The Story of Mermaids: Are They Real After All?

From beautiful maidens saving drowning sailors to half-human monsters luring innocent men to their deaths, mermaids have been a staple of fiction and folklore since man has been telling stories. Freshwater, sea-water, ex-South African president Zuma’s swimming pool – yeah, that apparently happened – if there’s a body of water, there’s probably a mermaid living there.

Stories of mermaids are as varied as the cultures who tell them. They can be beautiful maidens warning soldiers of impending storms or they can be an omen of bad luck – if you see a mermaid at sea, expect a death on board. Of course, a mermaid who is angered can cause a storm, so it’s better not to cross them. In other tales, they are horrifying beasts, they can grant immortality, or make wishes come true.

With their volatile and unpredictable nature, mermaids are often considered a symbol of the wild and untamable ocean itself. Their likeness was carved into figureheads of ships as a means of protection and mapmakers often used mermaids to indicate dangerous or uncharted waters – here be mermaids and monsters.

When I started researching this script, I expected to mostly tell the story of mermaids. What are they, where do they come from, what do they mean – you know, more mythology than fact, because everybody knows that mermaids aren’t real, right? Imagine my surprise when I learned that, not only are there thousands of people who believe mermaids are very real, some folks even believe that they are direct descendants of mermaids or actual mermaids themselves. So this begs the question – why this firm belief in the existence of mermaids?

Is there a grain of truth hidden somewhere in all the tales?

Origins

Being a writer, I like to start at the beginning. Where did the legend of mermaids originate? Mostly, it seems that mermaids don’t have a clear start – they’re a bit like a force of nature, they simply are. However, I did find two tales that might shed some light on where mermaids came from – in mythology at least.

The thing with sirens

Let’s start with sirens. If you think that a siren and a mermaid is the same thing, you’re not entirely wrong. It’s generally accepted that tales of mermaids evolved from the original tales of sirens and, in a lot of the early literature, siren and mermaid are used interchangeably.

However, sirens were not, in fact, mermaids. Sirens were half-woman, half-bird creatures who lured men to their doom with their captivating singing.

The sirens were the handmaidens of Persephone. After Persephone was abducted and taken into the underworld by Hades, Demeter gave them the bodies of birds to help in the search for her daughter. In this form, they were considered dangerous and deceitful sea nymphs and appear in Greek mythology a few times.

In the tale of Jason and the Argonauts, they are distracted by the song of Orpheus. Later, when Odysseus swings by in the Odyssey, he survived their temptation by ordering his men to tie him to the mast and plug their ears with wax.

It’s not clear when exactly sirens became half-fish, but it would make sense that later storytellers thought a dangerous sea nymph is more likely to be half-fish than half-bird. For a long time, a mermaid and a siren were considered to be the same thing but, in modern times, the words have diverged in meaning yet again.

Today, mermaids can be either friend or foe, but, mostly, they are depicted as the good girls of the sea, helping sailors on their voyages, rescuing drowning victims, and falling in love with handsome heroes. Sirens, on the other hand, are considered to be dangerous and sometimes malicious. Perhaps they are more an embodiment of the sea – wild and unpredictable, like the mermaids of old.

Atargatis – The first mermaid

Considering that sirens were technically birds at the time, Atargatis is mostly accepted to be the first actual mermaid. She was a Syrian goddess of water, the moon, and fertility since gods have to be able to multi-task. There are multiple legends and stories about her, but one thing is fairly consistent – she had a thing for water.

Atargatis was born from Heaven’s egg that fell into the Euphrates River. A school of fish found the egg and nudged it to shore. Later in her life, she went to Zeus and asked him to place a symbol of a fish among the stars; her way of thanking her saviours. This is how the constellation of Pisces came about.

There is more than one legend to explain how she became a mermaid. The story goes that she fell in love with a mortal man and bore him a daughter, Semiramis, who would later become the queen of Syria. In some versions of the tale, Aphrodite was offended or perhaps a bit jealous of Atargatis’s beauty and it was she that created this fierce passion for the mortal man in the first place. Now, from here, there are two stories.

The first story states that Atargatis accidentally killed her human lover and, in her sorrow, threw herself into a lake. A different tale claims that she was deeply ashamed by her sinful act of having a baby by a mortal man, though this has never seemed to bother Zeus so I reckon she would’ve been just fine, and, in her shame, she killed her lover, left the baby to the elements (the baby was saved by doves), and threw herself into lake. Either way, into the lake she went. However, because of her immense beauty, the other gods were unwilling to let her die so; instead, she was transformed into a woman with the tail of a fish – today known as a mermaid.

Atargatis was a powerful water goddess and a fierce protector of her people – two qualities still associated with mermaids even today.

Memorable mermaids in mythology

Mythological mermaids could make up an entire script all by itself. Some sources group all manner of water nymphs, deities, and shape shifters, from the Scottish selkie to the Slavic russalka, as mermaids but, for this script, I’m going to focus on our current idea of a mermaid – half-human, half-fish.

I’m not even going to try and cover all of them, there are simply too many, so instead I decided to look at a few memorable and interesting mermaids that may not have a Disney movie made about them, yet.

Melusine – The Starbucks logo

Not all mermaids live in the ocean. Melusine, the two-tailed mermaid best known for her appearance on the Starbucks logo, is, in fact, a fresh water mermaid. She is best known in Europe, especially around Northern and Western France, Luxemburg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The story goes that the king met a beautiful woman in the woods and begged her to marry him. She agreed as long as he promised never to check in on her while she bathed. Apparently the requirements for marriage were a tad bit more lenient back then. Some stories say she had the lower body of a serpent when she bathed, which would explain the need for secrecy. One day, the king broke his promise and, presumably, got the surprise of his life. The fairy then fled to Avalon with her daughters.

