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The Fugates, commonly known as the " Blue Fugates " [1] or the " Blue People of Kentucky ", are an ancestral family living in the hills of Kentucky starting in the 19th century, where they are known for having a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, causing the skin to appear blue.
2 sie 2024 · In the 1820s there lived a couple in Kentucky whose family would become known as the Blue Fugates. Why? Because they carried a rare genetic condition that gave several members of the family...
28 wrz 2023 · One family lived in such an isolated community inbreeding became common with horrifying consequences - their skin turned blue. Since the 1800s, one rural Kentucky family called the Fugates were...
This sounds like something out of a fairytale, or like the plot of the Smurfs cartoon. But for the members of the Fugate clan, it was all too real. Scientists say that multiple generations of inbreeding resulted in a genetic condition that caused them to be born with blue skin.
The Fugate family of Kentucky became renowned for their unique appearance – blue skin and lips. This distinctive coloration was caused by a rare genetic disorder called methemoglobinemia, which affected their blood’s ability to carry oxygen effectively.
Inbreeding was a common occurrence in the rural and isolated Appalachian region. Fugate descendants married other Fugate descendants, concentrating the “blue gene” over generations. The gene found in the Fugate family is from a line of French Huguenots, whose descendants settled in Kentucky, Ireland, and Finland.
5 sie 2023 · The Blue Fugates were a family from Eastern Kentucky, notably recognized for their blue skin, a genetic condition passed down over generations. The origin of the blue skin trait traces back to a French orphan named Martin Fugate, who settled in Eastern Kentucky in 1820.
