The True Story of Kentucky’s Blue People Is One of the State’s Most Incredible Tales

In the early 19th century, a man named Martin Fugate, a French orphan, settled in eastern Kentucky and married a woman named Elizabeth Smith. Unbeknownst to either of them, they carried a recessive gene for the rare and possibly fatal but treatable condition known as methemoglobinemia, a rare condition that turns the skin blue and the lips purple. Left untreated, it can become life-threatening because it prevents the blood from carrying oxygen.

The Blue People of Kentucky

Four of the nine Fugate children developed methemoglobinemia and had blue skin; the daughter Luna, considered the "bluest" of the four, went on to live a long and healthy life. She had 13 kids and passed away at the age of 77.

Methylene Blue

The Fugates' descendants continued to live in the same region of Appalachia well into the 20th century. Despite this condition, exacerbated by years of intermarriage, many of the family members lived into their 80s and 90s, and that longevity was likely helped along when, in the 1960s, a University of Kentucky hematologist discovered that the Fugate family was lacking an enzyme called diaphorase 1. After that breakthrough, it was simply a matter of administering methylene blue, a dye that converts methemoglobin into normal hemoglobin.

Benjamin Stacy - The Last of the 'Blue Fugates'

Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy, born in 1975, is widely regarded as the last known descendant of Kentucky's famous Fugate family to be born with the characteristic blue skin caused by hereditary methemoglobinemia. His blue coloring faded within weeks of his birth, although reports indicate his lips and fingertips could still take on a bluish tint when he became cold or upset.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, acquired methemoglobinemia (MetHB) is more common than congenital MetHB and is treated regularly by medical institutions.