Melusine, the eldest daughter, finds her father once she’s all grown up and imprisons him in a mountain as punishment for breaking his promise to her mother. However, when her mother learns what she had done, she curses Melusine to become a fish from the waist down every Saturday, which frees up Monday to Friday for running errands – very considerate of her mother.

Thessalonike – The sister of Alexander the Great

When Thessalonike died in 295 BC, she was transformed into a mermaid and lived in the Aegean Sea. Whenever she came across a ship, she would ask if her brother was still alive. If the sailors answered with “he lives and reigns and conquers the world” she’d let them be, but any other response would anger her and she would create a storm condemning the ship and all aboard.

Mami Wata – An African mermaid tale

An African legend, Mami Wata means “mother of the waters”. The spirit can be found in various religions across the continent, so it can appear as either male or female. She is depicted as a mermaid, a snake charmer, or a combination of the two. In some tales, she can take human form, but she’s never truly human. Mami Wata is considered a benevolent deity and is worshipped for beauty, healing, wisdom as well as protection against natural disasters.

While Mami Wata has her roots in Africa, because of the slave trade, the legend spread across the Atlantic and different versions of the tale can be found in most of the Americas as well.

Ningyo – The Japanese Mermaid

The Japanese mermaid, called a ningyo, has a very long history and is a far cry from the beautiful maiden in western tales. Once Japan opened to trade with the west, the mermaids in some tales began to take a more western shape – a beautiful maiden with a fish tail. However, the traditional ningyo is more beast than beauty.

It’s often described as a cross between a fish and monkey. The head is mostly humanoid, ape-like, or even reptilian and attached to the body of a fish. In pictures, it’s often depicted as a fish with the head of a woman; however, the head is usually malformed in some way – she might have horns, prominent fangs, or rows of pointed teeth, reminiscent of a shark.

Eating the flesh of a ningyo will give you eternal life, but ningyo are powerful creatures and perfectly capable of cursing whoever catches them. In ancient tales, whole villages were wiped out by tsunamis or earthquakes after a fisherman brought home a ningyo.

The Jiāorén of China

This Chinese mermaid is very similar to the Western idea of the beautiful maiden with a fish tail. But she is not only beautiful, she is also a talented craftswoman. These mermaids are known for weaving a cloth called Dragon yarn, a cloth that is as white as snow and can’t get wet, even when it’s soaked – this must come in real handy under water. They often sell their merchandise at markets, disguised to look like normal markets to entice mortals to trade.

Their tears also have magical properties. When they cry, their tears turn into pearls.

Unlike many of our western tales, Chinese mermaids are cast more often as a tragic figure, lonely, willing to make any sacrifice for love but, sadly, they seldom have a happy ending.

Suvannamaccha – a mermaid princess of Southeast Asia

The story goes that Hanuman, the hero in the Ramayana, and Indian poem, was tasked to build a bridge of stone across the sea. However, Suvannamaccha were instructed to disrupt his plans and prevent him from building his bridge. Upon meeting him, the two fell in love and, instead, she helped him to complete his bridge. She is now considered to be a harbinger of good luck.

There are more tales of mermaids and mermaid-like creatures all over the world, but you’re not here for a lesson in mythology. You’re here to decode a mystery. So let’s get to it. Could mermaids actually be real?

Mermaids in the evolutionary chain

Unlike some conspiracy theorists, mermaid supporters actually have some science on their side. In fact, there are two theories that are both considered to support the possibility of mermaids actually existing: the aquatic ape theory and the possibility of convergent evolution.

The aquatic ape theory

The Aquatic Ape Theory is one of those theories that drive scientists a little wild. Orthodox scientists consider it pseudo-science while supporters of the theory feel that their research is being overlooked and pushed out of the realm of science by scientists unwilling to consider radical ideas. Either way, it has caused a division in the scientific community that would’ve made Darwin proud.

According to the aquatic ape theory, human evolution had an aquatic phase, around 3.5 to 9 million years ago. Since bones would not be well preserved in water, it would explain the fossil gap – humans died in the water and their remains, including the bones, were consumed by creatures perfectly adapted to crunching bones.

Supporters of the aquatic ape theory suggest that some environmental situation forced our ancestors towards the waters – whether this was competition for food or some environmental disaster is unclear, but it was necessary for the survival of the species. They argue that human beings show a lot of physiological adaptations that wouldn’t make sense for a species evolving in the Savannah, another theory of evolution, but would make sense for a species evolving to live in water.

There are quite a few and I’m not going to cover all of them, but the most significant is probably the fact that humans walk on two legs instead of four. Humans would’ve had to walk on their hind legs to keep their heads above water. While animals in the wild sometimes stand on their hind legs and can even walk on their hind legs, it’s not a very efficient way to move around – apes on four legs are faster and more agile which would’ve made it tough for a bipedal creature to compete when it came to climbing trees and hunting for food.

Other arguments include humans evolving without fur as that would make them more efficient swimmers. I have only one comment on this: seals. Humans also have a layer of fat underneath the skin to help retain body heat since heat is quickly lost in water. To cool down, humans sweat; however, sweating leads to the loss of vital salts which could be a problem for a land animal, but not a sea animal.

In fact, aquatic animals sometimes have to get rid of extra salt, which humans can do through sweat and tears. Then, of course, there is the argument that human babies instinctively know to hold their breath under water which would certainly make giving birth in the water easier. In fact, water birthing is still an accepted practice today.

Of course, there is more to this theory but the important take-away here is that there is a school of thought that holds that, at one time in our evolution, human beings were mostly or, at the very least partially, water-dwelling creatures.

