INTRODUCTION

Mermaids are mythological creatures with a torso of a human and a

lower body of a fish. Different stories of mermaids are present in different

parts of the globe. Many people believed that these creatures do not exist at

all but there are still some who believed that mermaids do possibly exist.

Some people thought that these creatures were just mere manatees but

some people would insist that they were not just mere manatees being

sighted for they are real mermaids. The confusion between manatees and

mermaids is still present even today.

Are mermaids real? Do they really exist? The researcher in this study

aims to prove the possible existence of mermaids in the real world based on

the sightings recorded on mermaids.

Significance of the Study

This study which examines the possible existence of the mermaids based on

the recorded sightings aims to unlock several facts that are beneficial to the

following:

To the children and adults who do not believe in mermaids’

existence:

This study aims to find the possibilities in the existence of mermaids based

on the sightings recorded in the past.

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To the scientists:

The result of this study will help the scientists to compare and contrast the

similarities and differences between mermaids and manatees.

Scope and Limitation

This study is limited to the recorded sightings that were made by different

people from different places in this world in the past. This study does not

include the anatomy of mermaids for there has been no actual mermaids

being studied or experimented.

Definition of terms

 The following words used in this study are operationally defined to

have a better understanding of this research.

Mermaids. Mermaids are mythical creatures that are half-woman half-

fish. The male version of the mermaids is called mermen. The definition of

this creature varies because the places vary. They possess tails which enable

them to swim fast. They are also known for their beautiful voices.

Mermaid hoaxes. Mermaid hoaxes, usually mermaid skeletons, are

fake mermaids that were created by famous sculpture artists or experts in

order to trick the people that the creation is real or genuine.

Recorded Sightings. These are the sightings of mermaids in the past.

MERMAIDS

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Definitions and other terms of mermaids

The World Book Encyclopedia defines mermaid as a mythical creature

that dwells in the sea and they are also known to have an upper body of a

human and a lower body of a fish. They are able to attract land folks by their

voices and beautiful faces. It is also believed that mermaids have a magic

cap which lets the human breath underwater.

In addition, an article from

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbus-mistakes-manatees-for-

mermaids states that the mythological half-fish, half-woman creature called

mermaids have already existed in the cultures of seafaring since the time of

the early Greeks. Mermaids are often represented as having a woman head

and a torso, a tail of a fish rather than legs and also represented holding a

mirror and a comb. They live in the depths of the ocean and according to

some myths, mermaids have the ability to take the form of a human and

marry mortal men. Mermaids are nearly related to sirens, half-woman half-

bird, which dwell on islands and sing seductive music to draw sailors to their

deaths.

Mermaids are as well defined in different folklores.

www.mermaid.net/mermaid website mentioned that in African folklore,

mermaids have a special place in the religion of Africans. They have this god

named Yemaja. Yemaja is referred as a mother of fish-like children.

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According to the Africans, without Yemaja, no water creature would continue

to live.

According to the British folklore, as pointed out in

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mermaid, mermaids were said

to be dangerous and some of them were believed to be 160 feet tall or even

more. They also swim in rivers and freshwater lakes. As one legend says, a

man named Laird of Lorntie thought he saw a drowning woman in the lake.

He would have helped the drowning woman if not because of his servant who

pulled him back and told him that he would have been killed by the sighted

creature.

On the other hand, in a website found in

http://www.steampunkandphenomena.com/Ri-Mermaids.html, mermaids are

also known for its different names. Mermaids are called Ri in the tropical

waters of Papua New Guinea and New Ireland. Ri is described as an air-

breathing aquatic mammal with a torso of a human but the lower body

possessed no legs ending with a pair of flippers. Both gender of Ri had long

dark hair. Their face looks like a monkey and with a fish-like mouth. They

lived in the depths of water where they catch and eat fishes as their food.

