Article Detail

Mermaids are mythological legendary aquatic creatures with a female body twinned with the tail of a fish. In other words a mermaid is a creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish.

Some historians, folklorists and scientists believe that the myth of a part-woman, part-fish with great seductive powers has existed for centuries.

Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover.

In Hinduism, Suvannamaccha (lit. golden mermaid) is a daughter of Ravana that appears in the Cambodian and Thai versions of the Ramayana. She is a mermaid princess who tries to spoil Hanuman’s plans to build a bridge to Lanka but falls in love with him instead. She is a popular figure of Thai folklore.

 “The Mermaid and the Satyr” by the German painter Ferdinand Leeke (1859-1937)

There are many who claim to have seen these mystifying creatures on several occasions from different part of the world while others reject of such claims as a mere imagination. Whatever the case may be, these beautiful (debatable) yet interesting creatures remain to be one of the exciting explorations. Readers can also see the mermaids video  we have presented in this article showing the sites where mermaids were claimed to be found.

In 1493, Hispaniola in Caribbean Islands 

Sailing near the Dominican Republic in 1493, Christopher Columbus described in his log some “female forms” that “rose high out of the sea”, but were not as beautiful as they are represented.”

In 1614, in  Caribbean

In 1614, English explorer John Smith claimed to have seen a mermaid in the Caribbean, and was more impressed than his Italian forebear. “Her long green hair imparted to her an original character by no means unattractive,” he wrote in his log, adding that he’d “begun to experience the first effects of love,” when the mermaid turned over and revealed her fish parts.

In 1881, Susquehanna river in northeastern United States

In 1881, Henry Loucks (an oldest fishermen of that time) reports the discovery of mermaid in the Susquehanna river about one mile above town, in the deep water opposite Dugan’s run. The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. He has already seen it five times; always either early in the morning or late in the evening.

He says it comes to the surface, looks about it, then gradually sinks down leaving its hair floating on top of the water for a moment or so and finally disappears.  It has the face of a woman and beautiful glossy black hair, but as it only shows itself down to the shoulders, he cannot tell what the other end is like. “A Mermaid in the Susquehanna” article appeared in the June 8th, 1881 issue of the York Daily.

In 2005, Marina Beach in Chennai, India

Another debatable existence of the mermaids came into light after the reports surfaced about the dead body of mermaid being seen on the Marina Beach after Tsunami hit the coastal state. This carcass of dead Mermaid is said to be preserved in the Egmore museum under tight Security. Here is the video of mermaid found in chennai, Please watch it.

In 2009, Kiryat Yam in Israel

In 2009, some residents of Kiryat Yam which is a town in the Haifa Bay district of Israel, believed that the city is home to a mermaid. Over recent months, dozens of people in the Haifa suburb had reported seeing a creature that resembles a young girl leaping out of the water and doing aerial tricks across the waves before disappearing to her home under the sea. The town’s local council was offering $1 million to anyone who can prove the aquatic damsel exists.

In 2012, Lake Mutirikwi (Kyle) Dam in Zimbabwe

In 2012, Essential work on planned reservoirs in Zimbabwe had stopped because mermaids had been hounding workers away, according to the country’s Water Resources Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo. He told a Zimbabwean parliamentary committee that terrified workers are refusing to return to the sites, near the towns of Gokwe and Mutare. “All the officers I have sent have vowed not to go back there”, Minister Nkomo was reported as saying in Zimbabwe’s state-approved Herald newspaper.

References

• http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=05297681013
• http://www.haaretz.com/news/is-a-mermaid-living-under-the-sea-in-northern-israel-1.281876
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097218/Reason-Zimbabwe-reservoir-delays–mermaids-hounding-workers-away.html
• http://www.india.com/top-n/mermaid-real-or-fake-top-5-sightings-from-around-the-world-115652/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid