There’s a reason you don’t marry within your family. Beyond the absolute gross factor, there’s also a whole host health risks your children can inherit, including increased chances of genetic diseases and physical deformity. The Fugate family of Kentucky found out that one of these risks was blue offspring. Yes, that’s children whose skin is literally blue.
It all started in the 1800s when Frenchman Martin Fugate staked a claim for land in the West. When he got to Troublesome Creek, in now Western Kentucky, he married a very pale, red-headed American girl named Elizabeth Smith and settled into a stable life. However, they each carried a rare genetic mutation that would lead to some surprising births. Some of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so on were born with blue skin.
So what is it that causes a person to turn blue? The mutation, called methaemoglobinaemia (met-H), is a blood disorder where the body produces excess methemoglobin, a type of hemoglobin. Because of the high amounts in the body, blood is unable to release oxygen into the body so their blood stays incredibly dark, thus turning the person’s skin blue. It’s a rare, recessive gene which a person must inherit from both parents in order to get the blue coloring.
So why was it popping up so often in the Fugate family? Because they lived in such a remote area, pickings were slim when it came to dating. They began intermarrying with a neighboring family over several generations, so the mutant gene became more prevalent in the community, creating more opportunities for the mutation to pop up. Fortunately, other than having blue skin, those with the mutation don’t have anything else medically wrong with them.
When the dating scene expanded for the Fugate family in the mid 20th century, their gene pool widened and met-H stopped popping up as much. The gene still exists, but the chances of getting it are quite rare. That being said, one of the Fugate’s descendants was born in 1975 with blue skin. He grew out of it as he got older, but apparently his lips and fingernails would still go blue when he got cold or angry as a baby.
The lesson here: Don’t marry your kin.