And now we go from the realm of pseudo-science to the realm of “what are you smoking and can I have some?” Some believe that when our human ancestors returned to land and continued their evolution from flint tools into the tech savvy creatures of today, another branch of humans went deeper into the water where they evolved and adapted to living under water by growing fish tails, the ability to breathe underwater, and amazing singing voices to lure sailors to their deaths because, obviously, you’d need that.

Convergent evolution

This theory wasn’t covered in so much depth, but it’s interesting and perhaps a little more plausible. Convergent evolution is when two species reach the same evolutionary end point but through different means – think of wings and the ability of flight found in insects, birds, and bats.

Some mermaid supporters suggest that mermaids evolved from a different aquatic ancestor but still developed humanoid features. One reason this may be plausible is the mermaid’s fin.

While we call it a fishtail, it isn’t actually a fishtail – a fishtail moves horizontally. However, aquatic mammals, like dolphins and seals, have fins that move up and down. While mermaid tails are usually described with scales or compared to that of a fish, in many images, they are depicted with the tail of an aquatic mammal. Of course, this could also be because people have been confusing aquatic mammals, like manatees, with mermaids but that really is a far less interesting take on events.

So, if these theories are to be considered seriously, perhaps mermaids evolved; either from humans or some other aquatic ancestor. But surely, if mermaids were real, someone would’ve seen one by now, right?

Mermaid sightings

Apparently, man has been seeing mermaids since the dawn of time. A quick look through some of the hard-hitting internet publications brimming with journalistic integrity will show you a collection of mermaid sightings more numerous than stars in the sky. On this channel, however, we require a little more so instead of grasping at every single mermaid sighting ever recorded, I’m just going to go through some of the more popular and interesting stories.

2nd Century Gaul

Pliny the Elder, while a bit over-looked today, was a well-regarded Greek author and scientist who penned a work, The Natural History, that appears to cover pretty much everything from medicine, art, the natural world and, of course, mermaids and sea monsters.

According to Pliny the Elder, there were several sightings of Nereids, which is basically a Greek version of a mermaid. In fact, one of these creatures had washed up on shore and its plaintive cries, as it lay dying, could be heard at quite a distance. Word had also been sent to Emperor Tiberius informing him of a Triton playing a conch shell being seen and heard in a cave.

A governor of Gaul also wrote a letter to Emperor Augustus to inform him about a great number of Nereid bodies washing up on the shore. Another report was of a sea-man, who would climb onto ships. The side of the ship where he sat would immediately sink and, if the sea-man remained on the ship, it would sink completely.

Of course, the stories don’t end there. One story goes that, at one time, 300 sea creatures, resembling regular land animals, among them elephants and rams, washed up on shore.

The conclusion to draw from this – if you were part of the mer-folk family, Gaul was the place to be.

Rabbi Shlomo, between 1040 and 1105

The ancient Greek philosophers and scientists were not the only ones to believe in mermaids. In fact, for a long time, mermaids, unlike other fantastical creatures like centaurs, were considered to be real.

The Talmud makes reference to “dolfins”, creatures that reproduce like humans. My first thought was that dolfin sounds suspiciously like dolphin, which is a mammal and, therefore, reproduce like humans. However, apparently, the dolfins referred to are actually considered to be the people, more literally, the children, of the sea.

According to Rabbi Shlomo, also known as Rashi, these creatures, called “sereine” in Old French, are fish with half the form of a fish and half the form of a man.

Now, I’m not Jewish and I don’t know the Torah or the Talmud all that well, so I’m relying on internet sources here, but I find the idea of a Jewish mermaid quite intriguing.

The Dutch mermaid of Edam

According to this story, a mermaid became trapped in Purmer Lake, close to Edam, in the Netherlands, in 1403 when the dykes broke during a storm. After the storm had subsided, the dyke was fixed and the mermaid was trapped in the lake where she lived, hunting for fish. At first the local women were frightened by the creature, but eventually, after seeing her daily on their trips to milk their cows, they got used to her and decided to capture her. After catching her, and cleaning off all the seaweed and moss, the mermaid had to be placed under guard as she constantly tried to flee back to the sea.

Later, the city of Haarlem acquired the mermaid. She never learned to speak, but she did learn to spin and, eventually, was able to sign to the women who visited her to indicate that she knew them. After about 15 or 16 years she died but by then she had made the sign of the cross so often that she was considered Christian and given a Christian burial.

There seems to be some question about the tail. One source claims that the original story never mentions a fish tail but rather than the woman had legs. This actually makes one of the possible explanations more likely, but we’ll get to that in a bit. Another source claims that she still had the tail of a fish but her tail rested in a tub of water, placed under her chair, made especially for the purpose.

A third story claims that she did have a tail but that mermaids can remove their tails if they wish, and since she was now on land, she removed her tail and went about on two legs.

Some historians have suggested that the mermaid was, in fact, a woman who had fallen overboard in the storm and somehow washed up in the lake. It is possible that she was mute or mentally disabled which would explain why she never learned to talk. Whether she was a real mermaid or an unfortunate victim of a time where disabilities were not understood or tolerated, to this day, there are statues and art work dedicated to the mermaid of Edam.

Christopher Columbus

On January 9, 1493, intrepid explorer Christopher Columbus came across three mermaids off the coast of Hispaniola, today known as the Dominican Republic, while looking for a western route to India.

Apparently, Columbus was rather disappointed by the encounter as he described the creatures to not be as beautiful as they were usually painted, though their faces resembled human faces. He also claimed to have seen mermaids another time, off the coast of Africa, in the area of Guinea, though not much is available on that encounter.