India also has their different description of mermaids. Even though

they have a human form, the Asparas of India shared the same

characteristics of mermaids. They also have the beauty and smell like that of

the mermaids. They are also known to be talented musicians and they also

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have the ability to foretell the future. Despite their mermaid-like

characteristics, the Asparas do not harm sailors; instead, they wanted to give

happiness to all.

According to the prophet.tv website page, water spirits also

represent mermaids with the head of a lady and a tail of a fish instead of

human legs. In accordance to the vol.15, pages 196 of Britannica

Encyclopedia, merpeople are part of a race composed of half-human half-

fish. They live in the sea but they can also live on land. Some of their kind

have the ability to live on both land and water, some live only in stones and

rocks, some in trees and others in all types of waters.

While in a religion’s point of view, de Mason, S. stated in her website

that, Christian church defines mermaids as dangerous temptresses and had

no souls on their own. They use this definition in order to support the male

domination and in order to destroy the image of women. By saying that

mermaids have no souls suggests that women are unfaithful or faithless.

An article in the Cryptomundo website features a recorded sighting of

a mermaid which they called Kaaiman. Kaaiman is another term for

mermaid. They said that the Kaaiman produced the strangest sound like that

of a crying lady.

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Names may vary as places vary. Here is the list of some other

names of mermaids in some places (taken from

www.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Cheek/Narrative/myth.html).

Ben-Varry (Manx Mermaids); Catao (Hiligaynon); Caesg (Celtic -- part trout or salmon); Dinny-Mara (Manx Mermen); Havfrue (Scandinavian Mermen); Havmand (Scandinavian Mermaid); Meerfrau; Merefolk (Phillipine Merfolk); Merfish; Merlady;

Merman; Merpeople; Muirruhgach (Merrow -- Irish); Merrymaids (Cornish Mermaids); Merwife; Morgens; Neck (Scandinavian fresh and salt water Mermaids); Ningyo (Japanese human-headed fish of

immortality); Sea Maids; Sea Maiden; Sea People; Sea Queen; Siren; Tritons; Undersea Folk; Underwater Folk; Water Babies; Water Maid.

Symbolisms

Aside from the definitions, Angus Hall also mentioned that mermaids

also have some hidden symbolisms and representations. There are several

stories which show that mermaids will take a payback when harmed in any

ways. This idea about mermaids may come from man’s lustful imaginations

of an uncontrollable creature set on accomplishing her own goals. Another

term for the sexual representation of mermaids is the idea that mermaids

are angels fallen from above and that they only eat living flesh. By singing

sweet melodies, mermaids will be able to draw a sailor. If she won’t be able

to capture sailors with her voice, she will rely on her one of a kind body scent

that no man could resist. If she already caught a victim, she will make him

fall asleep and eat him with her sharp green teeth.

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Furthermore, mermaids are often depicted holding a comb and a

mirror. The mirror is from the goddess Aphrodite which symbolizes her vanity

and the planet Venus. The comb is used to keep their hair tangle-free

symbolizes sexuality in Greeks. Thus, it is said that mermaid is a symbol for

passion and destruction.

According to the newworldencyclopedia.org website, mermaids were of

ten used in the decorations of medieval churches, British Isle in particular.

They are often depicted holding a mirror and a comb; however, they were

also believed to be the symbols of sins, pride, and beauty and lust. Holding a

starfish, mermaids represent a Christian soul that had been tempted by the

deadly sin of lust and were placed in Churches in order to remind people not

to be tempted by the evils.

In another culture, the website www.mermaid.net/mermaid stated

that, the British and the English people represented mermaids as bad omen

rather than good ones. They consider them to be bad omens because they

believed that mermaids were signs of a calamity or death for the sailors.

Origin

Mermaids were believed to be originated in myths and legends. The

sun god, Oannes, was the original representation of Mermaids. His name

means the great fish of the ocean. He was venerated by the Babylonians

around 5000 BCE. He is often depicted as a man wearing a fish cloak but

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later on, he was depicted as half man-half fish. He represents the positive

values in relation to the sea.

Another website (www.mermaid.net/mermaid) states that mermaids

were first mentioned five thousand years ago in the history of Mesopotamia.

They said that it was Oannes, a merman. Who rose everyday from the water

and give man knowledge and brought them so many things and educated

them.

In addition, Linda S. Godfrey in her book entitled Lake and Sea

monsters pointed out that aside from god Oannes, another god from the

Middle East was Dagon or dagan. Dagon is a more modernized merfolk

compared to Oannes, he possessed human body and a fishtail in his lower

body. Dagon was also said to be name of the temple that Samson attacked

after the Philistines were helped by Delilah to capture him.

In the same book, Linda S. Godfrey also stated that the early people of

Egypt believed that the Nile River is where the mermaids and the mermen

originally started. Aside from having fish tails, these creatures were believed

to possess human legs and feet with webbed toes.

Furthermore, marinebio.org/oceans/mysteries mentioned that in

Roman and Greek mythology, Neptune and Poseidon are represented as

having a body of a man and fish below. They are also often depicted holding

tritons. It is a symbolism of the merpeople and triton as the child of the

mighty god of the sea.

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Mermaids were also shown in the bible during the great flood. An

illustration of a mermaid found in

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythiccreatures/water/mermaids.php,

showed a merman, and a merdog in the Nuremberg Bible of 1483. The

illustration showed the mermaid and merman stayed outside the Noah’s ark.

The mermaid was shown holding and facing a hand mirror.

On the other hand, an article in http://ezinearticles.com/?Mermaid-

Mythology---Origins&id=85326 revealed that before the evolution theory of

man kind was created, ancient philosophers believed that life originated from

the sea. Aphrodite and Venus are related to the sea. Aphrodite, the Greek

goddess of love, means born from the foam of the ocean waves. Venus is

also related in a way that she was shown riding in a scalloped seashell. From

these two goddesses, the legend of the mermaids arose. Mermaids were said

to be beautiful and Venus and Aphrodite are famed for their beauty.

Mermaids were also said to be combing their hair while holding a mirror.

Mirror and comb symbolizes Venus. Tragic storms and ruled over the animals

of the ocean are the common characteristics of sea gods.

Mermaids were also mentioned in some stories. They are somehow

related to the sirens in Greek mythology. In Odyssey, Homer made mention

of the sirens. Sirens are half-bird half-human but later definition added the

mermaid tail. Sirens were believed to lure men to death. In order to escape

death, Odysseus instructed his mean to cover their ears with wax except for

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him and instructed them to tie him tightly so that he cannot be tempted to

follow the melody and drown himself.

In addition to the stories of mermaids, Angus Hall, in his book Monsters

and mythic beasts, wrote that in the 6th century A.D, there was a sad story of

a mermaid wanted to have a soul. According to the story, the mermaid was

deeply in love with a monk in Iona and visited him regularly and also asked

him to help her pray to God to give her the strength to abandon the sea and

establish a life on land with him. Together, they prayed so hard but no

matter how they try; the mermaid wasn’t able to give up her home land. The

story ends with the mermaid crying and leaving the island with tears falling

from her eyes. The tears that had fallen from her eyes became pebbles of

what people in Iona now call the gray-green pebbles or the mermaid tears.

Another legend story of mermaids is the story of Lorelei which is

mentioned in the all about fairies website. Lorelei is a German legend of a

mermaid transformation of a young woman into a siren. According to the

story, Lorelei is a pretty young lady who is deeply in love to a man who then

rejected her. Despite this rejection, she still cannot resist those men who fell

in love with her. So as a punishment, she was sentenced to be a nun for her

whole life. One day when Lorelei was at the top of the cliff of the Rhine River.

She gazed at the river and saw a boatman down there. She then claimed

that the boatman down there is her lover. With that, she jumped; death had

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turned her into a beautiful siren. After that event, many sailors have been

lured into the rocks with her beautiful melody.

