Mermaids, these half-human, half-fish beings, are legendary sea creatures found in maritime cultures since time immemorial. The ancient Greek epic poet Homer wrote about them in The Odyssey. In the ancient Far East, mermaids were the wives of powerful sea dragons and served as trusted messengers between them and the emperors on land. Mermaids are called yawkyawks by Australian Aboriginal people, a name that may refer to their mesmerizing songs.
The belief in mermaids may have arisen at the dawn of our species. Magical female figures first appear in cave paintings in the late Paleolithic (Stone Age) around 30,000 years ago, when modern humans gained dominance over the land and presumably began to navigate the seas. Half-human creatures, called chimeras, also abound in mythology; In addition to mermaids, there were wise centaurs, wild satyrs, and coarse minotaurs, to name just a few. But are the mermaids real? The most skeptical say that evidence of aquatic humanoids has never been found, but that is not entirely true. And possibly after seeing a video posted on TikTok they change their mind.
A real mermaid?
A tiktoker claims to have found a real mermaid skeleton on a beach in the United States. TikTok user jjjmc12 posted two videos of his mysterious discovery by him on Sunday night and it has since received more than 15 million views and 2 million likes.
In the footage, jjmc12’s hands can be seen scooping what appears to be the skeletal remains of a mermaid out of the seaweed, before tossing it back. The first thing we see is the head and torso, and then we clearly see a tail that belongs to a sea creature. The young man can be heard yelling at his mother from him.
“OMG what the hell is that,” says jjjmc12. “Mom, do you see this?”
His mother can also be heard questioning it before throwing it away, and they’re not the only ones wondering what it could be. And how could it be otherwise, the video has caused all kinds of comments, with users trying to find an explanation for what they were seeing. Some considered it to be a baby mermaid.
However, some suggested that it could be related to black magic if found near the Caribbean. It is about Obeah, who came to the Caribbean through the slave trade, transported from West Africa. The slaves brought with them their own beliefs and gods, their religion and magic, all they had left. Seeing how slavers often separated kin and tribes, Obeah began to spread religious and magical practices among the different tribes, blending together in what must have been a very strange and terrifying time. And like other magic, Obeah continues to be practiced today.
Although there were those who proposed that it could be a marine creature that has not even been discovered by science. On the other hand, despite the fact that the video seems to show that it is the remains of a real mermaid, skeptics said that it was simply a well-crafted hoax to get views on TikTok.
It must also be said that this is not the first time someone has found what appears to be the remains of a mermaid. In 2016, a man named Paul Jones posted photos of the decomposing remains of a real mermaid in Norfolk, England.
The footage showed the decomposing body of a human-like creature with a fish tail lying on the sand. And in 2015, a mysterious video was released that appeared to show men dressed in biohazard suits carrying a newt on a stretcher. Apparently, the video was recorded in a lake in Poland, although no further information was provided about it, neither date nor exact place. In the video, which lasts just under a minute and a half, men in white suits surround a mysterious creature and carry it along with two other men, dressed in similar outfits to those of paramedics.
Another piece of evidence is found in the Tenshou-Kyousha sanctuary in Japan, where the oldest known mermaid is found. As the story goes, this creature is 1,400 years old and once appeared to a local prince who claimed to have been a regular fisherman who was cursed after fishing in sheltered waters. It is said that the mermaid asked the prince to build the shrine as a reminder of his mistake about her, displaying the cursed corpse for all to see. As we can see, perhaps the TikTok video is a hoax, but it is also possible that it is the remains of a real mermaid.
What do you think about the mermaid video? Is it a montage? Or is it real?
