10 Beyond Belief Details Surrounding The Fugate Family, Who Have Had Blue Skin From The Beginning Of Time

6 /10 Blue In The Face

It’s essential to recognize the source and potential past outbreaks of the disorder because it might link to cultural significance—namely, the Smurfs.

The Smurfs, a comic and cartoon about tiny blue people who live in a magical world, was started in 1958 by Belgian comics artist Peyo.

Since Martin was from France, it’s possible that pockets of blue-skinned people and accounts of their existence came from that region of the world and were considered weird speculative fiction for future generations to draw inspiration from.

5 /10 Blue Crew

The Fugate family remained close through generations and eventually just accepted that they were blue and there was nothing to be done about it.

That was until their case was approached by a curious genetic researcher who interviewed them about their condition to find the root cause.

Avoiding the sensitive topics of inbreeding, Madison Cawein and nurse Ruth Pendergrass were among the groundbreakers regarding the study and treatment of methemoglobinemia.

4 /10 Out Of The Blue

The Fugates remained protective of their family line and privacy through most of their life. Eventually, though, their community was opened up.

It was no longer a remote creek-side farm and orchard in the middle of the Appalachian woods.

They slowly reintegrated into the surrounding society and met new people from new families who didn’t have a chance of spreading their condition.

The symptoms lessened in future generations until the future Fugate bloodline lacked the distinct blue hue anymore.

3 /10 In A Blue Moon

Despite being such an exceptional case of genetic study, the Fugates never interacted at large with the world beyond their exclusive little family zone.

The one-time documentarians tried to approach them or photograph them; they encountered unfriendly guard dogs that chased them off.

For nearly over a century, their existence was part of local rumors rather than national news.

It wasn’t until 1982, when artist Walt Spitzmiller was commissioned to do a posthumous portrait of the family to prove their existence, that they came into more excellent light.

2 /10 Blue Skies Ahead

Dr. Cawein’s main breakthrough came with the interview of Patrick and Rachel Ritchie, siblings of the Fugates who were as blue as the local legends said.

He determined an approximate cure that significantly lessened the symptoms and returned the skin to a standard pink color through his treatment.

Average being relative for the Fugate clan, who had been “normal” all their lives amongst each other.

They were a stand-out case in that only their skin seemed affected by the disease, which had a list of harmful side effects for many others found in other parts of the world.

1 /10 Beyond The Pale

The last known case of methemoglobinemia was treated in 1975 in one Benjamin Stacy, the previous head of the Fugate bloodline.

He was born blue but grew up healthy and pink until his skin pigments normalized and all traces of the disease were gone.

There haven’t been any reports of the disease since. The strangely mixed fortune of it being kept inside of one family and the nonlethal of it let them carry it on, creating one of the most intriguing medical anomalies of modern history.