Hello, welcome to my blog where you will get to read juicy articles on every topic. Today I’ll be running you through what most people heard as kids. Books have been written, movies have been made about mermaid but they have not answered the question of the existence of mermaids.
Does Mammy Water exist or is it just a conspiracy theory?
Growing up as a little child in the riverine area of Nigeria, I constantly heard tales of fishermen who saw mermaids or mammy water as we know it while they were out fishing. One of such tales I heard from my late uncle. He described what he saw as a beautiful fair lady with really long hair, large green eyes, a slender figure and a lower body with fish tail. I loved those tales. I believed them.
Do they really exist? Was I lied to? Let me run you through a little something.
All over the world, there have been speculations on the existence of mermaids. The origins of mermaids appear in folklores of different cultures including Africa. Records exist of sightings, bones believed belongs to a mermaid and pictures of mermaids which could lead us to believe they actually exist. In 1493, Christopher Columbus in his journal described his experience with three mermaids that elevated themselves above the sea surface while he was navigating along the coasts of Africa which is one of the earliest recordings of mermaids.
Also, Explorer Henry Hudson in 1608, recorded himself and his crew while travelling off the coast of Norway, had encountered a sea creature that had back and breasts like a woman’s but had a tail speckled like a marcell.
this is an artist's impression of what the explorers saw.In Egypt, there is a cave known as cave of swimmers that has drawings depicting creatures with tails swimming and men standing with bows and arrows.
The theory is that humans were at war with these species at the time. These paintings were done around the time early humans started sailing the seas. The inspiration could have been because they saw mermaids on their voyages and painted them.
In the 13th century, precisely in 1222, bones of mermaids were collected after washing ashore and they are till this day on display in a temple in Fukuoka, Japan.
I know you are probably thinking these reports are really too old to conclude mermaids exist, maybe I should present a more recent record.
In 2012, at the Gowke dam in Zimbabwe workers who were to fix pumps to provide clean water for residents were said to have stopped work and refused to return to the dam after they saw what they described as “pale skinned humans with fish tails”.
Still in Gokwe community of Zimbabwe, two young boys were reportedly murdered by a mermaid in 2017. The same area where the workers were terrified by the half-human, half-fish creature. According to the media, the boys were said to be playing near the dam and saw a creature and attempted to get hold of it thinking it was a big fish. The boys were drowned by the creature. There were witnesses including a friend of the boys. The disappearances, attacks and murders in the area made the local government authorities solicit for help from traditional healers who conducted a ritual to appease the mermaids of Zimbabwe. The ritual including slaughtering and offering of cattle and beer for the mermaids.
Nigeria’s very own Sir Victor Uwaifo recounted his encounter with a mermaid at the Lagos Bar Beach. He was at the Lagos Bar Beach at night when he saw a figure moving towards him just as the waves advanced and wanted to scream but she simply said “if you see mammy water, never run away”. His encounter with the “mammy water” was later translated into a song which became a hit.
Although most of the sightings and records are from Africa, there are others from other parts of the world. In places like Canada, England etc. In some places like Iceland, they even believe mermaids have the ability to control the weather.
It is possible to dismiss these records as myths and say mermaids are non-existent?
Were you also told mermaid tales?
What are your thoughts on the existence of mermaids?
Are there possibilities of the existence of mermaids that humans have not really discovered?
While airing your opinions, bear in mind that about 80% of the ocean is unmapped, undiscovered and unexplored according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
All pictures are from Google.