Furthermore, another legend of mermaids sprouted in Russia. Carlucci

V mentioned in his website that the Rusalkas in the Russian legends were

believed to be those women who were murdered before their wedding and

were then cursed to stay and live in the lakes in mermaids form. They will

sing beautiful songs in order to attract men and drown them they will be able

to be free from the curse if someone would avenge their death.

In addition, according to http://www.beautiful-mermaid-art.com/celtic-

myths.html, mermaids in Celtic legends are known to be good creatures but

when harmed, they reveal their evil side. There was a story in Scotland of

the Knockdolion family who had a huge house on the shore close Girvan.

Every night, a mermaid would sit on a rock, located near the house, and sing

for several hours. The woman of the Knockdolions felt that the voice of the

mermaid was disturbing her baby so she ordered her servants to destroy the

rock. The night after, the mermaid came and was surprised to see that her

favorite rock was already gone. The mermaid got mad so she sang a song

which says death to Knockdolion heirs and that there would be no heir to the

throne. Not long, the baby was found dead and its cradle was already upside-

down, and all the other children of the Knockdolion family died.

Sightings

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Mermaids were known to be mythical creatures and that they only

exist in legends but there are many sightings recorded that shows that they

do possibly exist.

Way back many years ago, in accordance to the blogspot of

MelusinaMermaid, Pliny the Elder wrote in his journal that he had seen a

mermaid and he also said that they are like humans only that they have

scales all over their body.

Another recorded sighting was published by Angus Hall in his book

monsters and Mythic Beasts. In the year 1403, a mermaid was caught after

being reported as floating through the damage dyke located near Edam in

Holland. Her story was unique from the other entire mermaid stories. She

was taught how to spin and follow her mistress for 15 years. When she died,

she was given a Christian burial.

To add more to the recorded sightings, an eBook from Google entitled

The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany also mentioned another sighting

in a different place. In the year 1430, a mermaid was caught by the people in

Netherlands and she was taught to spin, eat and drink milk and bread but no

matter how people try to make her speak, she really cannot do it. The

mermaid lived with them for sixteen years and then she died. She was given

a decent burial because she lived with them for a long time.

Another account was mentioned in the book of Funk & Wagnalls:

Standard dictionary of folklore; mythology and legend. In the west of Ceylon,

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1560, some fishermen were able to catch a mermaid in a net which were

then taken ashore and then dissected by an educated physician. He then

reported that the creature possessed human features internally and

externally.

Additionally, another famous sighting was made by an English

explorer. In the year 1608, an English explorer, named Henry Hudson, wrote

in his logbook that one of his company had seen a woman with a body and

breast like that of a human and a tail like that of a mackerel. Henry also said

that the woman half-human half-fish had a white skin and a long black hair.

Furthermore, one of the first reported mermaid sightings was made by

Valentyn, a captain of a ship, on his journey to Europe from Batavia.

According to the Google book the Asiatic Journal and Monthly miscellany, the

creature was seen sitting on the surface of the sea, with its back leaning

towards their ship. Its body was covered with a skin like that of a codfish with

a torso of a female.

Angus Hall also mentioned about the mermaid sightings reported in

Russia, Thailand, and from Scotland. Russians describe the mermaids as tall,

gloomy, and pale. In Scotland, in the year May 1658, mermaids were said to

be found in the mouth of the River Dee. It is also said that people who visit

the area will be able to witness a group of admirable creatures, as promised

by Aberdeen Almanac to the people.

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The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany recorded an account of

mermaids. In the year 1794, Captain Fortier caught a mermaid in the North

seas. It was then exhibited in the neighborhood of Covent Garden. Its upper

body was said to have the structure and features like that of a human, while

its lower body was like that of a fish with full of scales.

