04-08-2007, 11:40 AM
Another theory is that bananas carried aboard slave ships fermented and gave off methane gas, which would be trapped below deck. Anyone in the hold, including cargoes of imprisoned humanity, would succumb to the poisoned air, and anyone trying to climb down into the hold to help them also would be a candidate for a sailcloth-and-chain sleeping bag for that final resting place on the bottom of the ocean. Giving credence to that theory may be similar tragedies in farm manure digesters that provide methane gas for powering farm heating facilities and equipment.
A possibly more plausible theory is that a species of spider with a lethal bite likes to hide in bunches of bananas. Crewmen suddenly dying of spider bites after bananas are brought aboard certainly would be considered a bad omen resulting in the cargo being tossed into the sea. It could have been more than spiders.
"Back in the old days, it wasn't unusual for spiders, scorpions and snakes to hide in banana bunches," said David Stephan, an extension specialist in the N.C. State Entomology Department. "Tarantulas, being the largest, would be the easiest to notice."
Stephan said most species of tarantulas and scorpions are not lethal but that a bite or sting will provide "a painful but not dangerous experience." He also said the snakes found could be small boa constrictors, which are tree climbers that can administer a nasty bite but not a lethal one.
One remarkable story has it that Fruit of the Loom underwear once had a banana along with the other fruits in the logo on the waistband label. An executive of the company learned of the superstition while on an offshore fishing trip. The fish were in a particularly uncooperative mood, so he stripped off his unmentionables. After that, he considered the banana ban a true taboo, and the banana was banished from the label.
This tale, however, may be more lore than fact.
"As far as I know, we've never had a banana on the logo, and I've been here for 35 years," said Teresa Sikes, a consumer services representative for Fruit of the Loom.
And just as the bananas on the Fruit of the Loom label might never have existed, the bad luck might not have, either.
"I know anglers who've eaten bananas and caught plenty of fish and have heard of anglers trolling with banana peels and catching fish on a dare," Chahoc said. "But why press your luck?
"You might peel a banana, drop the peel on the deck and then step on it. If you slip and break your neck, it will only confirm the superstition.
"The superstition has been around ever since anyone can remember, and that would certainly reinforce it for at least another century or two."
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A possibly more plausible theory is that a species of spider with a lethal bite likes to hide in bunches of bananas. Crewmen suddenly dying of spider bites after bananas are brought aboard certainly would be considered a bad omen resulting in the cargo being tossed into the sea. It could have been more than spiders.
"Back in the old days, it wasn't unusual for spiders, scorpions and snakes to hide in banana bunches," said David Stephan, an extension specialist in the N.C. State Entomology Department. "Tarantulas, being the largest, would be the easiest to notice."
Stephan said most species of tarantulas and scorpions are not lethal but that a bite or sting will provide "a painful but not dangerous experience." He also said the snakes found could be small boa constrictors, which are tree climbers that can administer a nasty bite but not a lethal one.
One remarkable story has it that Fruit of the Loom underwear once had a banana along with the other fruits in the logo on the waistband label. An executive of the company learned of the superstition while on an offshore fishing trip. The fish were in a particularly uncooperative mood, so he stripped off his unmentionables. After that, he considered the banana ban a true taboo, and the banana was banished from the label.
This tale, however, may be more lore than fact.
"As far as I know, we've never had a banana on the logo, and I've been here for 35 years," said Teresa Sikes, a consumer services representative for Fruit of the Loom.
And just as the bananas on the Fruit of the Loom label might never have existed, the bad luck might not have, either.
"I know anglers who've eaten bananas and caught plenty of fish and have heard of anglers trolling with banana peels and catching fish on a dare," Chahoc said. "But why press your luck?
"You might peel a banana, drop the peel on the deck and then step on it. If you slip and break your neck, it will only confirm the superstition.
"The superstition has been around ever since anyone can remember, and that would certainly reinforce it for at least another century or two."
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