Mermaids

I have always loved mermaids. When I was a child, I was mesmerized by the water. I loved all of the films they made about mermaids, "Splash," "The Little Mermaid," and even the somewhat recent "The Shape of Water," in which a merman is actually the protagonist. The thing is, we don't really know what's in our oceans. Researchers keep finding new creatures in our oceans. According to LiveScience.com, they just found a brand new creature on our ocean floor that looks like a cross between an alien and an octopus with a head that looks like a strawberry, which is why they named it the Antarctic strawberry feather star. Is it at all possible that there are more creatures on our ocean floor? Could smarter creatures, say humanoid creatures with a somewhat human intelligence, be smart enough to hide in the depths of the ocean?  There's a hypothesis called the aquatic monkey. The aquatic ape hypothesis, often referred to as the aquatic monkey theory, is a controversial proposal that suggests that the ancestors of modern humans had a semi-aquatic stage in their evolution. Proposed by British marine biologist Alister Hardy in the 1960s and popularized by writer Elaine Morgan, this hypothesis speculates that our hominid ancestors lived in a semi-aquatic environment, such as the shores of lakes, rivers, or coastlines. Proponents of the aquatic ape hypothesis argue that certain traits found in humans, such as our lack of body hair, subcutaneous fat, ability to control breath, and ability to walk upright, could be explained by adaptation to a semi-aquatic environment. These adaptations, they suggest, would have been beneficial for activities like wading, diving, or swimming for food and protection. What if, as the waters rose and the monkeys had to decide to either walk back into shore or walk further into the oceans, some walked into the land, making them our ancestors, and some of them dove into the sea, making them into mermaids and mermen? Could it not be possible that as we continued to evolve, to lose our tail and most of our hair, and to begin to walk completely upright, our "cousins" grew fins and evolved to be able to breathe underwater? Ok, let's say that you buy this theory and that you somewhat believe that mermaids could be possible. I would need proof—proof that mermaids exist. Would eyewitness accounts count?  Historic sightings  There are stories depicting a creature, which is a woman from the waist up and a fish from the waist down. These stories come from Syria, in 9 BCE. They are retelling the story of the goddess Artagatis, which is related to fertility and water.  The world's first encyclopedia, written by a Roman, is often credited to Pliny the Elder. Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist, and philosopher who lived from 23 to 79 AD. He wrote a comprehensive work titled "Naturalis Historia," commonly translated as "Natural History." "Naturalis Historia" is a vast encyclopedia that covers a wide range of subjects, including astronomy, geography, anthropology, zoology, botany, and mineralogy. It aimed to compile and systematize the knowledge available in the Roman Empire during his time. The work consists of 37 books and is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire. Pliny the Elder's "Naturalis Historia" laid the foundation for later encyclopedic works and remains an essential source for understanding the state of knowledge in the ancient world. Pliny the Elder mentioned mermaids in his work "Naturalis Historia." In Book IX of his encyclopedia, Pliny discussed various marine creatures and included a section on mermaids, which he referred to as "nereids." He described nereids as sea nymphs with the appearance of young girls from the waist up but with fish-like tails below.  First Century AD: Pliny the Elder writes about Nereids, THE NAME they had for mermaids, or women with rough, scaly bodies like fish. They are “sitting upon dolphins, or ketoi, or hippocamps,” Pliny describes how the legatus of Gaul wrote to the late Emperor Augustus about “a considerable number of nereids” being “found dead upon the seashore.” Further, “I have, too, some distinguished informants of equestrian rank, who state that they themselves once saw in the ocean of Gades a sea-man,” Pliny writes, according to a translation by the University of Chicago. The translation provided by graduate student Mary Allyson Armistead is based on a section of the book Physiologus, which was written or compiled in Greek by an unidentified author in the fifth century AD. The section is titled "The Nature of the Mermaid." “In the sea there are many marvels. The mermaid is like a maiden. In breast and body, she is thus joined: From the navel downward, she is not like a maid. But a fish very certainly has sprouted fins. This marvel dwells in an unstable place where the water subsides. She sinks ships and causes suffering. She sings sweetly—this siren—and has many voices, Many are resonant, but they are very dangerous. Sailors forget their steering because of her singing. They slumber, sleep, and wake too late. And the ships sink in a whirlpool and cannot surface anymore. But wise and wary men are able to return. Often, they escape with all the strength they have. They have said of this siren that she is so grotesque. Half maid and half fish: something is meant by this." The article continues after the discussion. Vote and comment. [tok id=3118203983fcd9c541604c8ab1b7db35 partner=1966] Sometime between 1040 and 1105, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, or Rashi, describes mermaids in the Talmud. “There are fish in the sea with which half is in the form of man and half in the form of a fish, called sereine in Old French,” he wrote. Also, not too long after, the Moshav Zekeinim, a commentary on the “Torah” by the medieval Tosafists, explains mermaids while calling them sirens, according to the book Sacred Monsters. “This refers to the creature in the sea which is similar in part to a person, from the navel upwards, and it is similar to a woman in all aspects, in that it has breasts and long hair like that of a woman, and from the navel downwards it is a fish,” it is written in the commentary. “And it sings beautifully, with a pleasant voice.” 13th Century: Bartholomew Angelicus, in De Propietatibus Rerum, describes a mermaid and tells of her stealing sailors from their ships. Middle of the 13th Century: Speculum Regale, or The King's Mirror, is written in Old Norse; a translated version appears several centuries later. In the book, there is a description of a creature found off the shores of Greenland. “Like a woman as far down as her waist, long hands, and soft hair, the neck and head in all respects like those of a human being. The hands seem to be long, and the fingers not to be pointed, but united into a web like that on the feet of water birds. From the waist downwards this monster resembles a fish, with scales, tail, and fins. This shows itself, especially before heavy storms. The habit of this creature is to dive frequently and rise again to the surface with fishes in its hands. When sailors see it playing with the fish, or throwing them towards the ship, they fear that they are doomed to lose several of the crew ; but when it casts the fish from the vessel, then the sailors take it as a good omen that they will not suffer loss in the im-pending storm. This monster has a very horrible face, with broad brow and piercing eyes, a wide mouth and double chin." 1389: The book The Eastern Travels of John of Hesse is published, in which many perils during a voyage are relived. At one point, the author writes, "We came to a stony mountain, where we heard syrens singing, mermaids who draw ships into danger by their songs. We saw there many horrible monsters and were in great fear." 1403: A mermaid drifts inland through a broken dyke on the Dutch coast during the heavy storm. She was spied by some local women and their servants, “who at the first were afraid of her, but seeing her often, they resolved to take her, which they did, and bringing her home, she suffered herself to be clothed and fed with bread and milk and other meats, and would often strive to steal again into the sea, but being carefully watched, she could not.” The mermaid later learned how to sew but never spoke. She died 15 years after she was discovered. John Swan, an English minister, describes the story in the 1635 book Speculum Mundi. The book also includes the following descriptions of mermaids: "Transformed to fish, for their bold survery: But the' upper half of their heads remained still. And their sweet skill in wonted melody Whichever after they abused to ill, T' allure weake travelers whom gotten they did kill." 1493: Christopher Columbus spots three mermaids rise high from the sea. Columbus wrote in his ship's journal: “They were not as beautiful as they are painted, although to some extent they have a human appearance in the face.” He also noted that he had seen similar creatures off the coast of West Africa. 1560: According to Curious Myths of the Middle Ages by Sabine Baring-Gould: “Near the island of Mandar, on the west of Ceylon, some fishermen entrapped in their net seven mermen and mermaids, of which several Jesuits, and Father Henriques, and Bosquez, physician to the Viceroy of Goa, were witnesses. The physician examined them with a great deal of care, and dissected them. He asserts that the internal and external structure resembled that of human beings.” 1590: William Shakespeare is believed to have written Midsummer Night's Dream between 1590 and 1594. In it, he writes: "I sat upon a promontory, And I heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back. Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath, That the rude sea grew civil at her song; And certain stars shot madly from their spheres. To hear the seamaid's music." Soon after, he continues. “Come over here, Puck. You remember that time I was sitting on a rocky coast when I head a mermaid? She was riding on a dolphin's back. Her singing was so sweet and pure that the rough sea grew calm and stars sot madly about the sky on hearing the sea-girls song.” 1608: Explorer Henry Hudson recounts an experience in the ship's journal that happened on June 15 while sailing through the Bering Sea off the top of Norway. "This morning one of our company, looking overboard, saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the company to see her, one more came up, and by that time she was coming close to the ship's side, looking earnestly at the men. A little while after, a sea came and overturned her. From the navel upward, her back and breast were like a woman's; as they say, they saw her; her body as big as one of ours; her skin very white; and long hair hanging down behind, of color black. On her way down, they saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise and speckled like a mackerel. Their names that saw her were Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayney." Later, in the mid-1800's, in an analysis of the incident inThe romance of natural historyNaturalist Philip Henry Gosse says that the usual claim of sailors mistaking manatees for mermaids won't work here. "Whatever explanation may be attempted of this apparition, the ordi-nary resource of seal and walrus will not be availed of here. Seals and walruses must have been as familiar to these polar mariners as cows to a milkmaid. Unless the whole story was a concocted lie between the two men, reasonless and objectless, and the worthy old navigator doubtless knew the character of his men, they must have seen some form of being as yet unrecognized." 1614: Captain John Smith, of Pocahontas fame, sees a mermaid off the coast of Massachusetts. He writes that "the upper part of her body perfectly resembled that of a woman, and she was swimming about with all possible grace near the shore." It had "large eyes, rather too round, a finely shaped nose (a little too short), well-formed ears, rather too long, and her long green hair imparted to her an original character by no means unattractive." 1619: Two senators in Norway capture a merman, according to Adventures in Unhistory. The senators, Ulf Rosensparre and Christian Hollh, decided to release the merman back into the sea. 1739: The Gentleman's Magazine describes in an issue an experience with a creature. “Some fisherman near the City of Exeter drawing their nets ashore, a Creature leap'd out, and run away very swiftly, not being able to overtake it, they knock'd it down by throwing sticks after it,” the description reads, according to Adventures in Unhistory. “At their coming up to it, it was dying, having groan'd like a human creature: Its feet were webb'd like a duck's, it had eyes, nose, and mouth resembling those of a man, only the nose somewhat depress'd; a tail not unlike a salmon's, turning up towards its back, and is four feet high.” It was publicly shown in the city. 1797: William Munro, a schoolteacher in Scotland, writes a letter to Dr. Torrance in Glasgow, which is published in The Times of London on Sept. 8, 1809. Munro writes: "About twelve years ago when I was Parochial Schoolmaster at Reay, in the course of my walking on the shore of Sandside Bay, being a fine warm day in summer, I was induced to extend my walk towards Sandside Head, when my attention was arrested by the appearance of a figure resembling an unclothed human female, sitting upon a rock extending into the sea, and apparently in the action of combing its hair, which flowed around its shoulders, and of a light brown colour. The resemblance which the figure bore to its prototype in all its visible parts was so striking, that had not the rock on which it was sitting been dangerous for bathing, I would have been constrained to have regarded it as really an human form, and to an eye unaccustomed to the situation, it must have undoubtedly appeared as such. The head was covered with hair of the colour above mentioned and shaded on the crown, the forehead round, the face plump. The cheeks ruddy, the eyes blue, the mouth and lips of a natural form, resembling those of a man; the teeth I could not discover, as the mouth was shut; the breasts and abdomen, the arms and fingers of the size in which the hands were employed, did not appear to be webbed, but as to this I am not positive. It remained on the rock three or four minutes after I observed it, and was exercised during that period in combing its hair, which was long and thick, and of which it appeared proud, and then dropped into the sea, which was level with the abdomen, from whence it did not reappear to me, I had a distinct view of its features, being at no great distance on an eminence above the rock on which it was sitting, and the sun brightly shining.” He continues: “Immediately before its getting into its natural element it seemed to have observed me, as the eyes were directed towards the eminence on which I stood. It may be necessary to remark, that previous to the period I beheld the object, I had heard it frequently reported by several persons, and some of them person whose veracity I never heard disputed, that they had seen such a phenomenon as I have described, though then, like many others, I was not disposed to credit their testimony on this subject. I can say of a truth, that it was only by seeing the phenomenon, I was perfectly convinced of its existence. If the above narrative can in any degree be subservient to establishing the existence of a phenomenon hitherto almost incredible to naturalists or to remove the skepticism of others who are ready to dispute everything that they cannot fully comprehend, you are welcome to it. Dear Sir, Your most obliged and most humble servant, WILLIAM MUNRO" 1801: Dr. Chisolm recounts a visit four years prior to the island of Berbice in the Caribbean. The residents call mermaids mene mamma, or mother of waters. Governor Van Battenburgh gives the following description to Chisolm: “The upper portion resembles the human figure, the head smaller in proportion, sometimes bare, but oftener covered with a copious quantity of long black hair. The shoulders are broad, and the breasts large and well formed. The lower portion resembles the tail-portion of a fish, is of immense dimension, the tail forked, and not unlike that of the dolphin, as it is usually represented. The colour of the skin is either black or tawny. The animal is held in veneration and dread by the Indians, who imagine that the killing it would be attended with the most calamitous consequences. It is from this circumstance that none of these animals have been shot, and, consequently, not examined but at, a distance. They have been generally observed in a sitting posture in the water, none of the lower extremity being discovered until they are disturbed; when, by plunging, the tail appears, and agitates the water to a considerable distance round. They have been always seen employed in smoothing their hair, or stroking their faces and breasts with their hands, or something resembling hands. In this posture, and thus employed, they have been frequently taken for Indian women bathing.” 1822: A young man, John McIsaac of Scotland, testifies under oath that he saw an animal that had a white upper half with the shape of the human body, while the other half was covered with scales and had a tail, according to a story in the London Mirror. The sighting took place in 1811. McIsaac describes the creature as having long, light brown hair, being between four and five feet long, and having fingers close together. “It continued above water for a few minutes, and then disappeared,” according to the article. “The Minister of Campbeltown, and the Chamberlain of Mull, attest his examination, and declare that they know no reason why his veracity should be questioned.” 1830: Villagers at Benbecula, in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland saw a small woman on shore. They tried capturing it, but failed, so they pelted it with rocks. A few days later,its corpse washed ashore, according to Hidden Animals. They then examined it. “The upper part of the body was about the size of a well-developed child of three or four years of age, with an abnormally developed breast. The hair was long, dark, and glossy, while the skin was white, soft, and tender. The lower part of the body was like a salmon, but without scales.” The creature was buried in a coffin later on. 1842: Phineas Barnum, of Barnum and Brothers fame, got connected with what was said to be a mermaid who had been caught near the Feejee Islands in the South Pacific. There is much debate about whether the mermaid was a mermaid or something else. On the supporting side, the New York Sun had a review which in part said: “We've seen it! What? Why that Mermaid! The mischief you have! Where? What is it? It's twin sister to the deucedest looking thing imaginable—half fish, half flesh; and 'taken by and large,' the most odd of all oddities earth or sea has ever produced." In a portion of an autobiography written by Barnum, published by the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University, Barnum says that he obtained the specimen from the estate of a dead sailor who had purchased it from Japanese sailors. Barnum recounts going to his naturalist to ascertain the “genuineness of the animal.” His naturalist tells him that he cannot conceive of how it was manufactured, “for he never knew a monkey with such peculiar teeth, arms, hands, etc., nor had he knowledge of a fish with such peculiar fins.” Barnum writes, "Then why do you suppose it is manufactured?" I inquired. "Because I don't believe in mermaids," replied the naturalist. "That is no reason at all," said I, "and therefore I'll believe in the mermaid and hire it." Barnum showed the animal in his museum in New York and got out of it for quite a bit of money. Others say that the whole thing was a hoax and that it was created by Japanese artisans. 1857: The Shipping Gazette reported that a Scottish seaman had spotted a creature off the coast of Britain. "We distinctly saw an object about six yards distant from us in the shape of a woman, with full breast, dark complexion, comely face, and fine hair hanging in ringlets over the neck and shoulders. It was about the surface of the water to about the middle, gazing at us and shaking its head. The weather being fine, we had a full view of it and that for three or four minutes,” said John Williamson and  John Cameron. 1947: A old fisherman in Scotland reported that he had seen a mermaid in the sea about twenty yards from the shore, sitting combing her hair on a floating herringbox used to preserve live lobsters, according to Sir Arthur Waugh in The Folklore of the Merfolk. “Unfortunately, as soon as she looked round, she realized that she had been seen, and plunged into the sea,” he writes. “But no questioning, says Mr Maclean, could shake the  old fisher- man's conviction: he was adamant that he had seen a mermaid. So one never knows!" 2008: A sighting of a mermaid happened in Suurbraak, a village in the Western Cape of South Africa, reported Aldo Pekeur, a correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. A resident of the village, Daniel Cupido, said he and his friends were next to the river around 11:30 p.m. when they heard something like someone “bashing on a wall.” Cupido went toward the sound, and found a figure "like that of a white woman with long black hair thrashing about in the water". Cupido said he tried to help the woman but the woman made “the strangest sound,” which Dina, Cupido’s mother, said was so sorrowful “my heart could take it no more.” The creatures are described as Kaaiman, or half human and half fish creatures living in deep pools. Suurbraak tourism officer Maggy Jantjies said she knew the people who saw the Kaaiman well, and that they did not misuse alcohol 2009: The reports from dozens of people of seeing mermaids spurred the town council in Kiryat Yam, near Haifa, to offer $1 million to anyone who can prove by photo or capture that mermaids do exist. "Many people are telling us they are sure they've seen a mermaid and they are all independent of each other," council spokesman Natti Zilberman told Sky News. "People say it is half girl, half fish, jumping like a dolphin. It does all kinds of tricks then disappears.” 2012: An official in Zimbabwe said that mermaids were hounding government workers off dam sites in several different areas. Water Resources Minister Sam Sipepa Nkomo told a senate committee in March that traditional chiefs were going to perform rituals to get rid of the mermaids believed to live in reservoirs in Gokwe and Mutare, where workers are afraid to go, according to Voice of America. Some workers reportedly went missing, while others have refused to go back to install water pumps. Traditional leader chief Edison Chihota of Mashonaland East told the media outlet that mermaids exist. “As a custodian of the traditional I have no doubt," chief Chihota said. "For anyone to dispute this is also disputing him or herself.” Animal Planet actually did a documentary a few years ago, which I found most interesting. The following is some of the information that I took from the documentary, and then a link to the documentary itself.  It all stared with a sound that could not be identified by the Oceanic recording device NOAA. A mass whaling was discovered, and somehow two boys were able to record the scene. The video revealed more than they expected. They had found a mermaid when the NOAA biologist got to the scene, and they were surprised to find that Navy was also on the scene. A respected marine biologist believed that many were utilizing a new sonic weapon that was killing the whales. To prove this, they listened to a sonic recording. They found a sonic boom created by the Navy, but they also found something else. A mysterious sound that they could not identify. The beaching was now happening all over the world, but whales were not the only things that were being washed ashore. Fish with bone-made spears coughing on their sides were also found. Someone was fishing with spears in the open ocean. The marine biologists began to think that perhaps when we began to evolve and began to walk upright at the sea, our ancestors would walk into the sea gathering fish for food. Perhaps it is here that our intelligence began with the fatty acids that were found in the sea. During this time, some of our ancestors moved deeper into the sea, while others moved away from it. Could it be that the ones that stayed in the water would later evolve into mermaids? It is not the first time in nature that this would happen; polar bears are now aquatic mammals, but they used to be brown bears, found only on land. But then they found something strange inside of a great white shark—something that was impossible to determine. They had only 30% of the body, but it was enough to study; this is what they found: A collapsible ribcage, which is only something that marine mammals have. Omnivore teeth are something that no marine mammals have. They took x-rays of the tail flute, which revealed bones—there are no marine mammals that have bones in their tail flutes. They found a large spleen, which is something also found in marine mammals. A CT scan revealed that the hips were those of a creature that had once walked upright for two feet. Armed with all of these incredible identifiers, they could only come up with one conclusion. Not only was this a newly discovered type of marine mammal, it was also once related to us. It came from the same family tree as us. But how closely is this thing that lives in water to us? When they reconstructed the skull, they found large eye cavities, which meant that the eyes were large; this is normal in animals that can see in darkness. The skull also revealed a similarity to our skull. Similar to our ancestors. They also found that it would be able to create sonic locations and intricate sounds. Which meant that this was the mystery creature that had made those strange sounds in the recording. Finally, there was only one explanation for what they had found. It was a mermaid. Perhaps there are no scientific records of mermaids, but there are hundreds and thousands of stories told all over the world about these creatures. Why is it that we can believe in God but not in fables and myths told for thousands of years by hundreds of different cultures that have never met? As soon as they dared to say the name out laud the government took all of their findings away “confiscation of a find with historical importance” This means that they could not prove what they had found. Why would the government do this? Why can we not find out the truth about such a thing? What would it really mean for the human race if we discovered that mermaids, the thing of myth, are real? Could it possibly mean that other creatures of myth and fable are also real? Could it be that we are not as alone as we feel? What else could we possibly find if we were allowed to explore deeper into the stuff of legends? But of course, this entire documentary has been proclaimed false by the agencies involved. When I did a search for Dr. Paul Roberton, I found another video of him with another name and even a small clip of the actor in a movie. So this whole documentary was put together by the great imagination of Animal Planet producers. That was a waste... But could some of their theories be correct? Could it be that mermaids do exist?  Some believe that sea cows have been mistaken by mermaids in the past (have you ever seen a sea cow?) The truth is that we have not discovered all known underwater creatures.