Moreover, in the year 1797, a Scotland campus head of Thurso, said

that he saw a mermaid in the sea near the shore. The mermaid was combing

her hair and really looked like a woman. The campus head would have

believed it to be an ordinary woman when he realized that it was impossible

for an ordinary woman to swim in those great waves of the sea.

An article in The Gatherer website also recorded an account of

mermaid sighting. On 1801, Dr. Chisholm published his essay on the

malignant fever of West Indies, which stated that he had seen a mermaid in

Berbice. The mermaid was just a mere myth but then it became their main

topic because it appeared repeatedly in the seas and even in the rivers. In

India, it is called mene mamma or the mother of the waters. He also

described what the mermaid looked like. Indians venerated this creature;

they believed that such creature should not be harmed because they might

cause calamities. Therefore, they were just observed from a distance in

order to prevent such calamities.

Way back in 1811, a man named John M’Isaac of Corphine, Scotland,

made an oath before the temporary sheriff that he had seen a woman sitting

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on the black-rock on the sea coast. He described every detail of what he saw

because he was able to see them woman for about two hours and then she

disappeared. When the minister of Campbeltown and the Cahmaerlain of

Mull examined his explanation, they did not find out any reason that could

question his explanation.

Mr. Toupin published an account of his extraordinary adventure, from

which the following is an extract:

The day (August 11, 1812) being very fine, I joined (says Mr. T.) a party of ladies and gentlemen in a sailing excursion. When

we had got about a mile to the south-east of Exmouth-bar, our attention was suddenly arrested by a very singular noise, by no means unpleasant to the ears, but of which it is impossible to give a correct idea by mere description.  It was not, however, inaptly compared by one of our ladies to the wild melodies of the /Aeolian harp, combined with a noise similar to that made by a stream of water falling gently on the leaves of a tree. In the mean time, we observed something about one hundred yards

from us to windward. We all imagined it to be some human being, though at the same time we were ata loss to account for this at such a distance from the shore, and no boat near. We hailed, but received no reply, and we made toward this creature as soon as possible; when, to the great astonishment of us all, it eluded our pursuit by plunging under the water. In a few minutes it rose again, nearly at the same place; and by that time we had got sufficiently near for one of the boatmen to throw into the water a piece of boiled fish which he had in his locker. This seemed to alarm the

animal, though it soon recovered from its fears, for we presently observed it to lay hold of the fish, which it ate with apparent

relish. Several other pieces were thrown out, by which the creature was induced to keep at a short distance from our boat, and afford us the opportunity of observing it with attention; and [we] found, to our astonishment, that it was no other than a Mermaid I As the sea was calm, and in a great degree transparent, every part of the animals body became in turn visible. The head, from the crown to the chin, forms rather a long oval, and the face seems to resemble that of the seal… The upper and back part of the head appealed to be furnished with something like hair;

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and the fore~part of the body with something like down, between a very light fawn and a very pale jrinJc colour, which, at a distance, had the appearance of flesh, and may have given rise to the idea that the body of the Mermaid is, externally, like that of the human being. This creature has two arms, each of which terminate in a hand with four fingers, connected to each ether by means of avery thin elastic membrane. The animal used its arms with great agility; and its motions in general were very graceful. From the waist it gradually tapered, so as to form a tail, which had the appearance of being covered with strong, broad, polished scales, which occasionally reflected the rays of the sun in a very beautiful manner; and, from the back and upper part of the neck, down to the loins, the body also appeared covered with short round broad feathers, of the colour of the down on the fore part of the body. The whole length of the animal, from the crown of the head to the extremity of the tail, was supposed to be about five feet, or five feet and a half. In about ten minutes from the time we approached, the animal gave two or three plunges, in quick succession, as if it were at play. After this it gave a sudden spring, and swam away from us very rapidly; and in a few minutes we lost sight of it.

