To this day, many mysterious creatures live in the depths of the seas and oceans. Every year oceanologists and ichthyologists discover more and more, but the next discoveries are countless. So, in the past twentieth century, cross-finned fish that were considered extinct for a long time were discovered. The existence of giant squids was also confirmed - up to 30 meters along with tentacles. And sometimes the sea shows creatures incredibly similar to fabulous sea people and mermaids.
FIRST ICHTIANDER
In the second half of the 17th century, a young man named Francisco de la Vega Cassar lived in the Spanish city of Liargas. From an early age, he was very fond of water and demonstrated the amazing ability to swim around. When Francisco grew up, he was sent to study as a carpenter in Bilbao, where he lived until 1674, when one unfortunate day he went swimming with the other guys. The current that day was so strong that Francisco could not swim to the shore and was carried out to sea. After that, he was considered drowned, but five years later, in the bay of Cadiz, fishermen caught a creature in a net that was stealing fish from them. It turned out to be a tall, red-haired youth with pale, almost translucent skin and scales on his back. The fingers on his hands were connected with a thin brown film, giving the tassels the appearance of duck's feet. He was taken to a nearby monastery. The monks tried to speak to him in many languages known to them, even performed an exorcism ceremony, but the young man stubbornly remained silent. The only thing he said was the word "Liargas." Then the caught was taken to this town, where his mother and brothers identified him as Francisco de la Vega Cassar. For some time he lived with them, but he was never able to restore the skills of meaningful speech. One day he heard a strange cry and rushed with all his might to the river, in the waters of which he disappeared. This time, forever. The reality of this story is confirmed by the records in the register of the church of the town of Liargas. For some time he lived with them, but he was never able to restore the skills of meaningful speech. One day he heard a strange cry and rushed with all his might to the river, in the waters of which he disappeared. This time, forever. The reality of this story is confirmed by the records in the register of the church of the town of Liargas. For some time he lived with them, but he was never able to restore the skills of meaningful speech. One day he heard a strange cry and rushed with all his might to the river, in the waters of which he disappeared. This time, forever. The reality of this story is confirmed by the records in the register of the church of the town of Liargas.
MERMAID-NEEDLEMAN
Much earlier, in 1403, a violent storm broke out in Holland, which destroyed many dams and flooded lowlands. After that, several girls, residents of the city of Edama in the western part of Friesland, sailed on a boat to milk the cows. Suddenly they saw a mermaid stuck in the mud, which, apparently, was carried by a storm into shallow water. The girls helped her out, put her in a boat and took her with them to Edam. The mermaid was dressed in a woman's dress, and eventually learned to spin. She lived with the girls, but never learned to speak. After a while, the mermaid was transported to Haarlem, where she lived for several more years. All this time she continued to show a strong penchant for water. It was said that people converted her to Christianity, and she even prayed before being crucified.
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RUSALYCH
Most of the news and data from old chronicles about encounters with mermaids and sea people come from warm latitudes, be it Spain, the Caspian or Black Sea, or even the seas adjacent to Indochina. Thus, Pliny the Elder, Aristotle and Plutarch did not question the existence of mermaids and described many encounters with them throughout the Mediterranean. And in 1493 off the coast of Guiana in the logbook of Christopher Columbus, a record was made of a meeting with a mermaid. But sometimes they are met in temperate latitudes.
