Mermaid Sightings Throughout History

Mythology

Greek mythology regales stories of the merman god Triton and some modern religions, like Hinduism, worship mermaid-like deities to this day.

Half beauty. Half fish. Don’t let Ariel dupe you. Even Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is more twisted than you think.

Our protagonist mermaid has her tongue cut out, gets turned down by the prince, and bubbles away into sea foam because she doesn’t have the guts to literally stab his heart and bathe in his blood—a far cry from a dancing crab!

For centuries, stories of mermaids have taken a much darker turn than a short bout of chronic laryngitis. In Russian folklore, there’s a story about rusalki —vindictive spirits of women who transform into mermaids to seek revenge. They punish men and children by drowning them.

Scottish folklore instills fear of the Blue Men of Minch, notorious for luring sailors to their demise. These creatures drag sailors into the water to feast on their flesh.

Dear Diary

Aside from fearful folklore, eyewitnesses have claimed to see mermaids with their own two eyes. Famous for settling Jamestown, John Smith recorded a mermaid sighting in 1614, off the coast of Newfoundland.

“Her long green hair imparted to her an original character that was by no means unattractive,” mused Smith.

Christopher Columbus was a little more picky. In 1493, on his first voyage to the Americas, Columbus argued that he saw three mermaids off the coast of Haiti. He wrote that they “rose well out of the sea, but they are not so beautiful as they are said to be, for their faces had some masculine traits.”

Columbus was likely checking out three manatees, making his mermaid logbook entry the first recorded observation of the marine mammal in North America.

People might have confused the dugong with mermaids, given its relation to the manatee. Meaning “lady of the sea” in the Malay language, dugongs are similar in appearance. In at least one instance, researchers proved that an alleged mermaid skeleton was, in fact, a dugong.

Jenny Hanivers

Long before Barnum showcased his mummified Fiji Mermaid, sailors had already began making mermaids.

Jenny Hanivers were curious souvenirs that began to appear in Antwerp around the mid-16th century. For centuries, people believed Jenny Hanivers provided evidence of the existence of mermaid-like creatures. Researchers quickly discredited that theory. Skates and rays are the actual origins of Jenny Hanivers.

Sailors dried, carved, and varnished the carcasses of these fish to resemble mermaids. Much like P.T. Barnum’s Fiji Mermaid, Jenny Hanivers were a hoax—nothing more than dead, disfigured rays.  Regardless, they remained popular up until the 19th century.

But, Maybe?

With over 95% of our ocean unexplored, could mermaids be lurking in the deep? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declares that they have found “no evidence of aquatic humanoids” at any point in history. But with numerous accounts of mermaids throughout human history, we’ll let you Believe It or Not!