Many are convinced that at the old American "freak show" they once demonstrated the mummy of a real mermaid, and not a single skeptic or materialist has been able to refute its authenticity until now. Unfortunately, the exhibit was destroyed in a major fire. The man who possessed such a valuable specimen was Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891). He was the largest figure in American show business of the 19th century, a successful businessman and aspiring politician.
Barnum was one of the founders of the circus art, which showed the audience various human deviations and anomalies, as well as other wonders. The performances organized by this showman were extremely popular all over the world. This photograph of the alleged mermaid was taken in 1865 and served as advertising material for the "freak show." It was claimed that it was the corpse of a real mermaid caught in the Indian Ocean.
Alas, the amazing mummy did not strike the imagination of onlookers for long. On July 13, 1865, the building that housed the circus caught fire in New York, and most of the exhibits were destroyed by fire. The cause of the fire is still shrouded in mystery.
Some say that Barnum was not at all successful, and therefore set fire to his own property for the purpose of insurance fraud.
Others argue that the circus was set on fire by competitors, envious or bigots outraged by such shows.
According to others, the spirits of people, animals and outlandish creatures, whose corpses he barbarously showed to the public, were angry with the businessman.
The remains of the mysterious mermaid are still the subject of conversation among curious and cryptozoologists. Many people even believe that the unique mummy certainly survived, and it was simply safely hidden somewhere. Say, when the corpse is found and its DNA is examined, an unprecedented sensation is coming. Perhaps science is finally accepting the existence of mermaids.
Scientists (especially independent ones) and now do not really deny this fact, since most of the Earth, as you know, is covered with water, and science still does not know what may be hiding in the depths of the World Ocean. Suffice it to recall the coelacanth-like fish, which for a long time were considered extinct or even mythical, but today oceanologists have proven that they are still found in the depths of the sea.
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The mermaid of Barnum was once again talked about more recently, when New Zealand ufologist Scoot Wallace put forward a bold speculation about the nature of this corpse. The researcher believes that it may not be a mermaid, but a representative of an extraterrestrial civilization. A photograph of the head of the exhibit, which has survived to this day, shows a creature with a large forehead, large deep-set eyes and a small mouth, while the humanoid's nose is apparently missing. As you might guess, this "appearance" is more consistent with an alien than a mysterious mermaid …