Mermaids

[Anonymous]

You know what---okay so sue me---but I believe! I have never seen one, but I know a lot of old folks who have. They all have stories and the reason I believe is because their stories correlate with one another. They are too similar.

a) They all agree that mermaids are ugly!
b) They all attest to the fact that mermaids have dark, and not blonde, hair.
c) They all witnessed mermaids in their entirety, meaning from head to toe. And so they are certain they did not see porpoises or other animals...etc.
d) They all agree that the tails were like those of Salmon.
e) They all proclaim that the creatures, in situations where they tried to communicate, sounded like pigs, or snorted, or whatever.

And finally,

f) They looked more like Big headed, bug-eyed humanoids...and not entirely humanlike at all.

My Grandfather's old gambling buddy (they were at the dog tracks like every weekend), once told my grandfather about a dying mermaid stuck inbetween some collapsed rocks near a cliff. He was about ten and he thought it was a woman who'd fallen from the cliff into the rocks below. He ran home to get his grandmother who came and tried to free the mermaid who died. When his father came home he managed to move one of the rocks and pushed the body out to sea. The creature was feminine (with breasts), had a face similar to a neaderthal, a low forehead, long greenish, black hair and bled a bluish/yellow blood from it's chest. He did not remember seeing teeth.

---------------------------------------------

My Aunts ex-husband is from Jamaica and as a kid he remembers his mother pointing out mermaids jumping around in the ocean. He went fishing when he was fifteen and saw a few mermaids swimming around with fish in their mouths. When they saw him trying to catch fish of his own, one of them grabbed the edge of the boat, hoisted itself up and spat a fish into the boat before his uncle beat it with a paddle. The creature bled and went under. He once said he felt so bad but couldn't do anything about it.

----------------------------------------------

And the only other story I can recall in its entirety is one my grandmother's cousin, who is 82 and like a grandfather to me, told me when I was young.
He went on a trip to a beach that was hours away with his Aunt, Uncle and two cousins, because his father had just died and his mother wanted to be alone, or whatever.
They got to this deserted beach and undressed only to be told it was not the kind of beach to swim in. His uncle had a basket with him throughout the entire trip (which was by train), and he took the basket over to a rocky alcove of the beach and returned an hour later with no basket.
The sky grew dim and they all headed off but the Uncle ran off to get the basket and the children followed him from some distance.
From a bush they observed a mermaid-like creature sitting on the beach, flapping her tail. His uncle said something to the creature and took the basket to which the creature turned on her stomach and dragged herself out to sea using her hands.
The Uncle never spoke about it and the children never asked, but when I heard this story I thought it was the coolest, craziest thing ever!


So, again...I believe.

 

[Kondoru]

Isnt there such an animal as the Carribean monk seal?

They are supposed to be very rare, even rarer than the med version.

HA (who is going to make a Jenny Hanniver one day)

 

[MrRING]

Wonder Woman - those are great stories, but here's a question: did the people who saw feel that they were seeing a living, if highly unusual, biological creature - or did they feel it was supernatural, like seeing a ghost or a fay?

 

[Anonymous]

Here's something fresh on mermen:

Mysterious amphibious creature of the Caspian
03/24/2005 19:23
Residents of a few towns on the Caspian shores in Iran and Azerbaijan say that they saw an amphibious man, he was reported to be swimming amidst huge shoals of fish. Rumor has it that the waters where he swam were turning spanking clear

For the last two years residents of coastal areas around the southern and southwestern Caspian Sea have been reporting of some amphibious creature resembling a human being. In March this year an eyewitness account from the crew of the Baku, an Azeri trawler, was published by Iranian newspaper Zindagi: "That creature was swimming parallel course near the boat for a long time," said Gafar Gasanof, a captain of the ship.
"At the beginning we thought it was a big fish, but then we spotted hair on the head of the monster and his fins looked pretty strange... the front part of his body was equipped with arms!" said the captain. Back in Azerbaijan, nobody took his story seriously. It sounded ridiculous to those who thought that the guy must have been drinking while on board.
On the contrary, shortly after the publication of his interview, the offices of the Iranian paper got flooded with numerous letters of the readers who claimed that the story was yet another piece of evidence proving the existence of the so-called "man of the sea". The readers pointed out that many fishermen had repeatedly seen the strange creature at sea and on shore after the seabed volcanoes in the area of Babolsera had come to life in February and offshore oil production operations had intensified in the Caspian.

