It may be difficult to trace the history of mermaids, because a long time ago, some people believed in the existence of mermaids, including female mermaids (ie mermaids) and male mermaids. According to myths and legends, Oens, the Babylonian god who brought knowledge and culture to mankind, is said to be a human from the waist up and a fish from the waist down. In addition, in ancient Syria, ancient India, ancient China, ancient Greece and ancient Rome, people also worshiped mermaid-like gods. In recent centuries, much folklore has emerged surrounding these creatures, and people have continued to claim sightings of mermaids.
The Roman naturalist Pliny the Great in the first century AD was one of the first to describe this creature. He had no doubt about the existence of mermaids because of the many sightings reported by people living on the coast at that time. He also pointed out: "Many mermaids were seen stranded on the beach and died there."
The Nordic version of the mermaid legend is different. It is said that when they live in the water, they are seals, and once they When they want to turn back into humans on land, they just need to take off their seal skins! Therefore, the locals call that creature a seal man. In mermaid legends from other places, mermaids can also change between humans and fishes at will. They can transform into fish and combine with humans on land, and some can even have offspring with humans. However, soon they will suffer from severe homesickness, and their longing for the sea will eventually prevail, so they will finally jump up and disappear into the waves.
Sailors usually believe that seeing a mermaid is an omen of death, often followed by a violent storm. There is a plot in the traditional ballet "The Mermaid". The crew saw a mermaid sitting on the reef, holding a comb in one hand and a mirror in the other to dress herself up. So the captain said: "This mermaid has warned us of our impending doom and that we will sink to the bottom of the sea...
1. But mermaids are by no means just legendary creatures. They continued to appear throughout the Middle Ages. Credible eyewitness reports of sightings continue into modern times. On January 12, 1809, two women in Caithness, northeast Scotland, saw them on the beach at Sandside. A woman's face appeared on the sea - "round and glowing with pink light". The two women could even see that it had plump human breasts. From time to time, her long and thin white arms were exposed on the top of the waves, and her long green hair was thrown back.
When one of the women announced the report of the mermaid sighting. William Munro wrote to the London Times on September 8 of the same year, recalling his experience of seeing a mermaid 12 years ago. The woman in clothes is sitting on a rock by the sea and seems to be combing her hair. Her hair reaches her shoulders and is light brown. "
Monroe reported that the creature had a "round forehead, full face, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, and a normal mouth and lips." "Its breasts, belly, arms, and Both hands resemble those of a fully developed woman. "The creature didn't notice that Monroe was looking at it, and continued to comb its hair. "Its hair is long and thick, and it looks like it is very proud of it. "A few minutes later, the mermaid slipped into the sea.
It seems that this creature was particularly active on the coast of Scotland during this period. After a series of investigations, the "London Mirror" Published on November 16, 1822, was the account given by young John MacAsco under oath.
He said that on October 13, 1811, he had seen "a black rock on the seashore." There was a strange animal. He noticed that "its upper body was white, like a human body" (but its arms were shorter than a human's), while its lower body was covered with gleaming scales, a color somewhere between red and gray. and red and green. “The animal was about four or five feet long,” and its tail was “like a fan.” Likes to stroke its long hair.
After lying on the rocks for two hours, the animal McIsako saw began to "roll awkwardly into the sea," which allowed him to "discern clearly the features of its face, which were almost like a human face." The animal was half submerged in water and was "constantly caressing and cleaning its breasts with both hands," and MacIsako could not tell whether it was a female or a male. Finally the animal disappeared into the blue waves.
Five days later, another eyewitness testified under oath to the same police sergeant who had recorded Mike Esko's testimony. Catherine Roynap said that on the afternoon of October 13th (the same day that McEsako saw the mermaid), she was grazing herds on the beach when she saw a creature slipping from the rocks into the sea and then six yards away. The head of the sea peeked out. It has long black hair, fair skin on its upper body, and dark brown lower body like a fish. As it swam closer to shore, Catherine saw its face clearly—white and small, like a child's. As with other sightings, the animal was "constantly fondling or cleaning its breasts." It swam away soon after.