It’s generally accepted today that what Columbus actually saw were manatees or the now extinct Steller’s sea cow. Some feel that an experienced explorer would not confuse a manatee for a mermaid while others consider that, having been at sea for 5 months without female company, the crew and their captain simply saw what they wanted to see. As far as I’m concerned, it’s Columbus we’re talking about here. He is not exactly a reliable narrator, so I’d take anything he said with generous helping of scepticism.

Henry Hudson and his crew

On June 15, 1608, on the second voyage of Henry Hudson, an English explorer looking for the elusive northeast passage, Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner, crewmen of The Hopewell, spotted a mermaid while travelling along the coast of Norway.

Of course, they immediately called everyone over to come and take a look since you really didn’t see that kind of thing every day.

The mermaid was described as looking like a woman with very pale skin and black hair from the navel up while the lower part was that of a fish, a porpoise to be exact, but speckled like that of a mackerel.

To my knowledge, Hudson was a tad bit more reliable than Columbus so, who knows, maybe we have a credible witness to an actual mermaid.

The Habitable World Described

Rev. Dr John Trusler penned a work on well, the habitable world described, that spans 20 volumes and was published between 1788 and 1797. Sadly, I did not have a chance to read all 20 volumes but from what I was able to grasp, he really covered everything. When I tried to view the entire text, I was warned that some of these volumes contain up to a 1000 pages, so I decided not to try it.

The last part of the first volume deals with Norway, which is also where Hudson saw his mermaid. According to Bishop Pontoppidan, the bishop of Bergen in Norway, several hundreds of people of “credit and reputation” had seen mermen, sometimes at a distance and other times quite close to their boats, standing upright, with the upper bodies of humans down to the middle, though none could apparently see whether they had fish tails.

Apparently, one person of credit, Rev. Peter Angel, once found a dead merman. According to Angel, in 1719, when he had been around 20, he and a few fellow villagers found the body of a dead merman near the sea. He described its length as about three fathoms, dark grey in colour, with the lower part of a fish and a tail like a porpoise.

The face resembled that of a man. The nose was flat and pressed down to the face but the nostrils were very visible. The arms seem to hang to the side and were joined to the body by a thin skin. The hands were like the paw of a seal and the back of the creature was very fat.

Honestly, to me this actually sounds like a manatee – but this is a Reverend telling the story, not a naturalist, so we’ll give him a pass.

The age of the mermaid

The 1800s saw a lot of mermaids, so I only included a few sightings. Some of the sightings I read, like the popular Deerness mermaid, were fairly obviously a seal or other sea mammal, based on the descriptions. Of course, the increasing popularity of mermaids in freak shows, which we’ll get to a little bit later, probably helped to fan the imagination of Victorian society, greatly increasing the number of mermaid sightings by credible folks. Here are a few sightings from the 1800s.

The Mermaid of Kent

If the Kentish Gazette is to be believed, not one but two people saw a mermaid, about 12 years apart, in Kent. In 1797, William Munro, a schoolteacher, told the story of how he saw a mermaid while taking a walk on the shore of Sandside Bay. His description of said mermaid is in line with the beautiful maidens we imagine – she had blue eyes, flushed cheeks, and was sitting on a rock, brushing her light brown hair.

He couldn’t see whether there was webbing between her fingers or the shape of her teeth, both apparently vital clues. In his letter, he pointed out that there had been others in the area that had seen this mermaid but that he had never believed them until that day when he saw the mermaid for himself.

The second account is from a Miss Mackay, daughter of Rev. D. Mackay, who had been walking on the beach with her cousin when they came across three people, standing on the rocks, looking at what turned out to be a mermaid. The mermaid she described was very similar to the one described by Mr Munro – though perhaps not all that pretty.

The mermaid had the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish, but according to Miss Mackay, the eyes and nose were small, the mouth was large, and the forehead, nose and chin were white while the sides of the face was a pinkish colour. Clearly Miss Mackay wasn’t as taken with the mermaid as Mr Munro.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if any of the people with Miss Mackay on the beach that day, or any of the other people who had seen the mermaid according to Mr Munro, ever came forward to tell their stories of what they saw, so we only have the word of a school master and the daughter of a reverend. I guess that’ll have to be enough.

The Benbecula mermaid

In 1830, crofters were out cutting seaweed on the west coast of the island of Benbecula when one woman spotted a mermaid. She called the others working close by and the men went into the water to try and capture the mermaid, but she escaped. A boy standing on the shore threw a rock at the mermaid and hit her in the back. She cried out in pain and disappeared into the sea. Apparently, throwing rocks at things is not a great way to make friends.

A few days later, the creature’s body washed up on shore. She was small, her upper body the size of a three or four year old child with abnormally developed breasts and she had long, dark, glossy hair. Her skin was described as white, soft, and tender. Now I’m not sure if the person who wrote this was hungry at the time but when I think tender, I think chicken.

Multiple people, including the sheriff, were called to inspect the creature and they all agreed that it was definitely a mermaid. She was given a Christian burial in the graveyard, so I’m thinking someone was feeling a little guilty, and her funeral was one of the largest on the island.

If you’re thinking – let’s get some archeologists to check that out, you’re out of luck. There was never a grave marker for the mermaid, and some later claimed that she wasn’t buried in the graveyard at all but rather in the dunes, so where exactly the remains of the mermaid are today is a mystery all on its own.

A brief encounter at Cape Brenton

In 1886, a mermaid was spotted off Cape Brenton, an island off the coast of Nova Scotia, in Canada by fishermen of Gabarus. There isn’t much about this sighting, but I’m including it since the mermaid was apparently witnessed by multiple people.

According to the Cape Brooklyn Eagle newspaper of August 1886, a Mr Bagnall, accompanied by fishermen out in a boat, found what they first took to be a corpse. They decided to take it ashore but, as they approached it, the corpse moved. Now that must’ve been a bit of a shock. The creature turned around in a sitting position, looked at them, and then vanished.

They described the creature as having the face, head, shoulders and arms of human being but the lower part of a fish. Its hair looked like a horse’s mane. The arms were shaped like a human’s, but the fingers on one hand were very long.

There’s no mention of them seeing the mermaid a second time, so perhaps she was just passing through. Of course, if I came across a corpse that suddenly sits up and looks at me, I’d think twice about approaching anything remotely strange in future.

The creature of the Kei Islands

We’re skipping ahead now to 1943, a time better known for World War II than mermaids. This sighting is often listed as a well-documented mermaid sighting and the story is very detailed. However, since I couldn’t find any of this documentation, let’s stick to the basics. The creature sighted is not actually a mermaid but the Orang Ikan. Japanese soldiers, a surveillance team, stationed on the Kei Islands during World War II, claimed to have multiple encounters with the Organ Ikan in their time on the island.

The creature was spotted on land, but it was most comfortable in the water. It was described as around 150cm tall, with spikes on the spine, shoulders, and neck. They were light pink in coloring, similar to a salmon, with a mouth like a carp. Instead of a single tail, as is mostly the case with mermaids, these creatures had two frog-like fins and long arms. It made a hideous gurgling noise, smelled strongly of fish, and was not particularly friendly.

While it may have been a brand new sight for the soldiers, the locals have apparently known about the Orang Ikan’s existence for years.

Sgt Taro Horiba, the man in charge of the surveillance team, asked the villagers to let him know if any of the Orang Ikan was captured, either dead or alive. Apparently, one was found dead and the chief of the village called for Sgt Horiba who went to inspect it. He was so taken by what he saw, he tried to get the scientific community involved after the war but, since he never took pictures, and there’s no hard evidence of the Orang Ikan, he never could get anyone interested in researching the story further.

Now this story left me curious since it claimed to be so well documented. I decided to dig a little more, hoping to find all that documentation so that I can do an entire script on this creature alone. However, every site I found told the exact same story, sometimes word for word, but I couldn’t find any of the original sources to back it up. I’ll keep digging and, should I find something worthwhile, I might do a script on this in future, but for now, I’m going to chalk this one up to a writer’s imagination gone viral and move on.

A South African mermaid story

Call it patriotism if you will, but when I came across a mermaid story from South Africa, I had to include it – I had no idea South Africa had its own mermaid! Technically we have at least two, but this mermaid, called the Kaaiman, was actually seen.

Early in January, 2008, Daniel Cupido, a resident of a village near Swellendam in the Western Cape, reported that he and his friends were relaxing and enjoying a potjie, that’s like a kind of stew, next to the Buffelsjag River.

At around 11h30, he heard something that sounded like someone bashing on a wall, so he decided to inspect the noise, thinking it might be vandals. Upon reaching the water, he saw a figure, like that of a white woman with long black hair, thrashing about in the water. At first he thought she was in trouble, and waded into the water to help her. However, when he saw the reddish shine in her eyes, he stopped and called his friends over to come and take a look.

According to Mr Cupido’s mother, the woman made a strange sound, such sorrowful crying that her “heart could take it no more”.

Turns out, the group had encountered the Kaaiman, a creature of legend that lives in the deep pools in the river and is responsible for drownings in the area. The last sighting had been recorded 15 years previously, so apparently, this mermaid doesn’t particularly like company.

A mermaid visits Kiryat Yam

This one is a pretty big deal and made quite a sensation internationally. In 2009, multiple witnesses in Kiryat Yam reported seeing a creature, resembling a young girl, swimming close to shore and doing tricks in the water.

It wasn’t just a once-off sighting either – the mermaid was seen for quite a few days. For some reason, it took a while for the news to get around but, eventually, the public, and, finally, the government got involved – a $1 million reward was offered to anyone who could provide proof of the mermaid. You didn’t need to catch her – a proper photo would be good enough. I can imagine that, for once, there were more blurry mermaid photos than blurry big foot photos in circulation.

Finally, NBC got around to investigating the story and filmed morning and night, both above and below water, hoping for some footage of the mermaid. Then, at last, success! According to the crew, they saw a human figure in the water. They tried to follow and film the mermaid but, sadly, she vanished leaving them without any clear footage. Some footage was collected from bystanders and it all was sent to the Center for Coastal Ocean Research in Los Angeles.

According to Michael Shacht, the center’s director, who examined all the footage, it’s impossible to state whether the figure is, in fact a mermaid or not. Seeing as how the reward is still up for grabs though, I’m going to assume the government decided not.

Mermaids in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has a long, problematic history with mermaids who are considered to be from mischievous to downright demonic. Whereas western mermaids might lure sailors off a ship, mermaids in Zimbabwe have been blamed for kidnappings, torture, and murder. For most people, they are very dark entities and many people are deeply afraid of them.

In 2012, at the Osborne dam, divers had to investigate the reason for blockages in the pumps but, after going down once, they refused to go down a second time. Sadly, we have no idea what they saw down there, because whatever it was frightened them enough that they refused to share it with their colleagues. Workers from other areas were brought in to finish the job – they had not been exposed to the mermaid reports and would also be less vulnerable to the mermaids themselves. However, these workers also reported suspicious creatures and refused to go back down a second time.

Now, from what I could find, it looks like the necessary ceremonies were performed at the Osborne dam as well after which the situation stabilized, so I guess the mermaids were happy enough to leave people alone to get on with their work.

