Posted on 04/07/2007 6:39:24 AM PDT by Kimmers
The most infamous feud in American folklore, the long-running battle between the Hatfields and McCoys, may be partly explained by a rare, inherited disease that can lead to hair-trigger rage and violent outbursts.
Dozens of McCoy descendants apparently have the disease, which causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches and too much adrenaline and other "fight or flight" stress hormones.
No one blames the whole feud on this, but doctors say it could help explain some of the clan's notorious behavior.
"This condition can certainly make anybody short-tempered, and if they are prone because of their personality, it can add fuel to the fire," said Dr. Revi Mathew, a Vanderbilt University endocrinologist treating one of the family members.
The Hatfields and McCoys have a storied and deadly history dating to Civil War times. Their generations of fighting over land, timber rights and even a pig are the subject of dozens of books, songs and countless jokes. Unfortunately for Appalachia, the feud is one of its greatest sources of fame.
Several genetic experts have known about the disease plaguing some of the McCoys for decades, but kept it secret. The Associated Press learned of it after several family members revealed their history to Vanderbilt doctors, who are trying to find more McCoy relatives to warn them of the risk.
(Excerpt) Read more at wibc.com ...
And moonshine had nothing to do with it right?
5.56mm
>> Dozens of McCoy descendants apparently have the disease, which causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches and too much adrenaline and other “fight or flight” stress hormones. <<
Yeah, well dozens of Hatfield descendents apparently have STDs, a predisposition to pedophilia and cocaine addiction.
— Some McCoy
“Dammit, Jim!”
— Leonard McCoy, MD.
No, seriously... Did Senator Hatfield have anything to do with the funding of this study?
I think we need an expensive government study of this phenomonon followed by generous subsidies to the McCoy family.
Ya think? That backyard brew always brings the best out in people-sarc-
Lem, get me another jug of that there corn squeezin’s an’ fetch me my winchester. NOW!!!!
OxyContin - Hillbilly heroin
You get down in those parts of eastern KY and you can say this about many family’s.
The brew. That is true.
FINALLY - vindication for the Hatfields -
OxyContin - Hillbilly heroin
Not necessarily so.
I live in Tn. and the drug of choice here is marijuana.
When I was a young man in our area there were fights involved every time some-one was drinking moon shine.
Then came the introduction of marijuana into the mountains. Every-one has fallen in love with each other, no more fights.
I have a darn hard time finding good moon shine now, every-one grows the weed.
I have never smoked marijuana, but I sure like the way it has calmed every-one down.
A lot of the “dirt dog meanness” that used to exist in mostly the southeastern US can be attributed to the vitamin deficiency disease pellagra—niacin deficiency—common in people whose primary staple food is corn.
A primary symptom is aggression, “blind rage”; and the deficiency disease can kill if left untreated.
Once it was widely known that a small quantity of brewer’s yeast could prevent pellagra, discovered in 1926 but not popularized for another decade. Afterwards, white children were regularly supplied with the vitamin.
No extra effort was made to provide the vitamin to black children for many more years, however.
Well, I guess that explains Jim Webb’s temperament as he appears to have McCoys in his ancestry. Wait for the “news” to come out that his ancestors owned Barruch O’Bama, the black Irish Jewish Moooslim for whom the state of Alabama is named. Alabama is a corrupted contraction of ali O’Bama.
I hear what you are saying. In W.V. and Eastern KY pot is the cash crop. But in the Cumberland area, Oxy is devasting one town after another.
In the fall months all you see is state and ATF helo’s flying looking for the harvest.
I read Webb’s book as well “Still Fighting”. This must have something to do with the clans.
Oh buy the way, do you want Peach, Cherry, Apple or straight-up? Run through 3 times maybe?
Now you know why those fish pi— you off.
I thought meth was the big problem. We have all heard stories about hyper and violent meth addicts, and they are often poor, rural people. I thought OxyContin acts more like a sedative. But I am speaking out of ignorance -- that is something I do well.
How long before Rosie and the rest of the moonbats start attributing this "disease" to the terrorists?
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