Given that most of our blue planet is covered with water, is it any wonder that many centuries ago people believed in mysterious creatures that inhabit the oceans, including sea snakes and mermaids. Merfolk (mermaids and aquatic) are legendary sea creatures, half human, half animal. Their image remains in the imagination of a person for many centuries. For example, one of the sources - Arabian Nights - describes mermaids as creatures with "moonlit face and hair, like a woman, but with fish tails instead of legs."
Mermaids in the culture of different peoples
S. Thompson, former curator of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, notes in his book that the tradition of creatures in the form of half human, half fish has existed for thousands of years. For example, the Babylonian deity Era or Oannes (the Fish-god) was usually depicted with a bearded head, crowned with a crown, and a human body, which ended below the waist with a fish tail. Greek mythology contains stories of the god Triton living in the sea. Moreover, even some modern religions, including Hinduism and the Afro-Brazilian faith, worship mermaids as goddesses.
Many of us are familiar with these mythical creatures from childhood thanks to the Disney cartoon "The Little Mermaid". This is a slightly refined version of Andersen's tale, which was first published in 1837. According to some legends in Scotland and Wales, people could communicate with mermaids and even marry them. Mary Lao, in her book Seduction and the Secret Power of Women, notes that in the Scottish Isles, mermaids are stunningly beautiful women who live in the sea. According to myths, a mermaid's fishtail is temporary, and she can take it off if she wants to go on land. However, the mermaid must be very careful while wandering the land, as the loss of her tail will prevent her from returning to the underwater kingdom.
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In folklore, mermaids are often associated with misfortune and death. For example, it is commonly believed that they lure wandering sailors to reefs and rocks. The scary mermaids featured in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides are actually closer to these legendary creatures than Ariel from the Disney films.
Aquatic
In turn, mermaids are not as popular as mermaids, although they are also often mentioned. They have a reputation for brutal creatures that cause storms, sink ships and kill sailors. Especially scary are considered to be aquatic, which supposedly live off the coast of Scotland. According to legends, they look like regular men (from the waist), with the exception of a blue skin tone and gray beards. Legends say that after stopping the ship, the mermen challenged its captain, often in the form of a rhymed assignment. If the captain was witty enough and could speak well, he had a chance to save his sailors from a watery grave.
The Japanese also have their own versions of the merfolk legends called kappa. They lived in Japanese lakes and along the banks of rivers and looked more like animals than people, with monkey faces and turtle shells on their backs. Like the mermen in Scotland, the kappa could sometimes talk to people and challenge them in the form of games, but the penalty for losing was death. Most often, their victims were children or adults who were stupid enough to swim alone in remote places.
Real mermaids
During the Middle Ages, people did not doubt the reality of mermaids. They were even depicted alongside famous aquatic animals such as whales. Hundreds of years ago, sailors and residents of coastal cities around the world talked about encounters with sea maidens. One story that dates back to the 1600s tells of a mermaid who entered Holland through a dam but was injured while traveling. She was taken to a nearby lake and taken care of to regain her health. It all ended with the fact that she learned to speak Dutch, started doing housework and converted to Catholicism.
Meet off the coast of Newfoundland
Another encounter with the mermaid, which is presented as a true story, was described by Edward Snow in his book Incredible Secrets and Legends of the Sea. Captain Smith, who sailed off the coast of Newfoundland, described his encounter with a mermaid in 1614. He saw a sea maiden swimming near his ship. She had large eyes, a thin nose, and well-formed ears that appeared to be rather long. According to the captain's account, the mermaid had long green hair, which gave her originality and at the same time did not deprive her of attractiveness. In fact, the woman was so beautiful that Smith thought he might fall in love with her, but then he saw a fish tail …
Fijian mermaid
By the 1800s, many images of mermaids appeared, which were made primarily to satisfy the interest of the public. The great showman Phineas Barnum even put on public display an exhibit called the Fijian mermaid in the 1840s. Visitors paid 50 cents hoping to see a beautiful woman with a fishtail and long hair, but they were disappointed. Instead, they were shown a grotesque fake corpse consisting of the torso, head and limbs of a monkey and the bottom of a fish. For modern people, such a fake would be obvious, but almost 200 years ago, the showman managed to deceive and intrigue many visitors.
Modern mermaids
Is there any scientific basis for all these mermaid stories? Some researchers believe that the stories and legends of mermaids and mermaids were inspired by marine animals that are roughly the same size as humans. That is, witnesses could mistake manatees or dugongs for mermaids. These animals have a flat tail, with which mermaids are most often depicted, as well as two fins that resemble short arms. Of course, they do not look the way a mermaid should look in our view, but it is worth remembering that many see them from afar, submerged in water so that only part of the body is visible.
Identifying any animal in the water is always problematic because witnesses only see a small part of the creature's body. When factors such as poor lighting at sunset and long distance are added, even a well-known creature can be very difficult to identify correctly. Glimpses of a head, fins, or a tail that disappears under the waves and then reappears may have spawned some "witness reports" of mermaids.
Israeli mermaid
Modern evidence of the appearance of mermaids is very rare, but they are still there. For example, in 2009, eyewitness accounts emerged who claimed to have seen a mermaid off the coast of Israel. The creature appeared to the audience several times before disappearing into the darkness. Shlomo Cohen was one of the first to see this alleged mermaid: “I was with my friends when I suddenly saw a woman who was lying on the sand in a rather strange position.
At first I thought she was just tanning, but when we got closer she jumped into the water and disappeared. We were all shocked because we noticed her tail. The city's tourism board was delighted with this newfound fame and even offered a $ 1 million reward to the first person to photograph the creature. Unfortunately, talk about this mermaid faded as quickly as it appeared, and no one tried to get the reward.
Animal Planet Hoax
In 2012, there was another renewed interest in this topic. On the Animal Planet channel, material appeared, which collected the stories of scientists who found evidence of the existence of mermaids. It was fiction, but it was documented, so the evidence seemed realistic enough. The show was so compelling that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration received a huge number of inquiries about the topic. It all ended with the management issuing a statement in which it officially denied the existence of mermaids.
Anna Pismenna