I skipped over a lot of sightings, but I reckon I made my point – mermaids have been seen across the world from the early Gaul to contemporary Zimbabwe. Now, you may be skeptical, I know I sure am, but all these people are adamant that they saw something, and while they can’t prove that they saw something, we can’t really prove that they didn’t, so I guess we’ll all have to agree to disagree on this one. But there have been more than sightings. The remains of actual mermaids have been found.

So, does this prove the theory?

Fake mermaids

My apologies to anyone who got a little excited at this point – basically every single desiccated mermaid corpse that has ever shown up has been proven to be a fake, so it doesn’t prove the existence of mermaids. Fake mermaids were a roaring trade in the 1800s, and some folks almost got away with it.

Captain John Smith’s Mermaid

This is not so much a mermaid as a mermaid sighting. So we all know John Smith – not the Dr Who pseudonym, the historical character from Pocahontas, but don’t get me started on that.

In 1614, John Smith apparently saw a mermaid while sailing off the shore of Massachusetts. He described her as swimming “with all possible grace” near the shore. Her upper body was that of a woman. She had large eyes, but according to Smith they were too round, a finely-shaped nose (a little too short), well-formed ears which he considered rather too long and green hair which apparently, was just fine.

Below the waist, however, she was a fish. It seems that he has had ample opportunity to compare mermaids since he was so particular about the shape and length of their features. However, he did describe her as being “by no means unattractive”.

For many years, this was considered to be a factual account but there are some problems. The main problem being that John Smith was nowhere near Massachusetts in 1614. Another article states that Smith saw the mermaid in 1611. This too doesn’t help as Smith was only in those waters in 1607.

What’s more, after carefully searching through all his writing, historian Vaughn Scribner, I feel I need to give some credit here because this guy did a lot of reading and searching, found that Smith himself never wrote anything about meeting a mermaid, green-haired or otherwise.

Vaughn eventually traced the story back to an article published in a 19th century newspaper, Gazette of the Union, on September 29, 1849. The story, however, was written by one Alexandre Dumas – author of The three musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. He had written a story about a Frenchman’s quest to find a Dutchman who allegedly had four children with a mermaid – in mermaid lore, this not uncommon.

Dumas had used an historical figure to add some validity to his own tale, because, you know, we writers do that. However, it doesn’t seem as if Dumas ever claimed it as fact – that was done by numerous historians that followed.

The Fiji mermaid

This is probably the best known hoax when it comes to fake mermaids and it was the brainchild of none other than the well-known showman, P.T. Barnum. While Barnum made the Fiji mermaid famous, its story started well before Barnum came into the picture.

It’s believed that the mermaid was created by a Japanese fisherman in the early 1800s and probably sold to a Dutch merchant after trade opened with Japan in the 1810s. The merchant ship carrying the mermaid sank but an American captain, Samuel Barrett Eades, saved the crew and, as it happened, the mermaid. Fascinated by this hideous specimen that looked nothing like the image we have of beautiful women luring hapless sailors, Eades decided to buy the mermaid for $6000 in 1822 – that’s around $145,000 today. In fact, he had to sell his ship in order to pay for the mermaid.

In desperate need of travel money, and without a ship, Eades first showed the mermaid in Cape Town where a well-regarded missionary wrote in a well-circulated newspaper that the mermaid was, in fact, real.

In September, 1822, Eades finally arrived in London with the mermaid and exhibited the creature at a coffee house. People had to pay 1 shilling to see the mermaid and hundreds of people happily parted with their money.

Eades, apparently convinced that the mermaid was real, even invited 2 prominent naturalists to examine it. Both declared it a hoax. However, Eades was not dissuaded and found a few lesser-known and, perhaps, less knowledgeable naturalists who were more than happy to declare it the real thing.

Then Eades made a big mistake. He claimed that Sir Everard Home, a well-regarded naturalist, considered the mermaid to be authentic. Home had said no such thing and, outraged, published pieces in several newspapers declaring the mermaid as a fake. This was the beginning of the end for Eades.

The mermaid lost its appeal, and it soon became apparent that Eades had, in fact, sold a ship that wasn’t his to sell. Legal action was taken against him and, long story short, he ended up broke, sailing the seas for another 20 years to pay of his debt but died, impoverished, with only the mermaid in his possession. It was the only thing his son inherited.

This should’ve been the end of the Fiji mermaid and it probably would’ve been if it hadn’t been for P.T. Barnum, possibly one of the greatest showmen that ever lived and an absolute genius at marketing. The story of Barnum’s campaign may not strictly be about mermaids, but it was inspired.

Moses Kimball, owner of the Boston museum and a friend of Barnum’s, bought the mermaid from Eades’s son in 1842 and wanted to exhibit it. Barnum had just bought a museum in New York and Kimball thought it would be a fantastic attraction. Barnum agreed but he already had a bit of a reputation after a prior hoax had blown up in his face. He knew no-one would accept a mermaid he exhibited as the real thing.

So, instead, he created the character of Dr D. Griffin, a member of the British Lyceum of Natural History, played by his good friend Levi Lyman. Dr Griffin was apparently a successful, knowledgeable naturalist exhibiting all kinds of wondrous creatures, like the platypus, and of course, the Fiji mermaid.

Barnum orchestrated a bit of a tiff with Dr Griffin. He wanted to exhibit Dr Griffin’s mermaid but Dr Griffin refused. Anonymous letters were sent to newspapers mentioning the mermaid and the disagreement between the two men. When it became clear Dr Griffin would not change his mind, Barnum generously gave all his promotional materials to the newspapers as he would no longer need them.

