Do mermaids, unicorns, dragons, fairies and elves really exist? Many claim that these are products of the imagination, but some stories refute the existence of "mythical" mermaids. Decide for yourself...
In 1830, locals were collecting seaweed on the Hebrides island of Benbecula. The ocean was completely calm, when one of the women saw a creature that "looked like a woman but of smaller stature" in the water nearby. The creature was joyfully swimming and diving, like a little child. It was not afraid of the people standing close by. When the men decided to corner it so as to bring her ashore, the mermaid swam away to the deeps with utmost ease.
One of the boys, having gotten permission from the adults, threw a rock at her, which struck true. Whether it was because of this or shock, a few days later the mermaid was dead. The waves had washed her ashore. An eyewitness said, "The upper body of the creature was like that of a well-fed child of 3-4 years of age but with abnormally developed breasts. The hair was dark and shiny, the skin soft and white. The lower body was a tail, like that of a salmon, but with no scales." No one had any idea of what to do with the mermaid. The local sheriff Duncan Shaw ordered for her to be buried in a coffin facing the area where she had been washed ashore.
There are other known cases of encounters with this type of miniature being. A mermaid the size of a "10 year-old kid" was spotted along the coasts of Ireland in 1819. The English newspaper Daily Telegraph ran an article in 1886 about 2 fishermen, who saw a mermaid that swam underneath their boat. She was also the size of a child, according to the description of one of the fishermen: "She was as large as a 30-pound salmon, if I'm lying, let God punish me and may I never earn another shilling for the rest of my life."
Tiny mermaids have been seen in the Baltic Sea. Here is an ethnographic documentation from Estonia: "They can be seen in the sea. Before a storm, little children may appear, a fisherman friend saw one, and next to it a mermaid - a woman. They train them with their breasts. We have often seen them in the river. They swim like tiny people."
In the Shipping Gazette from June 4, 1857, one can read the testimony of Scottish sailors, who under oath on the Bible said, "Near the coast on the sea, we saw with our own eyes a creature with the likeness of a woman, with a white body, large breasts and black hair."
River mermaids look the same way. In a testimony from Russia in 1990, it is written: "It looks like a girl, which stands before the swamp, her hair is black, loose. White face, black eyes. Sometimes she is in the river. She sits on a large rock, with her black hair."
