Blue People? It happened in Kentucky

If you are a history buff, or even if you aren’t, you might find the story of the Blue People of Kentucky interesting. It is a true story of the Fugate family and their unusual condition which made their skin turn blue. Because of this affliction they lived in isolation in the mountains of Kentucky for years. This article gives the reader a brief look into their lives.

The history of the Blue People gained main stream attention in 1975 when Benjamin (Bengy) Stacy was born with dark blue skin. After performing a battery of tests his blue skin remained a mystery until his grandmother spoke up asking the doctors if they had heard of the Blue Fugates of Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. Benjamin was the great, great, great, great grandson of Martin Fugate, a French orphan who came to Kentucky in 1810 to stake a claim in Kentucky, bringing with him the rare gene responsible for blue skin.

According to lore his skin had a peculiar blue tint. He married Margaret Smart, a fair skinned, redheaded girl from the area. They had seven children, four of which were blue. They were not related, but in a rare occurrence both of them carried the gene that was responsible for their blue skinned offspring.

Because they were embarrassed and ashamed of their unusual complexion the Fugates kept to themselves, rarely venturing into town where they were feared or even mistreated by some of the townsfolks. While most of their neighbors in their mountainous area accepted them, it was difficult for them to socialize with persons outside their neighborhood. Another factor was the lack of roads and railroads making it difficult to travel to surrounding towns and marry outside their location.

Due to the isolation of the mountain people, inbreeding was not uncommon. Their unique skin color and isolated location caused the Fugates and their offspring to live in an extremely tight community. It was a perfect incubator for the blue skin gene to thrive.

For decades the Blue people remained in isolation and passed along the family gene. Even though inbreeding can result in a number of birth defects, the Blue people were healthy and many lived into their 70s 80s and 90s. One example was Luna Stacy who was born in 1887 and was descried as the "bluest of the Blues.” She bore 13 children and passed away in 1964 at the age of 77.

Coal mining brought better means of transportation to the mountains. Better roads and the coming of railroads gave the mountain people better access to the outside world. Persons with the Blue gene were traveling outside their region and marrying people without the gene. However, many of the Blues did not leave their homes so the blue gene continued to be passed along within the families for more generations until a cure was found by a Dr. Maidson, an expert in hematology at the University of Kentucky Hospital. He discovered the gene caused too many red blood cells in the blood, which in turn prevented the blood from caring enough oxygen. This lack of oxygen caused the blood to turn a chocolate brown and the skin blue.

The cure was simply a dose of blue methylene dye and within minutes the skin turned pink. It wasn’t a onetime cure, but taking a pill a day kept the blue away. Armed with a cure and with the improvement in transportation more and more of the Blues traveled further into the outside world where they met and married persons who did not carry the gene.

To produce a blue offspring both parents have to carry the gene. Today, the Blues are pretty much a part of history as it would be extremely rare for a person with the gene to meet and marry someone who also carried the gene.

The last known information about Mr. Stacy said he was now married and living in Fairbanks. Alaska, where he was working as a water plant supervisor at the University of Alaska. It was also stated that he had earned a Wild Life Management degree from the University of Eastern Kentucky. His blue skin tuned pink soon after his birth.

Stories about the Blue People of Kentucky are a part of history that is often overlooked. If we are to have an accurate history of America. It is important to include information about the lesser-known people who were very much a part of it.

Readers can find more information about the Blue People on the internet and in books that have been written about them. They were brought to my attention in a historical novel, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson. She also wrote The Book Woman’s Daughter. She was born in Kentucky and her knowledge of the area plus her extensive research of the subjects make the places and events in her books much more fact than fiction. The Winfield library carries both of the above books.