All the newspapers were under the impression that they had an exclusive, so, of course, they all ran the story. The mermaids in Barnum’s materials were beautiful young women with glossy long hair – not the little abomination that would soon enter the spotlight.

Conveniently, Dr Griffin had to stop over in New York for a few days on his way back to London and he decided to show the mermaid to a select group of people, most of them journalists. The story was a sensation and everyone wanted to see the mermaid, so Dr Griffin relented and put the mermaid on show in the New York Concert Hall for a week.

Along with the mermaid, Dr Griffin also gave lectures on his adventures and discoveries. He claimed that all animals had an equivalent in the sea – sea lions, sea horses, sea cows, etc., so, obviously, there would be a human equivalent as well. When the week was done, he graciously agreed to allow Barnum to display the mermaid in his American Museum. The mermaid was on show in the museum for another month and, even though he was technically leasing the mermaid from Kimball, Barnum made his money back ten-fold.

After the stint in New York, there was a tour in the south that didn’t go quite as well. Apparently, the southerners were far more skeptical than their northern neighbours and after some threats from a reverend in Charleston to destroy the mermaid, it was swiftly returned to New York where it was exhibited in the American museum again. There was another successful tour in London after which the mermaid was apparently returned to Kimball at the Boston museum.

It’s not entirely clear what happened to the mermaid after that. There were multiple fires – Kimball’s museum burned down in the early 1900s and quite a few of Barnum’s exhibits burned down, possibly whenever he needed insurance money to build something new.

The Harvard University Peabody museum has a specimen that some people consider to be the Fiji mermaid, but it doesn’t really look all that much like the creature described by Barnum, so we’re not sure if it’s the original Fiji mermaid or one of the many other mermaids Barnum exhibited. Some speculate that, due to all the fires, the original may have been damaged and was rebuilt with parts from other specimens, hence the difference in appearance.

Now, what exactly was the Fiji mermaid if not a mermaid? Apparently it was the dried, semi-mummified remains of a monkey attached to the dried tail of a fish. Not exactly the little mermaid from the Anderson fairy-tale.

Animal planet special

In 2012, Animal Planet, a channel considered to provide true and factual content, ran Mermaids: The Body Found and, in 2013, they ran a sequel, Mermaids: The new evidence. Apparently, the show did provide a very brief disclaimer that it was “science fiction based on scientific theory” but most people apparently missed that little detail. The show, and its sequel, fooled thousands of viewers, allegedly – we don’t want to get sued!

I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch it. I have this strange compulsion to not watch fictional shows on factual channels.

Mermaids: The Body Found deals with a supposed government cover-up of a discovery that proves the existence of mermaids by scientists of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CGI sequences and fictional characters, like a one Dr Paul Robertson, former NOAA scientist, all played by actors, set out to present the aquatic ape theory as accepted scientific fact. They even created a website to go with the show; however, the website had conveniently been shut down by the US department of Homeland Security – the government was quick to confirm that this too was a hoax. But that’s exactly what a government involved in a cover-up would say, right?

Mermaids: The New Evidence builds on the theory presented in its predecessor with more actors, I mean, scientists, presenting new evidence to prove the existence of mermaids, complete with newly discovered CGI sequences, sorry, I mean found footage, of mermaids.

Animal Planet was quick to point out that they never intended to present it as fact but merely used science as a starting point for creativity. So many people believed it was real though that the NOAA released a statement assuring people that mermaids are not real and no evidence has ever been found to prove mermaids as real creatures.

So, the next time you watch an unbelievable documentary on a factual channel, like Animal Planet or our favourite here at Decoding the Unknown, the History Channel, be on the lookout for very brief disclaimers. Oh, and don’t believe everything you see on TV!

Japanese mermaids

So, remember the Fiji mermaid made in Japan? She wasn’t the only one.

In the 18th and 19th century in Japan, sideshows, called Misemono, became very popular. These were similar to the sideshows in the west, like the famous Coney Island and the sideshows of hucksters and charlatans, like PT Barnum, whom we already chatted about. These sideshows were basically carnivals with dancers, acrobats, fortune telling and, important for our story, exhibits of interesting creatures from far off lands. Most of the exhibits were of actual animals and plants from other parts of the world.

However, soon enough, mermaids made an appearance.

Most of these fake mermaids were small – they mostly consisted of the torsos of monkeys or other primates attached to the body of a fish. The remains were mostly mummified and desiccated, so exact features were not all that clear. However, this is Japan we’re talking about and the craftsmanship on these specimens was so well done that, occasionally, they managed to fool even trained naturalists in the West for a while.

This very creative form of taxidermy became a bit of an art form in itself. Japanese mermaids started appearing in sideshows in the West and while those buying the specimens usually knew that they were not the real thing, the Japanese craftsmen were considered such masters at making these mermaids that collectors paid top dollar for them.

A lot of these mermaids still exist in museums, private collections, and a few have turned up at temples around Japan. One example is a mermaid that is claimed to have been caught off the island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741. The mermaid is currently being kept at a temple in Asakuchi. In March 2022, there were plans to take the mermaid for a CT scan to get a better idea of what exactly it is.

The scientist in charge of the project is convinced it’s a fake, but the local villagers firmly believe the mermaid is real. So, who knows, maybe the CT scan will finally reveal a real mermaid.

I put this under fake mermaids, but one article I read did pose an interesting question. What if, among all the fake manufactured mermaids, there was a real specimen or two? Surely, the creators of the fakes needed something to copy. The original Japanese mermaid was more beast than human, so was there perhaps a species of mermaid, probably now extinct, that once roamed the waters of Japan?

