Heres some info on the Banana Story I get asked about this often
Theories abound as to the origin of this powerful superstition. Banana boats held the reputation for being cheaply constructed, top heavy and overpowered for speed. They needed the bananas on the market as quickly as possible to avoid spoilage.
When one of these boats wrecked and sank, a common occurrence, the bananas in the hold would float to the surface, leaving a debris field of nothing but bananas. People saw this as a bad sign and associated bananas with bad luck.
In one wreck off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1903, The Brighton ran aground; forcing the crew to dump 26,000 bunches of bananas overboard. They washed up on Atlantic City Beach and enterprising locals scooped them up and sold them on the streets.
Bananas grow in the tropical regions of Central and South America and often brought along unwanted travelers with them, mainly snakes and spiders. Sailors in these regions brought bananas aboard their ships to eat during long voyages across the sea.
Eventually, the unwanted travelers escaped from the bananas and the ship grew infested with insects, spiders or snakes, some of them poisonous. The crew associated the pests with bananas and they became bad luck. Ship captains also abetted this belief by spreading rumors of bananas being bad luck so the crew wouldn’t bring the bananas and, therefore the pests, aboard.
Fulton, Kentucky contained the major ice plant on the railroad between New Orleans and Chicago. Banana shipments by rail received 162-pound blocks of ice at Fulton, flushing out tarantulas and snakes from the bananas, inciting fear and provoking the ire of workers.
Discarded banana peels powered many pranks on old cartoons, but crew members on ships did slip on them, providing another negative banana connotation. Also, bananas ripen quicker than other fruits and give off ethylene gas during this process. This gas causes other fruits near the bananas to ripen faster as well, leading to spoiled fruit and another black mark against bananas.
In ancient Hawaiian lore, legend says men in dugout canoes went on fishing excursions lasting weeks at a time. They brought bananas with them to eat and by the time they spoiled, the fishermen arrived in productive fishing waters. The fish would start biting after the bananas spoiled. Therefore, bananas brought bad luck for fishing.
The superstition is so pervasive that anything associated with bananas such as clothing or sunscreen with the word banana in the name, banana nut bread or banana muffins carries bad luck. Some anglers and ship captains will throw any of these offending items overboard if discovered.
This line of thought even extends to a line of underwear with fruits as part of its logo. Stories circulate of underwear pulled up above the pants line by an enraged angler or ship captain, a knife pulled, and the offending label cut off after discovery of an occupant wearing this brand. Although a banana isn’t part of the company logo, the potential of these make believe fruits mixing with make believe bananas is enough to draw offense.
Now is the heart of boating season. If you see a boat with a sticker on its outboard motor cover with the picture of a banana and a red line through it, you’ll know why.
Enjoy bananas, banana nut bread, banana muffins or banana-flavored lip balm in the comfort of your home. Just don’t bring them boating or fishing.
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