The legend of mermaids and mermen throughout the ages

One of the biggest mysteries in the world of cryptozoology is the half-human, half-fish creature called a mermaid. Because of its unusual character, this creature is more often associated with mysticism than science.

A mermaid is a term given to a water creature that has a body from the waist up like a woman, while the waist down is like a fish. Although we have only heard of this creature from a collection of fairy tales, its existence can be traced back in literature up to 2,000 years ago.

The word "mermaid" comes from the word "mere," which means "sea" (in Old English) and the word "maid," which means "woman." So, the creature called a mermaid is a half-human, half-fish creature that is female, while the male counterpart is called a merman.

In fairy tales, these creatures are said to like to sit on rocks near the shore, singing and holding a mirror while admiring their own beauty. Their singing is said to contain mystical powers that can mesmerize humans to the point of drowning.

In Cornwall, England, there is a rock called the Mermaid's Rock, where a mermaid is said to have sat and sung, causing a local fisherman named Matthew Trawella to drown.

The Mermaid across cultures

The first story of these creatures can be traced back to 1000 BC in Assyrian mythology. Atargatis, the mother of Queen Semiramis, was said to have fallen in love with a mortal shepherd. One day, accidentally, she killed him.

Devastated, Atargatis tried to kill herself by jumping into a lake to take on the form of a fish. However, the lake refused to hide the beauty of the goddess, so she was only transformed into a fish from the waist down.

The Assyrian tale may have formed the basis of the mermaid legend worldwide.

In his book Curious Myths of the Middle Ages published in 1884, folklorist S. Baring Gould believed that the mermaid and merman story began with the half-fish gods and goddesses in ancient religions.

Half Fish Goddesses

The gods Oannes of Chaldea and Dagon of Philistine had the form of mermaids. The gods Coxcox and Teocipactli of Mexico also had fish-like forms. American Indian legends even mention that they were brought out of Asia by fish people. Among all of them, perhaps the most famous are the god Triton and the goddess Siren in ancient Greek mythology who also had fish-like bodies.

In addition to Europe and the Middle East, stories about these creatures can also be found in mythologies in various countries in Africa and Asia.

In Africa, a similar creature to the mermaid is called Mami Wata, who is believed to be able to heal the sick and bring luck to those who follow her.

Dugongs and Manatees

Most researchers consider the existence of creatures like the mermaid to be a hoax. Others believe it to be a case of misidentification. The main suspects are the animals belonging to the Sirenian group, herbivorous aquatic creatures that reside in rivers and seas.

Two creatures that belong to the Sirenian group are the Dugong and Manatee. Both of these creatures have exceptional adaptations in the water. Although they appear plump, in some poses, they can be mistaken for mermaids. For example, when they nurse their babies, they carry them on their chests, which can be mistaken for a woman's chest by witnesses who see them from a distance.

Dugong

Manatee

Although many people agree that the Manatee or Dugong is the Mermaid's identity, when we examine historical records, we can find various testimonies that seem to confirm encounters with creatures that are truly similar to mermaids or mermen (not Dugongs or Manatees).

Mermaid sightings in history

In 558 AD, it was mentioned that a Mermaid was caught by a fisherman in Ireland. The Mermaid was then taken to the village and baptized by the residents. Shortly after, the creature died.

Then, a monk named Ralph Coggeshall once told a story about a Merman that was caught by fishermen in Suffolk in 1187. The creature could not speak and was immediately taken to the village for examination. Even after being tortured, the creature still showed no signs of being able to speak. The Merman was then imprisoned for some time in Orford Castle. However, when the villagers tried to bathe it in the sea, it managed to escape.

Still in the 12th century, Speculum Regale from Iceland recorded the discovery of a mermaid near Greenland. 

"This creature looked like a woman from the waist up. Her chest also looked exactly like a woman's. Her arms were long and her hair was fine. Her neck and head also resembled a human's. From the waist down, this creature had a fish tail with scales and fins. This strange creature was seen after a great storm hit." 

According to Icelandic legend, a merman was also caught in 1305 and 1329.

Encounters with mermaids were not only experienced by local fishermen or laypeople.

Christopher Columbus is also said to have encountered this creature in 1493. Columbus was off the coast of Haiti when he saw three mermaids emerge from the sea. According to him, the three creatures were not as beautiful as they were often depicted, and according to him, their faces looked like men.

It is possible that Columbus saw three Mermen, not mermaids. However, many people believe that Columbus only witnessed three manatees, water creatures that are often seen in the Caribbean.

Another famous explorer, Henry Hudson, also recorded his encounter with a mermaid in 1608. 

"This morning, one of our colleagues saw a mermaid and immediately called out to his fellow witnesses. From the waist up, her back and chest were like a woman's. Her body was as big as one of us. When the creature dived into the water, they could see her tail, which looked like a dolphin's tail with a mackerel-like pattern. Our colleague who witnessed it was named Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner."

In 1614, another famous explorer named John Smith (whom we know from the movie Pocahontas) also claimed to have seen a mermaid. He mentioned that the creature had a beautiful face, round eyes, a sharp nose, and long green hair. He called the creature "Very beautiful."

Now, this makes us wonder. Look at the Manatee photo below again.

If you were to see a creature like this in the ocean, would you identify it as a beautiful woman?

Is John Smith lying? Or does he need to make an appointment with an eye doctor?

In 1531, a merman was reportedly caught in the Baltic Sea and was immediately sent to Sigismund, the King of Poland, and the creature was then exhibited to all palace officials. This creature could only survive for 3 days.

In 1560, a fisherman from the island of Mandar in Ceylon was said to have successfully caught 7 mermaids and mermen. The event was witnessed by a Jesuit monk named M. Bosquez, a doctor who worked for the local ruler.

Bosquez then conducted a thorough examination of the 7 creatures, dissected them, and found that they had internal and external structures that resembled humans.

In 1755, Erik Pontoppidan, the Bishop of Bergen and a naturalist, published a book titled New Natural History of Norway which recounted the sighting of a merman by 3 sailors from a ship on the coast of Denmark near Landscrona. The sailors swore they were not lying.

In 1785, William Munro even reported a sighting of a mermaid that closely resembles the fairy tale character we often see. Perhaps Munro's story inspired the mermaid characters we often see in movies.

"My attention was drawn to a figure resembling a naked woman sitting on a rock gazing out to sea. She appeared to be combing her long thick hair. She remained on the rock for three or four minutes."

In 1830, a mermaid was said to have been found on the beach at Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.

"The upper part of its body resembled that of a small child aged 3 or 4. But its chest was large like that of an adult woman. Its hair was long and shiny while its skin was white and smooth. The lower part of its body resembled a salmon but had no scales."

According to the Carmina Gadelica, the creature was actually still alive when it was first found, but the villagers tried to catch it by throwing stones at it, causing it to die. The village elder named Duncan Shaw then made a small coffin for it and gave it a Christian burial ceremony.

It seems hard to imagine that the villagers would give such a burial ceremony to a manatee or dugong.

On June 4, 1857, two fishermen from Scotland also claimed to have seen a mermaid. They wrote in the Shipping Gazette:

"On Thursday, June 4, 1857, we were preparing to go fishing. When we were four miles from Port Charlotte, it was about 6 pm, we saw a strange object about six yards away. The object had the shape of a woman with large breasts. Her face was beautiful and her hair was long past her shoulders. The creature appeared in the water and stared at us while shaking her head. We watched it for about three or four minutes."

Another well-known sighting of a mermaid occurred in 1917.

That year, a ship named Leonidas sailed from New York to Le Havre in France. On its journey, the ship's crew saw a mermaid-like creature swimming alongside the ship for six hours. Occasionally, the creature would show its head above the surface of the water, each time for about 15 minutes, so that the ship's crew could clearly see its appearance. The creature was said to have long black hair with a body that was half human and half fish. All of the crew agreed that the creature was a mermaid.

it would be very difficult to say that a number of ship crews who are accustomed to the sea cannot distinguish between Manatees and Mermaids.

Mermaid mummies

What is the evidence that the creature called Mermaid really exists?

PT Barnum, a famous entertainer, once claimed to have a Mermaid skeleton which he displayed to make money. Barnum's skeletons were known as Feejee Mermaids. Later, it was revealed that his mummies were created by combining body parts from various animals.

Since then, many Mermaid mummies have been stored all around the world and suspected as being the work of artists. Some have been proven to be hoaxes, while others are still unproven but are suspected as being created by artists.

Here are some examples of well-known Feejee Mermaid hoaxes.

Aside from mummies that have been proven to be hoaxes, there are also mummies that cannot be confirmed as hoaxes. For instance, there is the Mermaid mummy below.

This mummy is said to have been found in the Philippines in 2003. Then in 2004, photos of this creature resurfaced and were claimed to have been found on a beach after the huge 2004 Asian tsunami. The creature in the photo is suspected as being a hoax because the actual skeleton was never found.

Although the Mermaid legend is more popular in Europe, the story of Mermaids is not unfamiliar in Japan. Some temples in Japan store Mermaid mummies that their owners believe to be authentic. However, many people believe that these mummies are also the work of artists, just like the mummies owned by PT Barnum. Unfortunately, none of these mummies have been seriously researched.

This Mermaid mummy is stored in the Zuiryuji temple in Osaka and was donated to the temple in 1682 by a merchant.

This Mermaid mummy is stored in the Myouchi temple in Niigata. It is approximately 30 cm long.

This Mermaid mummy is stored in the Shinto religious headquarters in Fujinomiya at the foot of Mount Fuji. It is 170 cm tall and said to be 1,400 years old. Legend has it that this Mermaid crossed paths with Prince Shotoku in Lake Biwa about 1,400 years ago. The Mermaid told the prince that she used to be a fisherman who was later cursed to become a Mermaid. Before dying, she asked the prince to build a temple and store her body there. If this mummy is indeed the work of an artist, has the creation of Mermaid mummies been going on for 1,400 years?

This is a Mermaid mummy stored in the Karukayado temple in Hashimoto. It is approximately 50 cm long.

Because they have not been studied, it seems that we can only guess the authenticity of these mummies.

The Mermaid: Hoax or Cryptid?

For years, scientists and cryptozoology experts have been trying to identify the true identity of the Mermaid. If this creature is just a hoax, why have records of such a creature been found across various parts of the world and dated back thousands of years?

Can we conclude that the accounts of sailors and village inhabitants over thousands of years are just hoaxes?

If not a hoax, what kind of creature is the Mermaid?

While most researchers agree with the theory that the Mermaid may be a manatee or dugong, some cryptozoologists believe that the Mermaid may be a type of extinct marine creature, though they have not been able to determine the identity of the creature.

While some researchers have not yet reached conclusive evidence, some people believe that the Mermaid is a mystical creature. This may explain why such creatures are more popular in ancient religions. In Africa, a former witch who had renounced witchcraft testified that a Mermaid had breastfed him when he was a child. In other words, the Mermaid referred to is a mystical, supernatural creature that does not fall under the realm of cryptozoology.

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Wikipedia - Mermaid