All the eyewitness accounts provide a similar description of the marine humanoid.
His height is 165-168 cm, he has a strong build, a protruding ctenoid stomach, his feet are pinniped and he has four webbed fingers on either of his hands. His skin is of moonlight color. The hair on his head looks black and green. His arms and legs are shorter and heavier than those of a medium-build person. Apart from his fingernails, he has nails growing on the tip of his aquiline nose that look like a dolphin"s beak. No information as to his ears. His eyes are large and orbicular. The mouth of the creature is fairly large, his upper jaw is prognathic and his lower lip flows smoothly into the neck, his chin is missing.

Iranians dubbed the creature Runan-shah or "the master of the sea and rivers." The name is partly based on stories about large shoals of fish accompanying the creature at sea. Other stories refer to the waters that would turn crystal clear and stay that way for two or three days after the creature was seen swimming in those areas. Fishermen claim that fishes that stay alive for a while in the net can feel the creature coming out of the deep blue sea. Fishes were reported producing barely heard gurgling sounds as the monster came near. He was said to answer the call of the catch by making similar throaty sounds.

Some researchers believe that there is no smoke without fire and the stories circulating in Iran can be true. Besides, last May Runan-shah was seen by Azeri fishermen living in the villages located between the cities of Astara and Lenkoran.
According to a theory, the creature is not alone, there is a family of underwater humans who are on a mission ... to tackle environmental problems of the Caspian.

The reproduction of flora and fauna in the Caspian has significantly deteriorated due to a surge in offshore oil production operations and underwater volcanic activity in the above parts of the sea. The Astrakhan fishermen has long complained about a decrease in the stock of sturgeon, the total disappearance of sprat and the like. The seafood industry figures indicate that the situation in the southern Caspian has worsened even more this year.

The Caspian Runan-shah is not the only species of underwater humans on record.
Both Herodotus and Plato believed that original human beings were amphibious and might have founded an underwater state.

Modern doctors actually agree to that theory by saying that hiccup is an atavism dating back to ancient times when humans had both lungs and gills.

A book of collected scientific articles titled "The Universe and Humankind" that was published in St. Petersburg in 1905 contains a story of "marine female" caught in the Caribbean. It also has stories about dead bodies of the amphibious humans washed ashore in the Azores in 1876. Their descriptions largely correspond with the reported description of Runan-shah.

An amphibious humanlike being was reported in Karelia in 1928. The creature was repeatedly seen in the lake of Vedlozero by local residents. A group of researchers from the Petrozavodsk university arrived to investigate the case on location. Unfortunately, the findings were classified and the members of the research party eventually perished in the Gulag.

According to latest reports in the media, Iranians have already started their research of the Caspian phenomenon. The international scientific community might as well help unravel the mystery if politics do not get in the way of science this time around.

Rafic Garifdjanov, Baku

http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/ ... 68%5F.html

 

[ruffready]

I never saw any while in the Navy, just a bunch of drunken horny sailors :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, I am going to sound cheesy people, but remember OANNES, THE DOGON, the MEROVINGIAN bloodline tales, DAGON, Poseidon, CYBELE, EA (of Sumerian origin), and finally, Quetzlcoatl. All of these seemingly mythical water beings have very similar origins and may very well have to do with an original idea, and or, being. So, who are we to say a civilization of waterbeings does not exist? We have yet to explore the oceans in their entirety!

WW

 

[Quetzelcoatl]

Humanoid creature in Caspian?

sorry. Doubling up on news already reported.

whilst I am here, would anyone care to hear my impression of a mermaid in song?

underwater?

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Sea cow `sirens' fuel mermaid mythology

Sailors' deprivation sparked images, experts say

By Virginia Smith
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Posted December 25 2005

DAYTONA BEACH · The poor, portly manatee, having to endure this gibe time and again: "The early explorers thought manatees were mermaids. Guess they'd been at sea a little too long!"

Local tour guides have their own versions of the line and the Internet offers dozens more.

Even an estimable literary journal, The Believer, lampooned recently that the female Florida manatee's tail, forelimbs and "prominent nipples" make it "a likely progenitor of the mermaid myth; however, the manatee face -- jowly, with the bone structure of a sock puppet -- compounded by a 2,000- to 3,000-pound body -- declared distinctly more minivan than mermaid in shape analysis studies -- challenges the notion of manatee as marine temptress."

Any seafarer attracted to a manatee, that author concluded, must have been delusional from rickets.

Manatees as mermaids? C'mon.

But historians, folklorists and scientists say it's no joke at all.

The order Sirenia, to which the Florida manatee belongs, is from the Latin siren, or mermaid. The myth of a part-woman, part-fish with great seductive powers -- and no scruples -- has existed for centuries. As long as there have been seafarers, it seems, there have been mermaids to mess with their minds.

The mermaid has occasionally been depicted in writing and art as ugly, but she is more often pretty, if a little lewd. In her brashest incarnation she sings loudly and hoists her split tail around her head, like some tantric yogi -- a far cry from Disney's doe-eyed and marriage-minded Ariel.

"Usually these legends of singing sirens were made by sailors as explanations for why they were led astray," said Natalie Underberg, a folklorist at the University of Central Florida.

The New World sirens were a gentler, if homelier, lot.

Sailing near the Dominican Republic in 1493, Christopher Columbus described in his log some "female forms" that "rose high out of the sea, but were not as beautiful as they are represented." They did not, it's worth noting, wreck his ship.

Anthony Piccolo, a professor of literature at Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., said Columbus was mentally primed for mermaids when he saw what history holds to be manatees. Folklore and early travelers' tales featured mermaids aplenty, and the old maps of the known world, including those Columbus consulted, "were always fringed with mermaids and monsters."

In 1614, English explorer John Smith claimed to have seen a mermaid in the Caribbean, and was more impressed than his Italian forebear.

"Her long green hair imparted to her an original character by no means unattractive," he wrote in his log, adding that he'd "begun to experience the first effects of love," when the mermaid turned over and revealed her fish parts.

Even present-day observers have discerned human attributes in sea cows. In the 30 years that James Powell, a biologist with the Wildlife Trust in St. Petersburg, has worked with manatees, "there have been times when they come up out of the water and the light has been such that they did look like the head of a person."

"If you were expecting to see a mermaid," he said, "you'd see this back and tail come up with no dorsal fin" -- as many mermaids are drawn.

Piccolo said manatees would have appeared only more human, and enticing, to New World explorers. The Age of Exploration was also the age of Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish painter of voluptuous models. The female ideal was much heavier then, and "deprivation of intimacy inflamed all these voyages," Piccolo said.

"Anything in the water became a projection of the sailors' need for contact."

The sailors were deprived in other ways too.

"Some were near their deaths from hunger. It's incredible to me how human beings could endure the extremes on these voyages ... when you see the ship Columbus used, it's like a little pot," Piccolo said, without heat, fresh food or anything resembling comfort.

Some of these sailors apparently conflated their desires for food and for intimacy, seeing both possibilities in the Rubenesque manatee.

In 1789, a Scottish magazine reported that the crew of the Halifax, sailing in the Caribbean, had caught and killed several, and that they tasted like veal.

In this day, manatees probably wouldn't be the first choice of seagoing creatures to represent mermaids," Piccolo said, and not just because slender figures are in fashion.

"I don't think the contemporary imagination is fueled with myth," he said, and sex "is seen as a land activity" that only ever entered seafaring lore because the voyages were so long, miserable and sex-deprived.

Which also helps explain why passengers on today's cruise ships so seldom spot mermaids.

Source

 

[Onix_Martinez]

Okay, I am going to sound cheesy people, but remember OANNES, THE DOGON, the MEROVINGIAN bloodline tales, DAGON, Poseidon, CYBELE, EA (of Sumerian origin), and finally, Quetzlcoatl. All of these seemingly mythical water beings have very similar origins and may very well have to do with an original idea, and or, being. So, who are we to say a civilization of waterbeings does not exist? We have yet to explore the oceans in their entirety!

WW

WW, Quetzalcoatl is not a water being. He is associated with the sea, because as his human form, a white man, he departed from Mesoamerica to the east, promising to come back. His animal totem is a feathered snake, whose head reminds some of the axolotl, a local species of salamander, but the "feathers" on that animal are external gills, and not the feathers that crown the snakes head.

 

[MrRING]

I wasn't familiar with this case:

In 1739 newspapers reported that sailors of the English ship Halifax, newly returned from the East Indies, had eaten mermaid flesh.

Is there more to this account?

 

[Bannik]

Not much that I can find:

The desire to find an authentic mermaid extended unabated into the "Age of Reason" and numerous European publications featured accounts of sightings and contact with the creatures. In 1739, for example, The Scots Magazine carried a report that the crew of the ship Halifax, short on rations in the East Indies, had caught and eaten several mermaids. Upon arriving in London, the sailors described how, when taken, the creatures moaned "with great sensibility." The flesh, the men said, tasted like veal.

Source.

 

[Kondoru]

This sounds like a geniune `Sirena as mermaids` encounter.

 

[jemstar555]

2) More recently, in 1967, off Victoria, "BC Ferry passengers saw what they claimed to be a mermaid sitting on rocks at the entrance to Active Pass. Reports indicated that the mermaid had long blonde hair, the lower body of a porpoise and was sitting on the rocks eating a salmon. Photos taken by a man in an aircraft support the ferry passengers' description. The Times-Colonist newspaper reported the sighting and printed the photo.

Has anybody here seen the photo?

On the subject of 'recent' sightings, some interesting stories here

 

[Kondoru]

Even today near the Isle of Man, mermaids are frequently sighted. Most of them are redheaded.

<shrugs>

And she mentions the aquatic ape theory.

And theres are not enough references.

Whare, for example is the isle of Bourne??

 

[nataraja]

I'm very suspicious of this "aquatic ape" theory. Even if there was a semi-aquatic phase in ape-to-human evolution (which, as far as i'm aware, there's no proof for, even if there is circumstantial anatomical evidence), why would and how could a completely tailless ape, with four long and very useful limbs, evolve into something with a dolphin-like fluked tail and completely lose 2 of those limbs?

Also, European people who knew how to swim being unheard of until the 20th century? that sounds kind of dodgy to me - what about fishermen?

In 1931 on the Scottish island of Benbecula, a dead mermaid was found and buried near the shore by the sheriff. "The upper part of the creature was about the size of a wellfed child of three or four years of age, with an abnormally developed breast." She had long dark hair and white skin. "The lower part of the body was like a salmon, but without scales."

This story sounds somewhat more plausible - i think i recall reading somewhere that on some of the Scottish islands, due to inbreeding there was a high incidence of that condition where children are born with their legs fused together (like that recently-operated-on girl somewhere in Latin America)...

I think myths, credulous reporters, "Jenny Hanivers" and misidentifications of seals and/or sea cows probably account for the rest...

 

[nataraja]

I also note that the URL of that site reads to me as "Mermaid Sexist"... :lol:

 

[fangle]

somebody mentioned the theory that humans had an aquatic stage in our evolution.
- what if this is it, right now?

humans are probably less hairy than ever
only the strong swimmers will survive global flooding
signs to look for in the next generation - nostrils closer to the top of the head, bigger webs between fingers, complete lack of pubic hair

 

[rynner2]

I'm very suspicious of this "aquatic ape" theory. Even if there was a semi-aquatic phase in ape-to-human evolution (which, as far as i'm aware, there's no proof for, even if there is circumstantial anatomical evidence), why would and how could a completely tailless ape, with four long and very useful limbs, evolve into something with a dolphin-like fluked tail and completely lose 2 of those limbs?

That has NEVER been claimed by the AAT. The theory is merely that humans spent some period living on shorelines, and surviving on shellfish, etc, harvested from shallow inshore water. And any evidence of this phase has likely been covered by rising sea-levels since.

We have a thread on AAT here:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5466

(And BTW, dolphins, etc, did evolve from land based mammals, so your argument falls down on two fronts.)

Also, European people who knew how to swim being unheard of until the 20th century? that sounds kind of dodgy to me - what about fishermen?

Fishermen are historically famous for their fear of water (in northern latitudes at least, where sea temperatures do not encourage swimming except in shallow water in summer).

Fishermen know that their greatest chance of survival is keeping their boat afloat and staying on it. If you went in the sea you were probably a gonner. And since many boats fished miles from shore, swimming would not be a useful ability - you'd be exhausted and suffering from hypothermia before you got half way to shore.

rynner (ex-sailor, fisherman, etc.)

 

[Kondoru]

I also note that the URL of that site reads to me as "Mermaid Sexist"...

Grins.

For a person who claims to know much about the subject they are very ignorant.

(decides that at 2300 its too late to cover ground that this thread has already discussed.)

 

[Leaferne]

humans are probably less hairy than ever
only the strong swimmers will survive global flooding
signs to look for in the next generation - nostrils closer to the top of the head, bigger webs between fingers, complete lack of pubic hair

Nope. There's no reproductive pressure to select for these traits at the moment, so there's no reason for these things to develop.

 

[Xanatico]

If someone was to give birth to a deformed baby with the legs fused together(mermaid syndrome) you could imagine they might leave the baby somewhere, perhaps in a swamp. And imagine what people would think if they was to find the mummified body of it.

 

[Mister_Awesome]

I've heard it said that the concept of the vain mermaid with the comb and mirror was a later version, with Christian morals injected into it. I've found very little reference material that speaks of older forms of mermaids though... It seems to me that looking at earlier versions is a good way to get to the bottom of mermaids. There are a lot of stories in this thread that make me scratch my chin thoughtfully and go 'hmm.' I'm not sure what I'm getting at anymore, so I'm going to wrap this up... Basically mermaids as half-fish-half-women cannot exist within science as we know it, though that isn't to say they cannot exist. Fused legs or whatnot are a possibility, but I've found the various sources to be so different in their descriptions of mermaids that they are very hard to study.

 

[jemstar555]

I also note that the URL of that site reads to me as "Mermaid Sexist"... :lol:

Oh yes, just noticed that.

:lol:

 

[Yithian]

Zimbabwe 'cash for mermaids' con

A fake Zimbabwean traditional healer has been found guilty of conning a businesswoman out of $30,000 to pay for mermaids to recover her stolen car.

The money was to have been used to import the mermaids from the UK and accommodate them in a local hotel.

Some of the money was to have been used to pay for a bull, whose genitals would supposedly help find the thief of her luxury vehicle.

Belief in animism is widespread in Zimbabwe, and across Africa.

There is a national association of traditional healers but the court found that Edina Chizema was not registered.

She had denied the charges of theft by false pretences but magistrate Sandra Nhau said she was not a credible witness.

Chizema had also asked for money to buy mobile phones to contact the mermaids and said she could solve the businesswoman's undisclosed "personal problems".

She is to be sentenced at a later date.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4829020.stm

 

[JamesWhitehead]

I read that story somewhere a while back and was certain it was already on here. Now I'm puzzled as to where and when I could have read it! Possibly when the healer was charged?

Anyway it is a gem that should be filed alongside the case of the Elizabethan gent who paid some devious characters a dowry so that he could marry the Queen of the Fairies!

The theme of the mermaid may have been topical in Zimbabwe at the time:
http://zimbabwe.ms.dk/themes/HCA/default.htm

:shock:

 

[rynner2]

MERMAID HAND-CRAFTED GUITAR IS A WORK OF ART


11:00 - 22 March 2006
It has taken more than three years to create, is made of 15 types of wood and has one of the most unique appearances of any musical instrument in existence. Now, this hand-crafted acoustic guitar encompassing the body of a mermaid in its form is to become one of the most expensive guitars in history.

Westcountry guitar maker Andy Manson has decided to sell the instrument, called The Mermaid, to the highest bidder to raise funds for charity.

Mr Manson, who has built guitars for a host of stars, including Andy Summers from the Police and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, expects his latest creation to fetch a "six-figure sum".

Mr Manson, who is based in Crediton, Devon, has been making guitars for 38 years. He said he decided to make the sculptural instrument as "an example of free expression".

He said: "I had it in mind to create something like this for a while, and it has taken three years or so to build.

"The mermaid's features are based on my wife, Debbie and the sculpture is life-size, but it only weighs about 9lbs, which is quite a lot less than the average guitar. I used 15 different types of wood, lime for the head and hands, while the fingerboard is maple, which are all used in traditional guitar making. While it is essentially a piece of art it is playable."

Mr Manson said he hoped the guitar would be bought by an enthusiast, and not a collector who would lock it away. He said: "I haven't put a price tag as such on the piece, but when you look at the amount of work that has gone in to it, then I am looking for a six-figure sum. A significant share of the sale proceeds will be given to Harvest Help, a charity who gives technical aid to farmers in Zambia."

http://tinyurl.com/hwr9f
Sadly, no pic with the story.

 

[rynner2]

But the first hit with Google gave me this...
http://www.andymanson.co.uk/MermaidPage ... _front.htm

 

[James_H]

:shock: Yuck!

 

[Xanatico]

A hotel to accomodate the mermaids? Presumably they were given waterbeds. Or did they just sleep in the bath tub?

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Save the Nipples

I read that story somewhere a while back and was certain it was already on here. Now I'm puzzled as to where and when I could have read it! Possibly when the healer was charged?

Here is the earlier report:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 405#515405

---------------

Mermaid statue's new parts may not float

By Frank Cerabino

Palm Beach Post Columnist

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

There comes a time when a community must face an issue head on, and that time is rapidly approaching for Wellington.

Should the village mermaid statue have nipples?

Wellington's Art in Public Places program commissioned The Siren, a bronze statue of a buxom mermaid for display outside the community center.

When local artist Norm Gitzen was creating The Siren, he considered a decency clause in his contract and asked for advice.

"I was wondering what exactly was indecent," he said. "And I was working on the breasts at the time."

So he asked village officials for a nipple advisory.

"I was told it's better to leave them off," he said.

So he did.

"But I always felt she was unfinished," Gitzen said.

Attention not wanted to some

Even without the nipples, the statue's top-heavy proportions earned it a mention in Playboy magazine, and to some, brought the village unwanted notoriety.

The statue was moved recently elsewhere in Wellington to be on display at the Palm Beach International Biennale art exhibition. Gitzen saw it as his chance to complete the statue by adding the nipples.

The anatomically completed mermaid doesn't bug anybody at the art show.

But next month, the statue is scheduled to be returned to its spot of honor outside the community center. With the nipples, Gitzen hopes.

There are, however, anti-mermaid forces in town.

During the recent mayor's race, challenger Duane Christensen used The Siren as a campaign issue.

"First thing I would do is pack that thing up and send it to Playboy magazine," he had said. "I would not have that as a symbol of this village."

Artist rallies some support

Christensen lost to incumbent Mayor Tom Wenham, who isn't exactly a wild bohemian himself on the subject.

"What's your position on the nipples?" I asked him.

"What a conversation," he said. "We could have a better conversation than this."

Wenham's life would be simpler if the mermaid statue never came back to the community center. Especially in its current condition.

"If it comes back, fine," Wenham said. "But it has to come back the way it left.

"Maybe I'm a little old fashioned."

Gitzen is reluctant to "de-nipple her," as he puts it.

"I'd rather put a bathing suit on her than take the nipples off," the artist said.

He feels that now his statue is complete. Meanwhile, he started a Save The Nipples petition, and in one day at its temporary site, he collected about 400 signatures.

"I know I could get thousands of signatures," he said. "I'd have a ton of support."

The clock is ticking. And Wellington must decide whether it will embrace the anatomically correct mermaid back at its community center, or create a new kind of mythological creature that wears a bikini top.

It's not the first time that a mermaid's anatomy has caused a stir. Starbucks used to have a company logo that featured a nippled mermaid. But the Starbucks mermaid logo has grown more modest, now sporting long wavy hair strategically draped over her chest.

Wellington should just count its blessings.

Things could be much worse. The Art in Public Places display could have commissioned a tribute to the village's equestrian community.

And instead of worrying about what to do with a couple little bits of brass on a mermaid statue, we could be discussing the ramifications of an updated stallion.

Source

Where's that petition???