Say what you will about the 1960s, you have to admit it was a decade of weirdness. It was a time when rebellion, revolution, and poorly thought-through hairstyles were the norm. Musical tastes ranged from folk songs to atonal psychedelic screeches. Society was gripped with anti-war protests, race riots, political assassinations, and drugs.

Return with us now to those thrilling days of the late 1960s and one of the weirdest chapters in a truly weird decade: The Great Banana Peel Smoking Craze.

The Birth of the Banana Peel Smoking Craze

It all started innocently enough. In the spring of 1967, The Berkely Barb, an underground university newspaper, printed a recipe to convert banana peels into a hallucinogenic substance known as Bananadine. The process was quite detailed: freeze the peels, blend them into a pulp, bake the residue at 200 degrees, and then smoke it in a cigarette or pipe. It promised an experience akin to smoking marijuana.

The recipe immediately took the counterculture society by storm, spreading like wildfire from Los Angeles to New York. Across the country, bananas were snatched up from produce counters faster than you could say “Chiquita.”

The Detroit-based Sun gleefully reported that “thousands of turned-on hippies all over the country are rushing to their neighborhood stores and boosting the economy by snapping up all the bananas in sight!” The Chiquita Banana stickers quickly became a countercultural badge of honor, proudly worn on the forehead, arms, and anywhere else the smoker felt the need to use for advertising.

The Rise of Banana Mania

For a few heady months, druggies throughout the land proclaimed the inexpressible high that could be obtained by imbibing banana peels. Posters emblazoned with bananas cropped up at protests, and the Berkeley Barb encouraged readers to “Trip on a Banana Peel.” The East Village Other ran advertisements promoting “Banana Power” alongside images of other countercultural icons like Ken Kesey’s bus Furthur and morning glories (whose seeds actually were hallucinogenic).

The most spectacular showcase of banana mania happened on Easter Sunday, 1967, in New York City. At a Human Be-In, a gathering for the counterculture movement, at least 10,000 attendees celebrated the humble banana in a bizarre, ecstatic fashion. According to the Students for a Democratic Society’s paper New Left Notes, cameramen were drawn to the spectacle of the “Banana Deity and its parading followers.” The crowd, adorned with Chiquita emblems, recited the banana pledge (“one nation, under Banana, with liberty and justice for all”) and flashed the Banana salute, which was nothing more than a one-fingered wave that horrified mothers everywhere.

One Little Problem…

There was one little problem with all of the hype about the hallucinogenic effects of smoking banana peels: there wasn’t a grain of truth in it. The whole thing was a hoax. Those who bought into it were caught up by mass delusion. Anyone who proclaimed an extreme high either imagined it or was experiencing the effects of other dubious chemicals that were hitting the brain.

Scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles, New York University, and the National Institute of Mental Health conducted an analysis on banana fiber and the impact of banana smoking. Their findings indicated that the effects were psychological in nature, rather than pharmacological. Extensive testing by the Federal Drug Administration revealed no presence of hallucinogens in banana smoke, leading them to conclude that Bananadine (also known as “Mellow Yellow”) simply did not exist.

As with any good hoax, the Great Banana Smoking Hoax eventually unraveled. Before it came to an end, it duped some folks into rather sticky situations. The Rag reported that two people were arrested for unlawful possession of a banana peel, despite the absence of bananas (or their component parts) from the list of federally controlled substances. Donald Arthur Snell of Santa Fe Springs, California, was even charged with driving under the influence of banana peels. Absurd? Yes, but like we said, the 60s were a weird time.

All Goofy Things Come To An End… Unless Congress Gets Involved

Congress, not wanting to miss out on the fun (or the hysteria), got involved too. Frank Thompson, a Democratic Congressman from New Jersey, introduced the cheekily named “Banana and Other Odd Fruit Disclosure and Reporting Act of 1967.” In a delightfully melodramatic speech to the House of Representatives, he lamented, “Apparently, it was not enough for this generation of thrill-seekers to use illicit LSD, marijuana, and airplane glue. They have now invaded the fruit salad.” He urged the adoption of a “Banana Labeling Act” that would require a sticker on banana skins warning of their danger, much in the way that cigarettes by then were being labeled.

Thompson’s speech before the House of Representatives is well worth the read. You can read it in full here.

Although the Great Banana Peel Smoking Hoax of 1967 has faded into history, it serves as a quirky reminder of a time when the counterculture was willing to question anything and try everything, no matter how outlandish. Who knew that such a simple fruit could spark a nationwide phenomenon and become a symbol of countercultural creativity and folly?

Then again, we’re still amazed at how many people still fall for the “Go Ahead and Put Pineapple on Pizza Hoax.” Never discount the dangers of mass delusion.

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