False claim about National Park Service imprisoning children stems from QAnon | Fact check

Isabella Fertel, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read
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The claim: Trafficked children were freed from under Mammoth Cave National Park

A May 9 Instagram post (direct link, archived link) includes a screenshot of another post with an image of a banana inside Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.

"National Parks Service is telling those who are 'read in' via a (banana emoji) that a DUMB filled with children / monkeys has been freed from the Alligators − Adrenochrome Harvesters/Human Traffickers," reads the text under the screenshot.

The claim builds on several themes from the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, referencing beliefs in lizard people, harvesting the blood of children and "DUMB," an acronym for deep underground military bases, where some QAnon adherents claim children trafficked by the “deep state” are held.

The post garnered more than 100 likes in three days. Other versions of the post are circulating on Telegram.

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Our rating: False

There’s no evidence children were trafficked and held underneath Mammoth Cave National Park, or that the National Park Service used social media to covertly signal the children’s release.

Post based on baseless QAnon conspiracy theory

The post shows a screenshot of a May 8 Instagram post from the National Park Service's official account.

“Anything but metric,” reads the caption of the original post, which shows a banana in a cave. “According to the park, Mammoth Cave is approximately 3.37 million bananas long (banana for scale) which equals to about 426 miles (686 km) of surveyed passageway.”

But the use of the banana in the Instagram post does not carry a secret sinister meaning as social media users have suggested, according to Molly Schroer, a spokesperson for Mammoth Cave National Park.

“We like to use our social media to make the public aware of how unique and special Mammoth Cave National Park is and did so creatively by using humor in this post,” Schroer said in an email. “Using a banana to illustrate the length of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world at 426 miles (686 km), is quite funny. It has been one of our most popular posts to date, and I am proud of the creativity of our team who came up with it.”

Schroer said the notion that Mammoth Cave National Park was ever used to hold children or monkeys is unfounded and “lacks credibility.”

“There are no military bases on or underneath Mammoth Cave National Park," Shroer said.

Fact check: 'Adrenochrome' keg shown in post is art, not product of Heineken and Shell

The social media posts mention adrenochrome, a chemical compound produced from adrenaline, a hormone secreted by the body's adrenal glands that initiates the fight-or-flight response.

Many QAnon followers erroneously believe powerful people in government, media and Hollywood harvest and consume adrenochrome from the blood of children. That claim is baseless and has been repeatedly debunked by USA TODAY and other outlets.

The Instagram user who shared the post did not provide any evidence for the claim.

PolitiFact also debunked this claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No evidence children trafficked, held at Mammoth Cave | Fact check