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Health

Mystery Solved: ‘Blue Faced’ Appalachian Family Caused by Rare Medical Condition

Feb. 16, 2012 5:07pm Buck Sexton

The Daily Mail has posted a bizarre story about a family near the Blue Ridge Mountains that actually turned blue.

Here are the key elements of this mystery that persisted for decades:

Backwoods Kentucky family started producing blue-colored children sometime in the 1800s
Four of seven children were blue and they intermarried with a nearby family
Intermarriage led to insular gene pool that allowed replication of rare gene

That right, some members of this family of Appalachian Mountain folks turned blue because of a rare medical condition.

The isolated eastern Kentucky family– the Fugates– can trace their roots back to a French orphan who began producing the blue children.

As described in the Mail:

”It began when Martin Fugate, a French orphan, settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky’s Troublesome Creek to claim a land grant in the early 19th century. 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.”

When you look at the portrait above, it appears to be a fake. Modern science, though, has an explanation, and it’s something of a scientific wonder.

The blue-faced condition comes from a “Genetic mutation that reduces individual’s ability to carry oxygen in blood.” The condition is called methemoglobinemia (generally referred to as met-H).

Think about the bluish veins visible in the wrist of of some people– and now extend that principle to an entire body. As a result, the blood of people with this condition is darker and more blue-hued than the color usually found running through the human body.

Thanks to this physical oddity, the Fugates became true Appalachian blue bloods.

According to the Mail, as a result of “a number of recessive recessive genes, intermarriage and inbreeding, members of the Fugate family were born with a rare condition that made them visibly discolored.”

The mystery, it appears, has been solved after all these years.

Because the rural Kentucky area in which the Fugates lived offered few opportunities to expand the gene pool, intermarriage allowed the rare met-H gene to come into contact with other carriers much more frequently.

In 1958, the Fugate family was discovered when one of the blue men, Luke Combs, took his wife to the University of Kentucky Hospital. Luke was apparently much more interesting to the doctors than his wife was.

Doctor Charles H. Behlen II said ‘Luke was just as blue as Lake Louise on a cool summer day,’ to the Tri-City Herald in 1974.

Mystery Solved: Blue Faced Appalachian Family Caused by Rare Medical Condition

Eastern Kentucky

Other than the discoloration of skin, the Met-H condition poses no health risks or issues. There is even a cure of sorts for the condition that was discovered in 1980.

When a person who has turned blue from Met-H drinks a chemical-filled solution that is also blue, the Met-H carrier’s blood turns to a ‘normal’ red hue, which then is reflected in the coloration of the skin and facial complexion.

The solution only lasts for 24 hours at a time, so to stay rosy red, a Met-H carrier has to drink one glass of blue goo a day.

Today eastern Kentucky has a vastly larger population, and the condition has for all intents and purposes disappeared.

The recessive met-H gene continues on, however, unknown to its carriers and could perhaps one day result in another blue blood family somewhere else in the world.

For more details on the history of the Fugate’s and their rare condition, the Daily Mail has more here.

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Comments (76)

Sheepdog911
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:14pm
Ah man … they should have been fom the Blue Ridge mountains.

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- oldoldtimer
  Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:34pm
  Look up Melungeons. Why is there people in East Tn that speak an unknown language? They are white and were there when the first white man arrived.
  
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randy
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:14pm
Looks like a hand tinted image to me. Maybe pigments shifted color over time just like your 1950′s photographs all turn yellow orange?

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- teamarcheson
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 8:14pm
  The people of Kentucky are big talkers, they talk until they are blue in the face.
  
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- ScreaminEagle
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 9:49pm
  Geee
  
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- Cesium
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 11:08pm
  Wow, a mutation causes blue skin in 200 years… wonder what can happen in 200,000,000 years?
  
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- ShyMan
  Posted on February 17, 2012 at 7:30am
  @cesium
  
  No one knows what would happen in 200,000,000 year.
  
  Earth is not that old. :)
  
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- aircommando
  Posted on February 17, 2012 at 2:51pm
  SHYMAN
  If its not 200,000,000 years old then how old is it?
  How about 4 1/2 billion!
  You base your assumption on faith, I prefer science.
  
  I look to the White House and wonder how long ago it was that the wookie dropped out of the trees.
  
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timber wolf
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:13pm
It was on one moonlight night
Stars shining bright
Whisper on high
Love said goodbye
Blue moon of Kentucky keep on shining
Shine on the one that’s gone and left me blue.

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- sndrman
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 7:57pm
  great great great song love it
  
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supressorgrid
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:09pm
I hear they don’t send crime scene investigators to murders in Kentucky cause everyone has the same DNA.

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- oldguy49
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:48pm
  yea but i bet they are not trying to get the students to sing……………there is no god but allah, and i bet cair has not been there either
  
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- 1casawizard
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 7:47pm
  You mighta heard wrong. Believe half of what you see, nothing what you hear.
  
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- Macman1138
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 8:42pm
  Not funny.
  
  Report this comment
chips1
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:06pm
Jackson and Sharpton just lost their minority excuse. That should clean up the welfare list.

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- Gumbercules
  Posted on February 18, 2012 at 1:28am
  Laugh Out Loud!
  
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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:06pm
.
Mystery Solved: ‘Blue Faced’ Appalachian Family Caused by holding their breath’…….

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- ToddinVB
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:18pm
  “Honey, you could talk to those Hatfield’s until you’re blue in the face… oh, wait…”
  
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Kiba
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:52pm
Im sure photography was at its best back when this picture was taken too. But when your sister is your mother and your uncle is your dad and your little brother is the best you ever had who knows huh? lol! I see one “Kentucky virgin” in the lot tho, thats a 13 yr. old girl that can out-run her 14 yr. old brother.

