are mermaids sea-riously real?
Well duh, I exist. Just kidding, but to kick off summer (this was supposed to go out a lot earlier, my bad….), and my small gradual series on the existence of mythical creatures, let’s start off with a summery one. I have heard of very few people believing in the existence of mermaids, the only person really coming to mind is one of my grade 6 teachers, who believed in anything whimsy or out of the ordinary. I am 80/20 unsure (80 being believing) of whether I believe in the existence of merfolk; my inner child says yes and even my older self believes they could have existed at some point, but the scientific explanations people have gathered does dissuade me slightly. But I’m also not much of a scientific gal so I will choose to believe in the magical parts of the world. Let’s dive in, no pun intended.
We have all heard tales of merfolk for many years and it has been a popular plot for many of our favourite childhood movies, stories, and shows like Aquamarine, The Little Mermaid, and, my favourite, H2O. It has been prevalent in pop culture for as long as anyone can remember and become a popular trend especially on Tik Tok and Pinterest around summertime, with many mood boards and aesthetic videos of a mermaid aesthetic. Mermaids have been depicted to be stunningly beautiful, with long hair, striking eyes and near perfect faces. They are imagined to be pearlescent and dripped in pearls and seashells, with many blues, purples and pinks and any vibrant color for that matter and while it is very fun and I absolutely live for it, you will soon come to find out that they are actually not like that at all. While there is no scientific evidence that mermaids are real beings, my favourite thing to say to that is that only 4% of the ocean has been explored so how can we possibly know? Do I believe that mermaids would be beautiful maidens with beauty so enchanting that pirates cannot resist them? No, I think mermaids or the closest thing to them would probably look like a basic marine animal or honestly, super scary looking, almost monstrous. But, my mind always wonders, if these things were never real how did they come to be such a big topic of discussion for centuries?
Although I am sure most of you are aware of what they are, let’s do a quick summary before we truly dive in. Merfolk have been described as aquatic creatures with the head and upper body of a human and the tail of a fish. And while a modern image of mermaids depicts them to be beautiful and romantic figures, this is a fabrication. They have been described as omens of danger and vengeful towards humans across many legends, although some have depicted them as kind figures who may bear gifts to humans. There are many different depictions of merfolk in the folklore of different cultures. The siren in Greece, Rusalka in Slavik countries, Selkies in Celtic countries, Ningyo in Japan, Merrows in Ireland, Mami Wata in Africa, and Atargatis in Mesopotamia. Although I will not be diving into the different cultural types today, I always suggest to do some of your own personal research on it! Merfolk are described as both enchanting and deadly creatures who are known as guardians of the sea, possessing magical powers or abilities. They can ‘shapeshift’ and have captivating voices to lure humans, specifically sailors or those crossing the ocean, to their doom. One specific warning that has been given out for centuries collectively is to never intentionally seek out merfolk. If you do, you will never come back (where do I sign up?)
They first came to be in ancient Babylonian mythology, around the year 5000 BC. The God Ea was said to be half fish, half man, and was known later on to the Greeks as Oannes. But, the first mention of merfolk to humans came from ancient Assyria in 1000 BC, supposedly from the Goddess of fertility, Atargatis, who banished herself to a lake and became a mermaid. In Greek mythology, there have been many introductions of water spirits or mermaid like creatures such as Nymphs, Sirens, Tritons and Oods, which have appeared in many popular stories, such as one that is trending currently, the Sirens in the Odyssey. Another popular story is the one of Thessalonike, the sister of Alexander the Great, which is worth searching up! Many of these ancient civilizations have depicted drawings and art of mermaids on sculptures, paintings, and even in architectural designs, dating back as early as 1000 to 1800 BCE, proving that mermaids have been a part of cultures for as old as time. We should also keep in mind that 95% of the history of our Earth was burned in the Library of Alexandria fire, so we have little to no knowledge of anything pertaining to the ancient world. However, the consistent inclusion of merfolk in literature and many forms of art has amplified these myths throughout the years.
Now, ancient mythology is not the only reason as to why mermaids have remained so popular. I suppose we can thank the many people who have reported sightings over recent years, with so many going so far as to fake ‘mermaid sighting’ videos using AI and such and especially those girls on YouTube who convinced us that putting jewelry in water would turn us to mermaids over night. But the real cause for complaint is fucking Christopher Columbus who ‘saw’ 3 mermaids off the Dominican coast and screamed of this discovery from the mountaintops. He never went back on his claim of seeing them and that they were ‘not as beautiful as they were painted’, although it was suggested he probably saw some other marine animal. Along with all the other sailors at sea who reported merfolk sightings but were also dealing with scurvy, low visibility, and just simple misidentification, making it a bit harder to believe. When out at sea for as long as these sailors were, voyages lasting months upon months with barely anything to do, there is no way they did not experience psychological hallucinations. It has been suggested that many of these sailors just saw manatees, dugongs, and sea lions. But something about the ancient and medieval world having mythical creatures and even being magical just makes soooo much sense in my brain.
If you ask modern day humans, it seems that most do not believe in their existence but many cultures have tales of merfolk that have been passed down the centuries and even modern day legends. A current region of the world that keeps these legends alive and omnipresent is the many countries of the Caribbean and seemingly so, many Caribbean folk do stay true to their belief of mermaids. Many state that they have come across them many times in their life, yet they leave them undisturbed. The earliest legends of mermaids in the Caribbean are of Aycayia, which tells of a young woman from the Taíno people of Cuba or Puerto Rico who was transformed into a mermaid centuries ago. According to the story, the women of her tribe cursed her to live in the ocean forever. Some versions of the story suggest that jealousy was the cause behind the curse because Aycayia was exceptionally beautiful and possessed a captivating singing voice that attracted the attention of married men. Other versions portray her as a seductress who engaged in secret relationships with those men. Regardless of the reason, the curse condemned her to spend eternity wandering the sea as a mermaid.
