Fred Walters - 19th century Na'vi and the mystery of blue skin (5 photos)

Even today, skin color is often a hot topic for controversy, discussion and even conflict.





But if it is still not so difficult for a large ethnic group to defend their rights, then what about those who are few? Or if such a person is generally, so to speak, a one-off specimen?



Manifestation of methemoglobinemia

The most famous representatives of the blue people were the Fugates family from Kentucky. The founder of the clan was Martin Fugates, who settled on the banks of Troublesome Creek near Hazard sometime after 1800. It is believed that his wife, Mary, carried the gene for a very rare disease known as hereditary methemoglobinemia.

Methemoglobinemia is a disease in which the blood carries less oxygen. Because of this, the skin of Caucasians takes on a bluish tint due to a lack of oxygen. It is usually a recessive disease. But when the Fugates' adult children began to marry, their children retained this recessive gene.





Argyria is an extremely rare disease caused by eating silver, silver dust or silver compounds. The most striking manifestation of argyria is a blue or bluish-gray color of the skin.



The most famous person with argyria was Captain Fred Walters. Walters was born in England in 1855 and was a captain in the British Army until motor ataxia, a degenerative nervous system disease, forced him to retire.

Treatment for this disease included ingesting silver, which literally turned Captain Walters blue. In 1891, the retiree went to the States to perform in shows and earn a living by demonstrating his unusual feature.



Over time, Walters allegedly increased his consumption of silver in an attempt to make himself as blue as possible. He succeeded for a while, and his deep blue pigmentation brought the man even more fame and money.

However, his heart eventually weakened from constant poisoning, and Fred died on August 20, 1923. He left behind a wife and a young daughter, and his autopsy in Brooklyn remains perhaps the most dramatic case of silver poisoning in history.