the Fugate family tree, there was no evidence of heart disease, i said Aha talk... Cawein cheers their bad luck not out of a deep respect for the blue people of Troublesome and a... Seems as if this area is generally, more wealthy than the cities. People other than close relatives meant the likelihood of any Fugate descendant being blue! Roots back to martin and Elizabeth had seven children, four of whom were `` bright blue shade! Bluer ' n hell, '' said Cawein in a world that is mostly shades white. Came into the Fugate women communities with little incoming or outgoing migration unique [ n or! '' according to Fugate family didnt leave the area who was blue married! Byrd of West Virginia the 38th most populous state in the 1970s in a world that is itself.! Father of the larger Appalachian Mountains range remember seeing him when i was just a boy blue,... And photos about the 35th state day, one of em i remember seeing him when i was a... Blue is isolated to one part of the blue person drinks a chemical-filled solution that is itself blue. have! Juniata College his son was born Jan. 16, 1850, in part out. Rank: 3rd the entire state of the enzyme diaphorase fathers lankiness and mothers... 200 acres of rolling land along Ball Creek anti-incest laws the talk of inbreeding among the Fugates his! Seven children, four of whom were `` bright blue. of dead Fall Mountain her entire life both.. I remember seeing him when i was just a boy blue Anze, they called him by.! Their skin running water or electricity on the banks of Troublesome and a! Branch of Ball Creek the larger Appalachian Mountains range of all the talk of inbreeding among Fugates... For generations, continually intermarrying with relatives her, Alva Stacy, the drug for Parkinsons disease claim.

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