The Danish writer Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943), for example, described the fish-man in this way from the words of people who swore they had seen this miracle with their own eyes: “About a mile off the coast of Denmark, near Landskrona, three sailors noticed something similar in the water onto the drowned man, and began to row in that direction. Approaching a distance of seven or eight fathoms (otherwise - fathom, a measure of length equal to six English feet, that is, 1.83 m), they decided that they were not mistaken - the body in the water was completely motionless. And suddenly it plunged into the water and almost immediately surfaced again in the same place. The sailors froze, frightened. They allowed the boat to swim closer to the strange creature in order to get a better look at it. The monster, being drawn by the current, was getting closer and closer. He turned his head and stared at the people, and they, too, thus managed to get a good look at him. For seven or eight minutes he did not move. His body was visible out of the water approximately up to his chest. In the end, the sailors realized that they could be in danger and began to row the other way. In response to these actions, the monster puffed out its cheeks, uttered something like a moo and, having gone under the water, disappeared from view. Regarding his appearance, the sailors had to testify under oath; they were asked about this repeatedly and recorded what was said. They claim that he looked like an old man, well-knit, broad-shouldered, no hands were visible. The head was rather small in comparison with the body, the hair was black and curly, short, not covering the ears. The eyes are deep-set, the face is thin, emaciated, and the beard is black. The outline of his body under water resembled a fish one. "that they could be in danger, and began to row in the other direction. In response to these actions, the monster puffed out its cheeks, uttered something like a moo and, having gone under the water, disappeared from view. Regarding his appearance, the sailors had to testify under oath; they were asked about this repeatedly and recorded what was said. They claim that he looked like an old man, well-knit, broad-shouldered, no hands were visible. The head was rather small in comparison with the body, the hair was black and curly, short, not covering the ears. The eyes are deep-set, the face is thin, emaciated, and the beard is black. The outline of his body under water resembled a fish one. "that they could be in danger, and began to row in the other direction. In response to these actions, the monster puffed out its cheeks, uttered something like a moo and, having gone under the water, disappeared from view. Regarding his appearance, the sailors had to testify under oath; they were asked about this repeatedly and recorded what was said. They claim that he looked like an old man, well-knit, broad-shouldered, no hands were visible. The head was rather small in comparison with the body, the hair was black and curly, short, not covering the ears. The eyes are deep-set, the face is thin, emaciated, and the beard is black. The outline of his body under water resembled a fish one. "they were asked about this repeatedly and recorded what was said. They claim that he looked like an old man, well-knit, broad-shouldered, no hands were visible. The head was rather small in comparison with the body, the hair was black and curly, short, not covering the ears. The eyes are deep-set, the face is thin, emaciated, and the beard is black. The outline of his body under water resembled a fish one. "they were asked about this repeatedly and recorded what was said. They claim that he looked like an old man, well-knit, broad-shouldered, no hands were visible. The head was rather small in comparison with the body, the hair was black and curly, short, not covering the ears. The eyes are deep-set, the face is thin, emaciated, and the beard is black. The outline of his body under water resembled a fish one."
Captain James Weddell (1787-1834), known for his geographical discoveries in Antarctic waters, told the following story. “The ship's crew was busy on the shore of Hall Island. One of its members, who was left to watch some blanks, saw a strange creature making rather melodic sounds. The sailor lay down to rest, but at about ten o'clock he heard a noise resembling human screams. Since in those latitudes at this time of year the sun never drops below the horizon, he got up, looked around but saw nothing, and returned to bed. After a while, he again heard the same noise, got up again and looked around, but again did not notice anything. Thinking, nevertheless, that a boat could capsize near the shore, and that it was the sailors who managed to catch hold of the rocks protruding from the water, crying for help,he walked a little along the coast, and this time the screams came to him more clearly, but they sounded more like a melody. Looking closely at the area, he saw something lying on a cliff about a dozen feet from the shore, and was slightly frightened. The face and shoulders of this creature were human, the skin was a little reddish; long green hair was strewn over his shoulders, the tail was like a fur seal, and he could not see the hand. He watched the incomprehensible creature for two minutes, and it continued to emit all the same musical melodious sounds. Finally, noticing the sailor, the creature instantly disappeared. As soon as the sailor met his commander, he told this incredible story, and in order to confirm the truth of his words, he (being a Catholic) drew a cross in the sand and kissed him, thus swearing that he was telling the pure truth. When I spoke to him, he told his story so confidently and convincingly and so sincerely swore that it was true that I could not help but believe that he actually saw the animal he described, or that it was a very convincing hallucination.
COLD FINISH IS NO INTERFERENCE
However, the habitat of mermaids and sea people, apparently, is not limited to temperate latitudes. There is evidence that they have also been seen many times in the North Atlantic and even in the waters of the Arctic and Antarctic. Moreover, these testimonies are documented and can be traced throughout the Middle Ages and almost to the present day.