There is of course no way to prove this, but the ocean is vast and many species of animal went extinct before humans even discovered them – was the original Japanese mermaid among them?

Are they real?

So, are mermaids real? Scientific research says no – there is no archeological or scientific proof that mermaids are real or ever existed. On top of that, humanoid mermaids would most likely be mammals. However, aquatic mammals can’t breathe underwater.

They can hold their breath for an extended period of time – elephant seals can hold their breath for up to 2 hours. Recently, scientists also found that diving mammals have oxygen-binding proteins, called myoglobin, in their muscles which allows them to store more oxygen, thus allowing them to stay under water for a long time.

Since mermaids, if they were mammals, would have to breathe, they wouldn’t be able to live in the unexplored depths of the ocean, and with the number of boats, planes, satellites, submarines, and humans taking selfies wherever they go, mermaids would’ve been documented to the same extent as seals, dolphins, and other ocean mammals. If mermaids were fish, odds are, divers and marine biologists would’ve found some proof of their existence. However, if they were fish, we probably wouldn’t have all those sightings of beautiful maidens sitting on rocks brushing their hair.

Most mermaid sightings are considered manatees, dugongs, or, in the case of older sightings, the now extinct Stellar’s sea cow. Of course, seals have also been considered culprits. However, as one researcher pointed out, you’d have to be at sea a really long time, and possibly have a bit of poor memory, for you to see a manatee and think, damn, now that’s one hot chick. I tend to agree – personally, I think mermaid sightings have more to do with vivid imagination, mass hysteria and mass hallucinations, or just good ole fashioned drink and drugs.

Of course, if you really want to see a mermaid, you’re in luck – mermaiding has become a profession. Professional mermaids are performers, usually at kids’ parties, in aquariums or other high-end shows and events, with detailed silicone tails, bright mermaid costumes, and an outgoing personality. It requires training – you need to learn to swim with a mermaid tail, hold your breath under water for an extended time, and many mermaids also invest in scuba diving, free diving, life saving and CPR certifications. It’s more than just a job – it’s a lifestyle and, as an occasional charlatan myself, I ain’t gonna judge.

But, despite all the sightings, and mermaids in aquariums, I think we’ve decoded this mystery – mermaids aren’t real, at least not the singing maidens luring men to their deaths variety. However, I am open to the idea of an extinct species that looked half mammal and half fish, like the Japanese Ningyo, and I do believe that the oceans are full of interesting creatures yet to be discovered or at least properly documented. I play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulu, so I totally believe in the Kraken and our great lord Cthulu, eater of souls.

But on mermaids, I’m unconvinced. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong in the future, but this is one mystery I think we can consider solved.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some of the varied stories about mermaids across different cultures?

Stories of mermaids vary widely across cultures. They can be beautiful maidens warning soldiers of impending storms or omens of bad luck. In some tales, they are horrifying beasts, while in others, they can grant immortality or make wishes come true. Their nature is often volatile and unpredictable, symbolizing the wild and untamable ocean.

What is the origin of the legend of mermaids?

The legend of mermaids does not have a clear start but is believed to have evolved from tales of sirens, which were half-woman, half-bird creatures. Sirens were later depicted as half-fish, leading to the modern concept of mermaids. Atargatis, a Syrian goddess of water, is often considered the first actual mermaid.

What are some memorable mermaids in mythology?

Some memorable mermaids in mythology include Melusine, a fresh-water mermaid known for her appearance on the Starbucks logo, Thessalonike, the sister of Alexander the Great who became a mermaid after her death, Mami Wata, an African mermaid deity, Ningyo, the Japanese mermaid often depicted as a beast, and Suvannamaccha, a mermaid princess from Southeast Asia.

What is the aquatic ape theory and how does it relate to mermaids?

The aquatic ape theory suggests that human evolution had an aquatic phase, around 3.5 to 9 million years ago. Supporters of this theory argue that humans show physiological adaptations that would make sense for a species evolving in water, such as walking on two legs, evolving without fur, and having a layer of fat underneath the skin.

What is convergent evolution and how does it relate to mermaids?

Convergent evolution is when two species reach the same evolutionary endpoint but through different means. Some mermaid supporters suggest that mermaids evolved from a different aquatic ancestor but still developed humanoid features, possibly explaining the mermaid’s fin, which is more like that of an aquatic mammal than a fish.

What are some notable mermaid sightings throughout history?

Notable mermaid sightings include those by Pliny the Elder in 2nd Century Gaul, Rabbi Shlomo between 1040 and 1105, Christopher Columbus in 1493, Henry Hudson and his crew in 1608, and various sightings in the 1800s and 2000s. These sightings often describe mermaids as having the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish.

What are some famous fake mermaids and their stories?

Famous fake mermaids include the Fiji mermaid, created by P.T. Barnum, which was actually the dried remains of a monkey attached to a fish tail, and various Japanese mermaids from the 18th and 19th centuries, which were crafted from monkey torsos and fish bodies. These specimens were often exhibited in sideshows and museums.

What is the conclusion about the existence of mermaids?

Scientific research indicates that mermaids are not real, with no archaeological or scientific proof of their existence. Most mermaid sightings are attributed to manatees, dugongs, seals, or other sea mammals. However, the author remains open to the idea of an extinct species that looked half mammal and half fish.

What is the profession of mermaiding?

Mermaiding has become a profession where individuals perform as mermaids, often at kids’ parties, aquariums, or other events. It requires training in swimming with mermaid tails, holding breath underwater, and sometimes scuba diving, free diving, life-saving, and CPR certifications.

Sources

• Original Decoding the Unknown video: The Story of Mermaids: Are They Real After All?
• Hero image source by Brandon Zhang / openverse, cc0.