At first Catherine did not believe what she saw. She told herself that it must be a little boy who fell into the sea from the boat and was struggling desperately. Her father later recalled that when Catherine ran home, she told him that a strange boy was swimming on the shore. Then when her parents went with her to find the boy, they found nothing.
In the summer of 1814, another series of sightings occurred on the west coast of Scotland. Witnesses to one of the incidents were a group of children who initially thought they saw a woman falling into the water. According to a letter published in the "York Chronicle" on September 1, the children later observed it from close up and discovered that it was a mermaid: its upper body resembled a beautiful woman with rosy cheeks and long flowing hair. (Though its arms and hands were as small as those of a child), and its lower body was "like a large fish in both color and shape." The children summoned farmers from nearby, one of whom prepared to shoot the creature with his rifle. But the others stopped him, so he whistled at the mermaid. Hearing the whistle, the mermaid turned to look at him.
The "York Chronicle" wrote: "It remained in people's sight for two hours, and from time to time it made a neighing sound like a goose." Later, someone saw it twice. Living things, "are all in the early morning when the sea is calm."
On August 15 of the same year, two fishermen saw a mermaid in the sea a quarter of a mile from the shore of Gorton Harbor. According to the Scottish Mercury, it has a dark complexion, a flat nose, a large mouth and small eyes, and long arms. Soon after, his mate swam up. The reason for this is that the second creature the fishermen saw had long hair, delicate skin, and swollen breasts. The two fishermen were frightened by this strange sight and rowed quickly towards the shore, while the two creatures kept staring at them.
In 1830, residents of Bembakula Island near the northwest coast of Scotland once saw a small creature that was half fish and half woman somersaulting in the sea. Some men attempted to capture it but failed. Finally the boy hit it on the back with a stone and it disappeared immediately. Days later, its body washed up on a beach two miles away.
Local Sheriff Duncan Shaw carefully examined its body. He later reported: "The creature's upper body is like a well-developed three or four-year-old child, but its breasts are unusually plump. Its hair is long, black, and shiny; its skin is white, soft, and delicate. Its lower body is like a salmon, But there were no scales." The creature was buried in Naton's cemetery in the presence of many of the islanders. Folklorist Macdonald Robertson said in 1961: "That tomb is still there, and I have seen it with my own eyes."
2. The most famous observer of mermaids is obviously Christopher Columbus. On his voyage to discover the West Indies, he saw "three mermaids leaping in the distance on the sea" and found them "not as beautiful as they had been described."
Judging from the animals' movements, it was more likely that what he saw was three marine mammals, dugongs.
Other mermaid sightings occurred in the Americas after Columbus. In 1614, while explorer John Smith was sailing in the West Indies, he saw a woman in the water. She was so enchanting that for the first time Smith "felt the pain of being unable to stop loving." It wasn't until he saw that "that woman was covered in fish from the waist down" that he gave up. One day four years ago, while driving a small boat into a port in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, Captain Whitbourne saw a strange woman-like creature swimming towards him. Alertly, he reversed quickly to get out of the way. So the creature turned around and prepared to board another ship. The ship belonged to William Hawkridge. He hit the guy hard on the head! Then it disappeared into the sea.
Compared with a 17th-century mermaid in Casco Bay, off the southern coast of Maine, the mermaid above was lucky. It is said that when it tried to board the "Mr. Miter", the owner chopped off its arms. The creature immediately sank into the sea and "died in the water that was stained purple with blood."
Shortly thereafter, another mermaid was sighted by the crews of three French ships off Noiscotil, Canada. They chased the merman and tried to catch it with a rope, but failed. The captain of one of the ships recorded: "He brushed away the moss-like hair that covered his eyes, and his body seemed to be covered with such hair."
Expedition to the New World Henry Hudson was a very reliable witness. The Hudson River is named after him. He also recorded a sighting of a mermaid. On the evening of June 15, 1610, two of his crew saw a mermaid. She had fair skin, long black hair, "her back and breasts like a woman's"; she also had a "tail like a dolphin's". The crew could clearly see her because she "swam to the side of the ship and looked at the humans seriously."
The 19th-century naturalist Philip Goss commented on this sighting: "To these polar sailors, seals and walruses were as familiar to them as a milking cow." The girl was equally familiar with the cows, unless the whole story was an elaborate lie by the two crew members, but the outstanding navigator (referring to Hudson) should have understood the character of his men, and he himself should have known it. They are objective and rational, so they must have seen some kind of creature unknown to us."
In 1797, Dr. Chisholm visited the small island of Poppys in the Caribbean. The governor there, von Battenborough, and others told him that locals had seen strange creatures in the island's rivers many times, which the Indians called "Mother Water." In his book "Malignant Fever in the West Indies" published in 1801, Dr. Chishem wrote: "The upper part of its body is like a human body...the lower part is like a fish...but not like a dolphin...when people see them... They usually sit in the water, and people cannot see their lower bodies unless they are frightened... They are often combing their hair, or touching their faces and breasts with their hands (or something similar to hands)... People It is often mistaken for Indian women taking a bath.”
Third, one explanation for mermaid sightings is that they are actually manatees or dugongs. In the words of scientist Richard Carrington: "These manatees were 'transformed' into mermaids by expectant and superstitious sailors." Gwen Benn, author of the 1965 book "The Banshees" A survey conducted by Will and Arthur Waugh revealed that three-quarters of such sightings occurred in places where manatees and dugongs were not thought to be found. Secondly, the images of manatees and dugongs are also very different from the legendary mermaids.
But the possibility of a manatee cannot be ruled out in all cases. For example, residents of the new islands of Papua New Guinea often report seeing things similar to mermaids: a creature that looks like a human from the waist up, has no legs or forks below the waist, but has fins at the end. They called this creature "Sun".
When anthropologist Roy Wagner visited the island in the late 1970s, people on the island told him that "Sun" looked like the mermaid logo on tuna cans. It is not difficult to understand that Wagner was very interested in this. After seeing the creature with his own eyes, Wagner was certain that the creature was not a dugong.
But in February 1985, an expedition of American scientists took underwater photos of "Sun", and there was no doubt that the photo was a dugong. The mystery was partially solved. But Thomas Williams, a member of the expedition team, still wondered, "How come so many people came up with and insisted on the theory that it was a mermaid when it was clearly a dugong?"
Two writers from "Nature" magazine A second explanation has been proposed for mermaid sightings.
After studying mermaid reports in Norway, they came to the conclusion that atmospheric changes or atmospheric disturbances can cause strange optical effects, with the result that the scene on the sea surface is distorted. So killer whales, walruses, and even rocks out of the water can be mistaken for mermaids by sailors. These atmospheric disturbances are also why storms often occur after sightings of mermaids. After reading their study, behavioral scientist David Harford thought the explanation was valuable.
Michel Mauget, a French folklorist and expert on underwater strange animals, believes that it is useless to explain mermaids from a biological point of view. He believes that mermaid sightings are "hallucinatory experiences", which are just lifelike hallucinations derived from superstition.
Another theory claims that mermaids are a new species that has not yet been discovered. Bernard Hufermans, the founder of unknown zoology, wrote in a newspaper in 1986: "It can only be said that it is an unrecorded relative of the manatee or an unknown marine creature. Explain why there have been so many reports of mermaid sightings in certain sea areas from ancient times to the present."
Both Benwell and Waugh agree with this conclusion. But many people dismiss this because the creature, usually found not far from the coast, has never left any remains for scientific study.