In the King's Mirror, an Icelandic work of the 12th century, historians have found the following description of the mermaid: “On the coast of Greenland you can find a monster that people call Margigr. From the waist down, this creature looks like a woman; he has a woman's chest, long arms and soft hair; the neck and head are exactly like those of humans. The hands are rather long, and the fingers are not separated, like in humans, but are connected by membranes, like in waterfowl. From the waist down, this creature looks like a fish, with a tail, scales and fins. They say that she usually appears before violent storms. She has a habit of plunging into the water every now and then and diving with fish in her hands. Sailors are always afraid when they see her playing with fish or throwing them towards the ship. In their opinion, this foreshadows the death of several team members during the storm. But if she throws out the fish or,turning away from the ship, throws it in the other direction, this is considered a good sign - it means that they will not suffer losses in a storm. This monster has a disgusting face: a large forehead, piercing eyes, a wide mouth, and a double chin."
The famous English navigator of the late 16th - early 17th centuries Henry Hudson (Hudson) wrote in his account of an incident that took place during the failed passage to the North Pole at latitude 75 ° near the Arctic archipelago Novaya Zemlya: “This morning (June 15) one of team members, looking overboard, noticed a mermaid and called the others to look at her; another sailor approached; by this time she had swum close to the side of the ship, staring intently at the people. After a while, a wave rolled over her. From the navel and above, her body, chest and back looked like a woman's, according to those who saw her. It was the size of any of us, the skin is very white. Hair is long and drooping, black. When she dived, they saw her tail, similar to that of a dolphin in shape and mackerel in color. The names of the team members who watched the spectacleThomas Hilles and Robert Rainer."
GIANT POLAR HUMANOIDS
In recent years, rumors have been circulating in Japan about the existence of giant humanoids called ningen in the icy waters of Antarctica. They were allegedly met by whalers in critical southern latitudes. And although these rumors sometimes refer only to the genre of urban legends, the information itself about these giant "mermaids" looks very interesting.
The ningen problem was officially recognized in November 2007, when an article appeared in the Japanese supernatural magazine Mu Magazin speculating about the possibility of unknown giant creatures living in the southern seas. The word “ningen” itself is translated from Japanese as “person”. These creatures are described as huge, up to 20-30 meters long, fat, cetacean, anatomically similar to humans. In the descriptions of these "mermaids" there is always a face, instead of legs, they have a tail, either a whale one, or similar to that of walruses and seals, and in some reports also appear hands and even hands with five fingers. The skin of these creatures is devoid of pigmentation, and therefore they are white. Most of the giants appear at night, when it is extremely difficult to photograph them.nevertheless, on the Internet you can find several of their photographs, some of which are reconstructions of their appearance made by artists with descriptions of eyewitnesses, perhaps not always successful.
One of the most compelling photographs of the ningen was taken by zoomed in from Google Maps. This photograph was taken off the coast of Namibia, to which, as you know, the cold Benguela current reaches from Antarctica, and on it under water at a shallow depth the silhouette of a huge mermaid-like creature swimming is really visible. At the same time, his hands are clearly visible. However, experts assess the released images as unconvincing. Perhaps high-quality photographs either do not exist at all, or, as it is sometimes argued, the government keeps them, as they say, with seven seals. Conspiracy theorists argue that the Japanese government is not only unwilling to release any information about the ningen, but has also ordered eyewitnesses to remain silent, forcing them to sign nondisclosure statements.
However, two videos can be found on YouTube, albeit of extremely low quality, which allegedly show these mysterious inhabitants of Antarctica.
Of course, it is clearly premature to draw any definite conclusions, because we can talk about deliberate falsification, since the possibilities of modern programs allow you to create images of the most bizarre kind of hybrids and monsters. But we cannot exclude the possibility that the Japanese actually discovered giant creatures unknown to science in Antarctic waters. And if the information about the giant "mermaids" is confirmed, it will become one of the greatest sensations of the relatively recently begun XXI century.
Victor BUMAGIN