The blogspot talesoffaerie also recorded different sightings on

mermaids. On April 15, 1814, a fisherman reported a sighting of a mermaid

near Portgordon in Scotland. On the year 1819, a mermaid with about the

size of a ten year old girl was seen off the coast of Ireland. The mermaid had

a well formed breast like that of a sixteen year old lady. It has long dark hair

and full dark eyes. The creature immediately disappeared with a scream

when she saw a man trying to shoot her. In the year 1834, Hugh Miller, a

writer, tells of John Reid who heard a woman singing and then spotted a

mermaid with a long yellow hair. He caught the creature and tried to make

three wishes.

Another account which shows the possibility of mermaids’ existence

was published on November 16, 1822 by the British publication. The Mirror

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published ten different sightings of mermaids on the sea. In the year 1614,

John Smith have seen a mermaid, swimming gracefully, with large eyes and

finely formed short nose and well shaped ears that were too long. She had a

long green hair by no means unattractive. Smith would have begun to

experience the first effect of love until he found out that she was a fish from

the waist down. In the year 1673, John Jocelyn said that Mr. Miller, his friend,

had seen a merman in Maine’s Casco Bay. The merman tried to threaten his

friend by putting one hand over one side of the canoe. Using a hatchet, Mr.

Miller chopped the merman’s hand, leaving the waters with purple blood. In

his Natural History of Norway, Eric Pontopildon wrote that about a mile from

the coast of Denmark, close to lands crone, three seafarers approached that

body that they thought to be dead but then it moved and went closer to

them. It appeared to be an old man with a healthy body, with broad

shoulders, with short curled black hair and a beard, and the lower body was

pointed like a fish.

In accordance to the same blogspot website mentioned in the previous

lines, more mermaid sightings were published in a book in the year 1825. An

Antarctic explorer named James Wendell mentioned of a sailor hearing a

musical voice, which they found out to have a human form with long green

hair and tail like that of a seal. The creature then disappeared after noticing

that it was being observed.

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Furthermore, in the contemporary review Dr. Karl Blind in 1881, he

tells that merpeople and females of the British Isles wears sealskins as a

disguised and takes them off on land and act like a human. Any land folk

who will be able to get the skin will have a power over the animal.

In an article found on www.unknownexplorers.com/mermaids.php

entitled Mermaids, another mermaid sighting was mentioned. In the Outer

Hebrides, in the year 1830, a farm woman had seen a mermaid playing in

the water. They were not able to capture the creature but managed to kill it

with a stone. The dead body was then seen and interpreted by a well known

scholar named Alexander Cannichael.

To add, Hassam stated on his website (hassam.hubpages.com/hub/Mysterious-Myths-About-Mermaids)

that on the year 1833, off the isle of yell, six fishermen were able to

accidentally catch a mermaid in their fishing line. They let the creature stay

in their boat for three hours. It did not offer any harm or attempted to bite

them but it moaned sadly. The creature was three feet long and was said to

have bruises on her head and shoulders. The creature possessed no gills nor

fins nor any scales in her body. Seeing that, the fisherman threw her back to

the sea and the creature was said to dive in a perpendicular direction.

Linda Godfrey also mentioned another sighting of a creature which

resembles a mermaid. On March 7, 1863, the Columbia Spy newspaper of

Pennsylvania reported that in the year 1823 in the off-coast of Southern

California, Hernando Grijalva had seen a creature that can be defined as half-

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monkey half-fish. The creature was called sea-ape with a color of porpoise

and scaly tail.

As noted by A. Hall in his book:

One was seen again in 1900 by Alexander Gunn, a landholder in the far North of Scotland. While he and his dog were out rescuing

a sheep that had become stuck in a gully, he glanced up and locked his eyes with a mermaid reclining on an adjacent ledge. With red- gold wavy hair, green eyes, and arched eyebrows and she was extremely beautiful. She was also of human size. He told a friend

later.”I actually encountered a mermaid.