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MittensKittens
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:50pm
It has nothing to do with genetics, they were holding their breath waiting for the “hope and change”!

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- 1casawizard
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 7:43pm
  @MITTENS. Are you smitten with an idea that these people could hold their breath and hope for change? Please mittens, go easy.
  
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simplygilly
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:45pm
Long term inhalation or absorption of silver powder or silver compounds also causes deep blue skin coloration. I went to work for a silver powder manufacturer in the late 1960′s before such hazards were known and face masks the standard in such work environments. At the time, there were a few 30+ year employees with skin the color of the AT&T logo.

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so3
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:43pm
This is likely Argyria, a reaction to exposure to silver. Why is this such a mystery? My wife met the world famous guy who has this, he’s been on Oprah and whatnot.

Also, the ‘backwood’ moniker is pretty stupid. I have known many people you Blaze people would cal ‘backwood’ who could buy and sell you like bread. Remember, intelligence has nothing to do with sophistication.

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- 1casawizard
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:22pm
  @SO3. You might be right. It could be as a reaction to silver. I went to grade school with a girl in N.C. whose skin was pale blue. She was normal and no one made a big deal out of it. The “backwood”moniker might sound stupid to some folks, but when you grow up in the woods it does not matter. You appreciate the woods and not much to the city or DWTS. The mess in our government affects everyone now. It does not matter how far in the woods you are. This is like a circus with no shortage of clowns. We have to know who we are voting for no matter what they look like. We need new blood with our elected officials for the most part.
  
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- so3
  Posted on February 17, 2012 at 12:22pm
  1CASA… My frustration with the backwoods comment is that The Blaze aka a bunch of early twentysomethings, has yet to understand that as a journalist you must always be above reproach and must refrain from using words that can be construed as injurious or demeaning, no matter how common the word or benign the intent. I didn’t have to go to journalism school to learn this; I got out before they were able to do any serious damage, but I know from empirical data that if you can make HOW you say something immune to criticism, WHAT you are saying is taken with much more gravity. This applies to any story from a high school football game to policy and government.
  
  Best.
  
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Polarized America
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:40pm
……………………….”Blue Moon of Kentucky Keep on shinein”………………………………………

Is that song about them dropping their pants and bending over …..lmao

sorry, but i could not resist ..;-O
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- qpwillie
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:48pm
  Everything in Kentucky is blue; Blue Moon Of Kentucky, Kentucky bluegrass, Blue Kentucky Girl………..
  
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- Polarized America
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:50pm
  QP ………. I love Kentucky, I lived there back in the 70′s. The Eastern part, in the Mountains
  
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- qpwillie
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:05pm
  @Polarized America
  
  I love it too. Beautiful place and good people. I played some fun gigs in Bowling Green back in the 70s.
  
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- spirited
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 6:05pm
  Blue Ridge Mountains
  
  Where Smurfs originated.
  
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- 1casawizard
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 7:56pm
  @PolarizedMF. Is this funny to you? This ain’t the joke forum on CL.
  
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godhatesacoward
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:40pm
Smurftacular, that is just smurfy!

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Tars_Tarkas
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:38pm
Fugates loosely translated from its native Kentuckian Mountain tongue means “I can hold my breath for a really, really long time”.

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DD313
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:31pm
Is this condition really so rare? Aren’t we having a metH epidemic?

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- Guttersmack
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:39pm
  Ah ha ha. Always nice to start the comment reading with a good chuckle.
  
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Rayblue
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:30pm
Moonburn.

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JohnTwoFeathers
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:29pm
I hear they are very fugal

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skitrees
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:27pm
I’m still skeptical. The 1970s “doctors” claimed Bigfoot was roaming Canada.

Drinking too much silver solution can cause you to turn blue. Since early history, man has used silver as a remedy for various maladies. Unless I see a lot more details – I’m going to remain skeptical on this one. This sounds like a Bigfoot story to me. Roughly 90% folklore, 8% scam, 1% goofy doctor, and 1% gullible people. I’m open to further details or proof though.

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beachcomber1017
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:27pm
What kind of makeup could use?

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qpwillie
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:27pm
Am I blue?
Am I blue?
Ain’t these tears in my eyes tellin’ you?

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lukerw
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:26pm
There was a Blue Girl… on a Star Trek episode… Nice!

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smokeyridgerunner
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:26pm
Can a black man and a white woman have spotted kids?

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- Twobyfour
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 7:54pm
  Strippy-tabby, like kittehs, that would be fun. Humans are boringly monochromatic. I don’t count blotches.
  
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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:22pm
Here come the “inbred hillbilly” jokes.

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- burnteye86
  Posted on February 17, 2012 at 4:03am
  Really. I’m waiting for the banjo jokes myself. I would rather be sleeping under the pines of the “backwoods” than under the streetlamps of Wall Street.
  
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:22pm
Interesting indeed.

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Kaoscontrol
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:16pm
‘Blue’ isn’t politically correct: They prefer to be called ‘INDIGO-AMERICAN’.

or ‘Avatar-American’….’Smurf-American’?

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- lukerw
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:28pm
  Or Obama State supporter!
  
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- skitrees
  Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:29pm
  I wonder what we should call the orange horse in the picture…if the picture is offered as “proof” then I’m thinking the photo was taken on mars. ;^)
  
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DD313
Posted on February 16, 2012 at 5:14pm
So the naturally blue Fugates’ cure was fugitive in nature?

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