10 Dark Stories About Bananas

Bananas are a good source of energy, high in potassium, and perfect for a pre-workout snack. The delicious fruit is low in calories and easy to eat when you need a quick bite. Unfortunately, the popular fruit has been involved in some dark stories throughout history. Bananas have been a symbol of racism; they have been plagued by disease, and they are attached to several deaths.

The history of bananas, as Gwen Stefani would say, is B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Here are ten dark stories about bananas.

Related: Top 10 Fruits That Have Drastically Changed

10 Hangman in Calcutta

A veteran hangman in Calcutta, Nata Mullick, was responsible for hanging 25 people over a period of 65 years. These executions in India were made up of people who had committed rape, murder, and other atrocious acts. He claimed to have a passion for his career that he was practically born into. His father was a hangman and executed more than 600 men during his career. Mullick also taught the trade to his grandson, who decided to continue the family business.

Mullick said there is an art of tying a perfect noose, and a hangman must also mentally prepare for the execution. He has no problem with either of those, but he has one secret that he believes helps with the hangings—bananas. He claimed that a rope needed to be slippery for a good hanging, and he used mashed bananas and oil to lubricate the rope.^[1]

9 Cheap Fuel for Slaves

Bananas made their way to North and South America years after slaves were introduced to the area. Bananas were mainly used on plantations to help provide shade for crops that were more profitable. The bananas produced on the plantations were sometimes sold, but slave owners found another use for the crop.

Bananas are a good source of energy thanks to their natural sugars, and they are also rich in potassium. When plantation owners realized these benefits, the bananas were then used as a low-cost fuel source for slaves working in the fields.^[2]

8 Racist History

Slaves were already attached to bananas from the early days of slavery, but the banana would later become a sign of racism against Black people. The stereotypical image of monkeys and apes eating bananas was used as a means for racist insults. The banana peel was also used in sports as a way to heckle Black players. Banana peels were hurled at Black soccer players by fans during the 1970s and ’80s, but the cruel act is still happening today.

In 2014, a banana was thrown at a Black soccer player in Spain, but the player took the high road and chose to peel it and take a bite. In 2022, a banana was thrown at Brazilian players playing in Paris while celebrating a goal. Fans caught throwing bananas have been banned for life, but it’s still sad to see such acts are still happening.^[3]

7 Banana Massacre

In November 1928, workers at the United Fruit Company, now known as Chiquita, went on strike until the company agreed to provide them with dignified working conditions. The company refused to meet the workers’ demands for several weeks. The president of Colombia, Miguel Mendez, labeled the workers’ strike as communist, and he decided to side with the United Fruit Company. On December 5, Mendez sent 700 men from the Colombian Army to put an end to the strike.

Around 1,500 banana workers were gathered with their families in the town square that day while the troops were setting up machine guns on the roofs of nearby buildings. The troops gave the workers a five-minute warning to leave the area before they opened fire on the large crowd. The number of deaths from the Banana Massacre is still unknown, but the number could be as high as 2,000.^[4]

6 Pesticide Exposure

Workers at a banana plantation in Kampong Cham began fleeing to their home provinces in 2022 after being exposed to pesticides. Workers started fainting regularly and felt dizzy while working, which eventually led to mass hospitalizations. They were told by their superiors that their symptoms were a sign of laziness, but then three people died. More than 200 workers experienced symptoms, and 66 others were hospitalized after experiencing trouble breathing, nausea, blurred vision, and chest pains.

It is believed that exposure to pesticides near the onsite dormitories caused the symptoms. Workers were temporarily suspended while an investigation was conducted, but several employees left their jobs to search for new employment. Health officials blamed tainted alcohol and believed the workers were drinking wine that contained an extremely high amount of methanol.^[5]

5 They Contain Radioactive Isotopes

A small fraction of all potassium is radioactive, and bananas have high levels of potassium. This means that bananas technically contain radioactive isotopes, even though they carry only a small amount of radiation. Consuming one banana would only deliver a dose of 0.01 millirem of radiation. So, how many bananas would you need to eat for it to be harmful?

It would take about 50 bananas to reach the same radiation as a dental X-ray and about 1,000 to reach the exposure of a chest X-ray. It would take more than 50 million bananas to reach a lethal radiation dose. That is quite a lot of bananas to consume in one sitting.^[6]

4 Death from Slipping on Banana Peel

Slipping on a banana peel is a classic accident seen in cartoons or even in the popular video game Mario Kart. Is it possible to actually slip on a banana peel, though? Not only is it possible, but it can apparently cause injury and even death in some cases. There have been several cases of people slipping on banana peels on a city sidewalk, which led to broken bones and other injuries.

New York once had a problem with people throwing trash on the ground, including banana peels. In 1884, the New York Times published an article about a 75-year-old wealthy merchant who slipped on a banana peel in front of his home, and he was not expected to recover. The New York Times published another article in 1920 with the headline “Banana Peel Causes Death.” A boy fell onto the road after slipping on a banana peel, where a truck then hit him.^[7]

3 Stealing Bananas Leads to Death

Jarrell Garris was walking through a grocery store when an employee called the police on him. He was accused of eating a banana and some grapes and then leaving without paying for the fruit. The 37-year-old was approached by two officers who asked him if he had stolen the food. Garris did not respond to the officers and walked away. One officer told him that the grocery store was pressing charges and attempted to place Garris under arrest.

He resisted the arrest, which led to a struggle. Authorities then believed that he reached for one of their guns, which led to one of the police officers firing his weapon at Garris. He was shot in the neck, which caused damage to his spinal cord and cervical spine. He died about a week later after being removed from life support.^[8]

2 Panama Disease

In the 1950s, the banana industry was decimated by Panama Disease, a disease caused by a soil-inhabiting fungus. Since the disease is extremely difficult to control, it led to one of the worst botanical epidemics we may ever see. Panama Disease wiped out the Gros Michel variety of bananas, which meant a new variety would need to emerge.

In the 1960s, the Cavendish variety showed signs of resistance to the disease, and it would be the banana to save the industry. A new strain of Panama Disease, known as TR4, emerged in Asia in the 1990s and is lethal to Cavendish bananas. TR4 arrived in Colombia in 2019, which was the first appearance of this strain in the Americas. Farmers are now growing different varieties of bananas to help create a diverse farming system that will be more resilient to the disease.^[9]

1 The Banana Truck Crash

Harry Chapin released a song in 1974 called “30,000 Pounds of Bananas,” but the folk-rock song was based on an actual event. In 1965, Eugene Sesky was working on delivering a large load of bananas to Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was headed down Route 307, which contained a 2-mile (3.2-km) descent. While driving down the large hill, Sesky lost control of the semi-truck.

When he reached the bottom of the descent, the truck was moving at approximately 90 mph (144.8 km/h), where it sideswiped several cars before crashing into a home. The truck turned over, Sesky was ejected and killed, and bananas were scattered everywhere. Fifteen others were injured in the accident, but Sesky was credited with skillful driving to prevent other deaths from happening.^[10]