Another account of mermaid was mentioned in the steampunk and

phenomena website by M. Hardcastle. During World War II, a man named

Rein Mellaart who was stationed in the Navy of us on Morotai Island in

Indonesia, as said to encounter a real mermaid that was caught by the

fishermen. When rein Mellaart saw the creature looked like a human, he told

the fishermen to free it but the fishermen resisted and told rein that they’re

not going to kill it because it will just die itself. After trying to escape many

times, the creature got tired and wept like a crying baby. Mellaart ran quick

in order to help but before he could do so, the Ri had died. Mellaart

described the creature as having an upper body of a human and having a

fish tail below the navel. It did not have a beautiful face but it had a very

pale complexion, a pointed nose and a very thick long hair.

To add to the list of sightings, Tamarathemomacat of Google groups

cited that in the year 1947 on the Island of Muck, an 80-year old fisherman

reported that he had seen a real mermaid sitting and combing her hair just

several meters away from the school. When the mermaid noticed that she

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had been watched, it jumped to the sea and disappeared. The fisherman did

not questioned what he saw for he believed it was a real mermaid.

Victoria Ann, in her website, reported that on April 12, 1988, Jeff Leider

and together with the other divers has witnessed a mermaid following their

boat and they even got a picture of the mermaid which was examined by the

experts and proved to be a genuine picture.

More sighting of a mermaid was reported in Israel. Radford,B. reported

that Shlomo Cohen is one of the first people to see a mermaid in Israel. He

said that he was with his friends when they heard a woman crying and when

they approached her, they were surprised because she had a tail.

In connection with the sighting made by Shlomo and his friends, the

Israel tourism board has set a one million dollar reward to those who can

give a picture of the mermaid who performs few tricks on sunset in Israel.

To put the topic into motion, in a youtube video entitled Mermaids

explained, a man was able to accidentally caught a video footage of a

mermaid swimming really fast with her thin tail. Mermaids explained

Another video of a mermaid was posted in YouTube. The title of the

video is Real mermaid captured alive-Sirena Viva and was uploaded by

ContactoParanormal. It was dated back on March 29, 2011 when a group of

fishermen were trying to get some fishes using their net. As to their surprise,

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the fisherman was able to caught a mermaid but it was so aggressive that

the fisherman let it go.

Mermaid Hoaxes

Though there are sightings which prove the mermaids’ existence, there are still hoaxes circulating around. According to the newworldencyclopedia.org:

The most famous mermaid hoax was perpetrated in the mid-nineteenth century by legendary showman P. T. Barnum. The ‘Feejee Mermaid’ was exhibited after Barnum had hired a phony naturalist to support the mermaid's authenticity, and used accomplices to send letters from various cities that spoke of the fake "Dr. Griffin" and his remarkable mermaid. Woodcuts were

given to the newspapers, and audiences soon flocked to see the beautiful, seductive creature pictured in the woodcut. Instead,

they found that the Feejee Mermaid was a grotesque combination of ape and fish, and not at all what they had expected. In actuality, the Feejee Mermaid was most likely the creation of aJapanese fisherman sometime around 1810. Such half-fish half-ape creatures were a traditional art form, and were often created for use in religious ceremonies. Though the Feejee Mermaid was

the most famous, mermaids have been commonly found in carnivals, traveling circuses and side shows. More recently, in the wake of

the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, pictures of mermaids were spread through the Internet. It was claimed that the photos were

of creatures that had washed up amid the devastation, but the very same photographs had circulated in 2003, and were no more real than Barnum's exhibit.

In addition to the mermaid hoaxes, an article found in

thehumanmarvels.com/?p=61 stated that the feejee mermaid is a creation in

order to represent the existence of mermaids but it is actually different from

the beautiful mermaids that people used to know. It has a horrifying look

which is the opposite of the mermaids having beautiful faces. P.T Barnum

was said to be responsible for the feejee mermaid. It was not his creation but

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he was responsible for making the Fiji mermaid popular during the crux of

Darwinism.

