Sara & Alex McSweyn
Los Angeles, California
March 22, 2026

After the unexpected encounter with a gorilla in Tennessee when photographing Homer & Maybelle Ozark for the Banana Wall of Fame back in October of 2024, your intrepid Staff Photographer for 101Bananas.com thought that had been a once-in-a-lifetime event. [Their official portrait, and a video of the incident, is here on the Banana Wall of Fame.] As it turned out, I was wrong. Commissioned to photograph the official portrait of the McSweyns, I took a series of photos in their beautiful Los Angeles back yard, from which the above photo was chosen to reside here in honored glory. The last photo I took was in a green, leafy setting beneath some trees. Just as I snapped the photo I noticed a sudden movement up in the trees and couldn't believe my eyes. For a second I thought, did that gorilla follow me all the way here from Tennessee? This having happened before, I was ready for anything and instantly switched my camera to video mode. The gorilla, possibly having watched too many Tarzan movies, swung down from the trees, surprising the McSweyns from behind. He was either quite enamored with Sara, or thought the enormous banana would make a tasty dinner for his whole family, and Sara being in the way, snatched up both Sara and the banana and headed back up into the trees. Alex's vociferous protestations did no good, and Sara has not been seen since.
Here is the video I captured: