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Wimpus, Half Human-Half Fish Skeleton Photographed In 1917

runningalone

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I have been digging through old newspapers and I came across mention of the "Wimpus", alleged to be half human half fish. The skeleton was apparently found off the coast in China.

The only known photograph appeared in the article Were There Really Mermaids? Dubuque Telegraph Herald. June 17, 1917. As far as I know I am the first person to discover this photograph and upload it online publicly. The photograph was taken in Florida and is long out of copyright. How the skeleton got from China to Florida is not made clear.

If you search online for Wimpus and mermaid, Loren Coleman blogged on this way back in 2008 but he never had the photograph. He had a different newspaper clipping than the ones I have read.

https://cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/mermaid-1917/

I present to you all, the photograph here

Wimpus.png


Also attached is a newspaper clipping I found. Typical response will be a silly hoax but just thought I would share it. It is sad the wimpus has been neglected for so long. There is no mention of it in any cryptozoology or mystery books.
 

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The "coloured boy" in question doesn't look too happy to be there, can't say I blame him.
 
Cool find runningalone ..

.. and on a side note, it does look like your typical Fiji mermaid specimen. I've noticed those are always about the length of someone's forearm, I wish someone would make one using shark remains grafted onto a gorilla upper torso and head so creating a giant mermaid.
 
The "coloured boy" in question doesn't look too happy to be there, can't say I blame him.

I'm not sure whether it's intentional, but it appears to me the boy is posing (or was posed) to match the wimpus' positioning (left arm bent beneath; right arm extended).
 
The most novel aspect of this news item for me was the allusion to alternative names.

The name 'Oannes' (attributed to Chaldeans) is the Greek form of the Sumerian name for a demi-god who taught humans the creation myth. This mythological figure is typically illustrated as a sort of half-man / half-fish amphibious being.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apkallu

The one that really stood out for me was the decidedly non-Chinese term 'wimpus'. This term has a history of being used as a catch-all label for something odd or nameless (akin to 'whatsit'). The sole mythic or folkloric usage I can find comes from 19th / 20th century North American lumberjack parlance - specifically the legend of the Whirling Wimpus (aka 'Wampus'; 'Whimpus'). This was a dangerous carnivorous creature with a single fused rear leg upon which it rotated at high speed when attacking. The Whirling Wimpus is one of the creatures Paul Bunyan was said to have encountered.

http://www.lib.lumberwoods.com/fc/whimpus.html
 
Perhaps one of our US members could add some detail, but I seem to recall reading that there were several people in the States in the early part of the 20th century who were making this sort of stuff to sell to sideshows and the like.
 
Perhaps one of our US members could add some detail, but I seem to recall reading that there were several people in the States in the early part of the 20th century who were making this sort of stuff to sell to sideshows and the like.

The creation of such taxidermic oddities has a long history - particularly in Japan:

http://pinktentacle.com/2006/08/mermaid-mummies/
 
Only one boy shown in the picture but they still felt the need to specify that he was "coloured" (sic).

I also wonder how they could tell from those skeletal remains that the creature was "half woman" — even supposing that having some human characteristics from the waist up (or forwards) justifies using the term for an adult female human.
 
Only one boy shown in the picture but they still felt the need to specify that he was "coloured" (sic).

I also wonder how they could tell from those skeletal remains that the creature was "half woman" — even supposing that having some human characteristics from the waist up (or forwards) justifies using the term for an adult female human.

According to the newspaper clippings I read they based the idea of "half woman", partly from a limited hair sample. They talk about scientists having examined the skeletal remains and doing scientific tests, but no names are given. All very mysterious. This sort of thing reminds me of the unverifiable material that was usually cited in books by Peter Kolosimo or Robert Charroux.
 
Perhaps one of our US members could add some detail, but I seem to recall reading that there were several people in the States in the early part of the 20th century who were making this sort of stuff to sell to sideshows and the like.
Fortean Times magazine ran a feature with a guest artist who provided a tutorial on how to make your own Fiji mermaid a while back .. I can't remember which issue, I'll see if I can find it unless anyone else cares to wade in on that?

edit: issue 254

aFT2541.jpg


https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/issue-254-is-here.38941/
 

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.. and is the official conservator for the Ray Harryhausen Foundation.

Cool, I hope he was able to buy back some of the Ray Harryhausen props that Forest J. Ackerman used to own at his 'Acker Mansion'? .. I should probably ask Alan that, I'd like to think he's caring for those now.
 
The one that really stood out for me was the decidedly non-Chinese term 'wimpus'. This term has a history of being used as a catch-all label for something odd or nameless (akin to 'whatsit'). The sole mythic or folkloric usage I can find comes from 19th / 20th century North American lumberjack parlance - specifically the legend of the Whirling Wimpus (aka 'Wampus'; 'Whimpus'). This was a dangerous carnivorous creature with a single fused rear leg upon which it rotated at high speed when attacking. The Whirling Wimpus is one of the creatures Paul Bunyan was said to have encountered.

http://www.lib.lumberwoods.com/fc/whimpus.html

Seems there was another aquatic curiosity, this one discovered in Wyoming in 1915, also referred to as a wimpus.

http://wyomingroom.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-mysterious-wimpus-from-lake-desmet.html

Here, in 1942, it's used as a throwaway term for a creature :
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/95/2463/274

A 1924 fictional piece in which it seems to be a monster of sorts :

https://books.google.se/books?id=3u...ved=0ahUKEwipjLTSh-ThAhUp7KYKHdCQAZYQ6AEINzAD

...and so on.

So yes, it seems the term "wimpus" in this article isn't so much the name of the mermaid, more a term meaning "unusual thing/creature".

(Incidentally, there's an instrumental piece called "Dance of the Whirling Wimpus" but the musical bombed spectacularly and faded into obscurity)
 
Is the word related to "wimp"?
 
Is the word related to "wimp"?

Maybe not ... 'Wimp' is attested only as early as the 1920's, whereas 'wimpus' is known to have appeared at least as far back as the 19th century.
 
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