I conducted some ‘research’ (if you could even call it that) on Instagram threads, looking at a thread specifically towards Caribbean folks’ experiences, tales, and beliefs:
Mami Wata, is a beautiful and powerful mermaid, who brings good fortune and prosperity to those who honor and respect her. Her waters bring much healing and has said to cure ailments.
My grandmother used to tell me so many stories about mermaids. She used to tell us to never go to the ocean around dawn cause that’s when the mermaids would come out. If you’re drowning or lost in the ocean and they rescue you and bring you back, don’t ever say thank you.
I live by the East Coast Jamaica. There's nothing but water spirits here. I don't have 'stories' per se, I see them, they see me, and we move along. Especially during hurricane Melissa, they were strung out on the sands just observing.
My mother always told me the lagoons in St. Kitts are known to be dangerous at night, and that there’s an unspoken rule not to go in them after sundown because the Mer like to bathe there at night.
So, I’m Creole & I heard stories about how you aren’t supposed to wear shiny things or shiny swimwear in the water (sequins, metallic, jewelry, etc) because mermaids would think you were giving them an offering (the offering being yourself).
As I said, merfolk legends continue to be omnipresent throughout the Carribean and have also been passed down throughout the generations. However, a common theme I found in these posts is that mermaids are not necessarily considered evil as opposed to other stories within different cultures. They are believed to be dual-natured and powerful; some of these figures like Mami Wata are actually worshipped. They are said to be protectors of nature and disrespect of their waters results in bad luck to those who do so. The Caribbean folklore has been the most interesting to read upon, hence why I have expanded upon it, but now, what about the encounters of those around the world?
Deep diving into the forums of two of my favourite spots that are a bit unreliable but still keeps things interesting are Quora and Reddit. These chatrooms were specific to stories of those that encountered mermaids. Most posts that shared their stories all described mermaids to be unsettling with high cheekbones and sharp eyes, not particularly beautiful and to have pale skin and tails. A lot also experienced eerie shrieking sounds and song-like vocals, one person stating that the sounds gave them an urge to go to the water; this would be the infamous siren call. If you go down a rabbit hole on Tik Tok, you will see that there is a lot of lore surrounding mermaids in many coastal towns/countries or amongst those who live on islands. While its too much information to summarize into this post, many people have seemed to be unbothered by it and continue to live in unison with mermaids, like oh yet another casual day seeing a mermaid, while others have claimed to never be the same after coming across one and emotionally scarred. Many videos I watched on TikTok had people saying they know people or have relatives who were taken away by mermaids, some say they were saved, some say scarred but returned to safety so its hard to know if its real or just bs. However, a common pattern here is that they have all been described to be monstrous looking and not as enchanting as they have been told to be, which matches folklore stories. So many people have reported sightings and it is not a small enough group of people for everyone to point and scream “crazy! crazy,!” it has been centuries upon centuries of multiple cultures preserving these legends along with continuous sightings. But it’s super easy to call bullshit on these stories when scientific explanations come in.
Now onto the short and sweet scientific reasoning (boo). Using some knowledge from my human evolution class, every living organism on earth has evolved from some sort of aquatic organism. There are also many species of humans that have evolved and went extinct, such as neanderthals. Who is to say a species of humans with tails did not evolve? The possibilities are endless when there is millions of years of evolution behind us. However, to debunk this at the same time (and kill a piece of my soul), it is very unlikely a hybrid mixture of a human and an aquatic animal would be able to adapt to all the physiological challenges the ocean would bring upon them. That being body temperature regulation, movement, digestion, breathing, and even reproduction (can’t really picture that, unless they lay eggs?). The waters of the ocean are freezing cold and since humans are warm-blooded, the body would not be able to adapt to these temperatures without limbs falling off. Also, fish and humans have completely different bodies as you may have noticed lol. Fish bodies are a lot less complex, with fish having less brain power and simpler organ systems, as well as one simple intestine while humans have two complex ones. So there is no way for mermaids to go #1 and #2, which would make them like suuuper backed up. A user on Reddit suggested that they would have had to split off genetically very early in order to gain these adaptations, possibly before humans came to be, so I will run with that. Or mermaids would just be a lot less human than believed? I am just grasping at straws now. However, through it all, there is no fossils that have ever been found or anything for that matter that depicts a half human half fish being, although the ocean remains partially explored.
So, if you ask the girl in me if I believe in mermaids, I’d say yes. They live in the souls of us girls/women and are brought out every summer. And to be honest, I do not believe humans can come up with these crazy concepts and random mythical creatures without it being somewhat real or at least a tale of the past, especially past civilizations who had little to no education. So, as delusional as it may make me, yes I believe in mermaids! Life is full of surprises and is all about belief, so technically if you really convince yourself, anything can be real and it is up to you and your imagination to decide whether or not you believe as well. The act of researching and pondering this topic has been super fun and it’s always fun to throw a little whimsy into the world. But, at the end of the day, I do believe the world is a bit more magical than it wants to let on ...
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If I missed anything or if there is anything else that would be interesting for me to research and discuss, let me know! I am very down for a sequel :) A lot of the knowledge I used was prior knowledge, or from Tik Tok, Reddit and Instagram threads, so here are my citations? if I could call it that lol. Or if you just wanted to go down the rabbit hole. My apologies for poor grammar and organization, I am no scholar.
https://www.threads.com/@thehoodhealer/post/DS2O-ealMcM/caribbean-folk-tell-me-your-mermaid-stories
https://www.reddit.com/r/mermaids/comments/y1d9yk/does_anyone_have_legit_mermaid_stories_or/
