Bigfoot and the Indiana Banana

Is the Rise in Paw Paw (AKA Indiana Banana) trees and Bigfoot Sightings Correlated?

For those not familiar with the Paw Paw (Asimina Adans.), it is a fruit tree native to eastern North America. Historically, this fruit was never cultivated in the way that other fruit trees have, such as the apple, pear or peach trees; however, recent interest in the paw paw’s nutritional, medicinal, and insecticidal properties has peaked farmers’ interest in this delicious and potentially marketable crop. The paw paw has been referred to with many names - the Indiana Banana, Poor Man’s Banana, papaw, Kentucky Banana – to name a few. If you were from the Midwest or any other place that the paw paw is native to, it was always a treat to come across a neighbor or a market stand that had this custard-like treat on hand. Bigfoot most likely feels the same way.

In recent years, the cultivation of the paw paw has increased. Organic farmers grow it not only for its sweet taste, but also for its insecticidal qualities. Freezing the pulp upon harvest now combats storing and shipping the fruit, which was once a hindrance. It is also relatively low maintenance once cultivated.

Bigfoot and the paw paw? Bigfoot sightings do not just occur in Oregon and Washington. The BFRO (The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) has a great list of sightings per state. Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and many other states have dozens of sightings (for a great listing check out http://www.bfro.net/gdb/#usa) Members of the Bigfoot Researchers Lunch Club believe that Bigfoot may very well have an interest in the paw paw for subsistence and that sightings in these states, as well as others where the paw paw is being grown, directly correlate to this crop. Like the numerous sightings in states with heavy apple and pear production, Washington and Oregon, the states with increasing paw paw production are seeing more and more Bigfoot sightings.
Ohio is currently the biggest producer of the paw paw. It also has had an astonishing number of Bigfoot sightings – 198 reported to the BFRO through 2007. Other states producing the fruit have had many reports of Bigfoot as well. Michigan - 85 sighting, Kentucky – 47 sightings, Indiana – 49 sightings. The states producing the paw paw and the sightings reported in these states warrant all of you field researchers in these states to explore this possibility. We of the BFRLC would love to hear your opinions, thoughts, and research regarding this issue. We invite you to share your stories with us.

Jane Goodall: (Bigfoot) I'm sure that they exist.

British primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall spent almost half-a-century studying the wild chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Her ground-breaking discoveries have contributed much of what we know about the behavior of these primates. Dr. Goodall recently accepted the Minerva Award from Maria Shriver at the Women's Conference in Long Beach, California, 27 Oct 2009

What most people may not know is Jane Goodall is on record for believing in Bigfoot. below is an audio and transcript of the Friday, September 27th, 2002, Interview. This Interview was conducted on National Public Radio's (NPR) Talk of the Nation: Science Friday with Ira Flatow, Dr. Jane Goodall made a striking comment on her strong beliefs that large "undiscovered" primates, such as the Yeti or Sasquatch, do indeed exist.



The following is a transcript of the relevant portion of the program:

Dr. Goodall: As for the other, you're talking about a yeti or bigfoot or sasquatch.

Ira Flatow: Is that what he's talking about?

Dr. Goodall: Yes, it is and ...

Ira Flatow: Is that the message I'm missing here?

Dr. Goodall: I think that's the message you're missing and ...

Ira Flatow: (To the caller) Is that right?

Caller: Pretty much.

Ira Flatow: (Laughing) I'm out of the loop. Go ahead.

Dr. Goodall: Well now, you'll be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist.

Ira Flatow: You are?

Dr. Goodall: Yeah. I've talked to so many Native Americans who all describe the same sounds, two who have seen them. I've probably got about, oh, thirty books that have come from different parts of the world, from China from, from all over the place, and there was a little tiny snippet in the newspaper just last week which says that British scientists have found what they believed to be a yeti hair and that the scientists in the Natural History Museum in London couldn't identify it as any known animal.

Ira Flatow: Wow.

Dr. Goodall: That was just a wee bit in the newspaper and, obviously, we have to hear a little bit more about that.

Ira Flatow: Well, in this age of DNA, if you find a hair there might be some cells on it.

Dr. Goodall: Well, there will be and I'm sure that's what they've examined and they don't match up. That's what my little tiny snippet says. They don't match up with DNA cells from known animals, so -- apes.

Ira Flatow: Did you always have this belief that there., that they, that they existed?

Dr. Goodall: Well, I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist. (Chuckles.)

Ira Flatow: (To the caller) Alright?

Caller: Thank you.

Ira Flatow: Thanks for calling. (To Goodall) Well, how do you go looking for them? I mean, people have been looking, right? It's not like, or has this just been, since we don't really believe they can exist, we really haven't really made a serious search.

Dr. Goodall: Well, there are people looking. There are very ardent groups in Russia, and they have published a whole lot of stuff about what they've seen. Of course, the big, the big criticism of all this is, "Where is the body?" You know, why isn't there a body? I can't answer that, and maybe they don't exist, but I want them to.

TOP 10 TUES: Why Bigfoot is Bunk

Photo of Benjamin Radford

Discovery.com has a slideshow provided by Benjamin Radford, managing editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine. The slideshow is the top 10 reasons Bigfoot is bogus.

Below I have paraphrased the top ten reasons below. You can see the the slideshow here and read in detail each of top ten reasons Benjamin Radford believes Bigfoot is bogus.

1.) The Empty Fossil Record.
2.) Forget Fossils, Where Are the Bodies?
3.) The breeding population would be tens of thousands.
4.) Most “evidence” are circumstantial eyewitness reports.
5.) Most photos are ambiguous, and even more recognizable ones can be faked.
6.) There no rigorous, documented, peer-reviewed evidence for Bigfoot.
7.) Bird researchers, rigorous observers and exhaustive note takers, have never spotted Bigfoot.
8.) Since the Panda 100 years ago, most new species discovered are microorganisms and insects.
9.) Virtually all the evidence either comes down to being inconclusive or a hoax.
10.) Without a body there is no standard to compare evidence to.

While the Bigfoot Lunch Club would not go as far as saying Bigfoot is bogus, we agree these are all valid challenges we Bigfooters face. It is important that we recognize and embrace these challenges. As steel sharpens steel, we appreciate opposition.

Thank you Mr. Radford for keeping us on our toes, while we try to keep on the heels of Bigfoot.