Guinness World Records?Clover collection can bring good luck to former Nixa police chief

Springfield, Missouri (KY3)-Former Nixa Police Chief, who has nothing to do with law enforcement, will collect the clovers he picked up as a hobby during the pandemic and enter the Guinness World Records book.

Yeah, he knows it sounds weird.

“Up until now, it was a family secret,” said James Bacon. “I always get text messages called geeks. They make fun of me, but that’s okay. What I was looking for wasn’t a hobby.”

And at the Library Center in South Springfield on Friday, Bacon set up the video equipment and paperwork for the Guinness World Records certification he was trying to set up to collect the most six-leaf clovers. I collected one more step.

It all started two years ago when Bacon, who now lives in Ozark, was walking his dog.

“During the pandemic, I was trying to get away from people, so I went to a new, less crowded place,” he said.

On trips to various trails such as the Ozark Community Center and Finley River Park, one 9-leaf clover, a pair of 8-leaf clovers, 11 7-leaf clovers, 402 Five leaf clovers were found. Total of leaves.

And those four-leaf clovers that are supposed to bring you good luck?

There are 3,483 bacon pieces.

“Everyone keeps telling me to win the lottery, but I suspect I’ve run out of all my luck with the clover,” he said with a laugh. “I can tell you the exact day I started. On April 4, 2020, I found a four-leaf clover and told my son that it would be a lucky day. One day, I went around the blocks. When I came back with eight people, my wife told me that I only went for 15 minutes, so what started out as a novelty turned into obsession, and now when we go out for a walk, I always Looking down. When I get home, I wear a hat and my wife shakes her head and says, “You’re crazy!”

Bacon admits that it has eagle eyes when finding multi-leaf clovers from long distances. This is due to his 29 years of law enforcement experience, where he frequently handled fingerprints.

“Fingerprints have a repeating pattern,” he explained. “So you’re always looking for something unique to focus on. So (when it comes to clover spotting), uniqueness to me is a mass that means leaf volume. When scanning the ground I’m looking for a lump. My wife is frustrated because I can literally get off the truck and find something she can’t see. Just knowing what you’re looking for, where If you go, you can still find multi-leaf clovers 6 to 8 feet away. “

Given that the probability of finding a four-leaf clover is 1 in 10,000 and the probability of finding a five-leaf clover is 1 in 100,000, the probability of finding a six-leaf clover is even higher.

As a result, the world record for collecting six-leaf clovers is only 27 held by Hungarian men.

But that total is changing.

Bacon formed a team of two botanists and recorded a video of his role as a witness as KY3’s own Ashley Reynolds was not directly there for a Guinness representative for the verification process at the Library Center. did.

Botanists carefully examined each clover to make sure they were the correct species (white clover), and all three witnesses confirmed that each clover had six leaflets.

“What you should look for is whether it is hairless,” explained botanist Justin Thomas. “White clovers are those that stick out between the mowing areas of the lawn in the garden. These are all the leaves at the base. There are no leaves on the stems. Like the purple clovers, the clovers we often see. Other species have stem leaves and hair. “

Bacon brought in 48 6-leaf clovers.

After all, 43 of them are verified, which is a new record that erases 27 old marks.

However, the records are not official until Bacon sends the results to Guinness for certification. This should take a month or two.

“It’s a lot of paperwork,” Bacon pointed out. “In addition, the entire process had to be recorded on video, and all individual specimens had to be photographed and sent to Guinness for proof.”

Bacon says he has no plans for a special celebration when he informs him that Guinness has an official record.

But he plans to reward his loyal companions who are responsible for enabling the record.

Draco, his German Shepherd dog, keeps him walking down those paths.

“If I hadn’t walked him, I wouldn’t have found the first one,” Bacon said. “He became very patient. When I said,” Wait a minute, “he learned to stop and sit while I picked up the clover and put on my hat. I might get him a delicious steak or something that can chew something. “

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