Mermaid Body Found After Tsunami!
Dead Mermaid Found?
Description: Email hoax / Viral images
Circulating since: Feb. 2005 (this version)
Status: Fake / False
Analysis: See last page
Text example:
Email contributed by D. Bridges, Feb. 14, 2005:
Image #2
The text is false and the images fake. The latter were already circulating well before the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, and in fact all three photos were previously alleged to have been taken in the Philippines (and elsewhere). They certainly weren't taken in Chennai, India, nor is there a preserved mermaid carcass in Chennai's Egmore Museum (officially known as the Goverment Museum).
In any case, mermaids are creatures of myth and legend, not the natural world.
While there does exist an ancient tradition (primarily in Japan) of fabricating "mermaid carcasses" out of fish skins and animal bones for exhibition, there are no documented examples of the real thing having been discovered.
By far, the most famous specimen "mermaid" specimen in history was P.T. Barnum's Feejee Mermaid, purchased secondhand by the great showman in the mid-1800s and exhibited throughout the United States as a sideshow attraction.
The glaring irony in all this mermaid fakery, with respect to the ancient tales on which it's based, is that the mummified specimens one typically finds on display are, without exception, hideous in appearance — "the incarnation of ugliness," as one American critic described Barnum's faux creature — while the classic mermaid of folklore and pop culture is invariably represented as beautiful and alluring. It's a discrepancy no one ever bothers to explain.
Take the Poll: Do you believe mermaids really exist?
1) Yes 2) No 3) Unsure 4) Current results
Sources and further reading:
Preserved Yokai of Japan
Cryptozoology Online, 29 June 2009
The Feejee Mermaid
Museum of Hoaxes
The Feejee Mermaid Archive
The Lost Museum
The Merman's Home Page
RoadsideAmerica.com
Last updated 08/30/15
Description: Email hoax / Viral images
Circulating since: Feb. 2005 (this version)
Status: Fake / False
Analysis: See last page
Text example:
Email contributed by D. Bridges, Feb. 14, 2005:
MERMAID FOUND AT MARINA BEACH AFTER TSUNAMI
Below are the pictures of a mermaid found at marina beach (CHENNAI) last Saturday. The body is preserved in the Egmore museum under tight Security.
Note: Mermaid is called as KADAL KANNI in Tamil which is an imaginary Creature described in stories, with the upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish).
Image #2
The text is false and the images fake. The latter were already circulating well before the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, and in fact all three photos were previously alleged to have been taken in the Philippines (and elsewhere). They certainly weren't taken in Chennai, India, nor is there a preserved mermaid carcass in Chennai's Egmore Museum (officially known as the Goverment Museum).
In any case, mermaids are creatures of myth and legend, not the natural world.
While there does exist an ancient tradition (primarily in Japan) of fabricating "mermaid carcasses" out of fish skins and animal bones for exhibition, there are no documented examples of the real thing having been discovered.
By far, the most famous specimen "mermaid" specimen in history was P.T. Barnum's Feejee Mermaid, purchased secondhand by the great showman in the mid-1800s and exhibited throughout the United States as a sideshow attraction.
The glaring irony in all this mermaid fakery, with respect to the ancient tales on which it's based, is that the mummified specimens one typically finds on display are, without exception, hideous in appearance — "the incarnation of ugliness," as one American critic described Barnum's faux creature — while the classic mermaid of folklore and pop culture is invariably represented as beautiful and alluring. It's a discrepancy no one ever bothers to explain.
Take the Poll: Do you believe mermaids really exist?
1) Yes 2) No 3) Unsure 4) Current results
Sources and further reading:
Preserved Yokai of Japan
Cryptozoology Online, 29 June 2009
The Feejee Mermaid
Museum of Hoaxes
The Feejee Mermaid Archive
The Lost Museum
The Merman's Home Page
RoadsideAmerica.com
Last updated 08/30/15
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