Furthermore, a picture of a mermaid has been circulating around the

globe, through emails, blogs, and forums since the year 2006(www.hoax-

slayer.com/malaysian-mermaid.html). The mermaid skeleton was said to be

a creation of a sculpture artist named Juan Cabana. He sold this masterpiece

via eBay auctions under the name Sea Mystery. Accoring to the information

available at the said website, the highest bid recorded was $1,550.00 US.

Cabana did not specifically put a description about his masterpiece. Instead,

he put some stories which talks that the mermaid skeleton was real and it

was found ashore.

Another video from YouTube shows an entirely fake skeleton of a

mermaid found ashore. The video is entitled Real Mermaid Found and was

uploaded by Srikanthboorela on December 14, 2009.

MANATEES AS MERMAIDS

In the Asiatic Monthly Journal, a group of experts explained that:

That the Seal, the Sea-cow, and the Porpoise may be suspected of having severally deceived the eyes, or the information, of those

who have contemplated the supposed Mermaid in its native element; while, with respect to such animals as have been submitted to public inspection on shore, no alternative remains,

but either to disbelieve the accuracy of the accounts of those of former times, and to refer those that we behold to imposture; or else to admit the existence of an animal, such as the Mermaid is described to us, and which has never yet (M. Artedi notwithstanding)

presented itself to the naturalist with such evidence of certainty as to deserve a place in our Systems of Nature.

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Moreover, another website

(www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbus- mistakes-manatees-for-

mermaids) also believes that the mermaid sightings reported by the sailors

were most likely dugongs, manatees or steller’s sea cows (which later

became endangered species because of over-hunting). Manatees are slow-

moving marine mammals with eyes like those of a human, round faces and

huge tails. The elephants are known to be the ancestors of the manatees.

Manatees are herbivores, they also have a slow metabolism and they can

only survive in war water. Manatees have a lifespan of 50 to 60 years and

have no known predators. In US, most of the manatees can be found in

Florida, where many of their kind die or injured every year due to in contact

with the sailing boats.

In connection, to compare the similarities between manatees and

mermaids, superteacherworksheets website explained that it is possible that

manatees will be mistaken as mermaids. Sightings say that mermaids have

very long green hair. It is probably a manatee with sea grass on its head

because this creature likes to swim to those areas with sea grass.

Moreover, manatees have very strong tails like that of mermaids. The

sailors might have seen those manatees’ tail (when they go back to the

depths of the water) and thought that they have seen a mermaid with a tail.

Another resemblance of mermaids and manatees is the way they cradle their

baby. Manatees carry their young with its flippers.

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CONCLUSION

Mermaids are mythological creatures. Some people believed that they

do not exist at all. Still, some people strongly believed that they do exist.

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Even though there is no solid present solid proof of their existence,

there have been so many sightings recorded from the different parts of the

globe. Almost all of the accounts were just a mere sighting of the mermaid,

while few of the accounts showed that some people were able to caught one.

The sightings that were reported by the people in the past provided some of

the descriptions of the mermaids’ appearance based on what they saw. The

common description of mermaids is having a torso of a female and a lower

body of a fish and they are usually seen sitting on rocks and combing their

long hair.

Mermaid hoaxes were also created by famous sculptures or experts in

order to earn money and to trick the eyes of the people by making some

mermaid stories out of it. Despite the historical accounts recorded that

showed that mermaids do possibly exist, some people still believed that

these creatures were simply manatees, seals or dugongs that have deceived

the eyes of the observers.

The researcher in this study believes that the theory of manatees,

seals or dugongs as mermaids is not enough to explain that mermaids do not

exist. Manatees do not look like humans at all. Manatee also cannot sit on

rocks and comb its lovely hair. Mermaids were said to swim fast while

manatees cannot. With all these differences between manatees and

mermaids, the researcher strongly believes that mermaids which were

believed to exist only in myths might have existed in the real world.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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