On Uncommon Types of Mermaids (Excerpt)
(Extracted from the article “On Uncommon Types of Mermaids” by Eliza Archer, published on the Journal of the National Cryptozoological Institute in 2015)
Both in legend and historical records, the figure of the mermaid is present, either as a legend or as a historical account. Sea and river mermaids are the most commonly known types, but there is little scientific input on other, less common, kinds of mermaid.
[…] With this work, we intend to bring attention to the most uncommon species of mermaid across the world and the dangers they entail. The aim of this article is merely communication and information and it does not constitute a safe guide to deal with or study mermaids.
Just like most underground animals, groundwater mermaids are blind. There are no records that allow us to know if they have any kind of echolocation system.
Their method of hunting involves floating in the dark and waiting for ripples and waves in the still water that might indicate the presence of prey.
Their main source of sustenance is the last breaths of oxygen in cave diver’s tanks. They have, nevertheless, been reported to survive for years without any intake. To date, at least twenty deaths have been attributed to groundwater mermaids, mostly in North America and Eastern Europe.
They sport bioluminescent specks on their skin, used to lure prey towards them. Divers are advised to not follow any light other than their flashlight, and to use uncommon light colors such as red.
When enraged they have been known to cause earthquakes (Shanghai, 1876), poison the water supply (Maysville, 1985), and sink small towns into the ground (Villalegre, 1923).
In 1984 18 year-old Rachel was declared dead after drowning in her family’s swimming pool in Santa Monica, CA. A week later, her family reported seeing her swimming at night and trying to lure her younger sister into the water. The family moved a month later to another state, and the house was demolished. There are no more records on this incident.
In 1995, 7 women between the ages of 17 and 21 went missing and 10 men between the ages of 17 and 23 were found dead in a backyard on the outskirts of Fort Lauderdale, FL. They had attended a pool party during the night, and the bodies of the 10 young men were found in the morning. Investigators reported that the men had died from acute airborne chlorine poisoning, higher than the levels found in the pool. The women were never found.
Between 1980 and 2005, at least three water parks across the globe closed with no discernible reason. Other than some reports of accidents and disappearances, we cannot find a proper link between this and the presence of pool mermaids, but it is worth mentioning.
Reports describe this species as very pale, with thinning hair and bleached, cracked skin. These are a type of Singers and are attracted by loud music. We can deduce by the events in Fort Lauderdale in 1995 that they are capable of increasing and decreasing the chlorine content of a swimming pool, and surviving high levels of it.
We want to remind our readers that the events mentioned are the only recorded events of swimming pool mermaids, and that the probabilities of encountering one are very small as their numbers seem scarce.
It is extremely difficult to find any records on this species of mermaids and it is still debated if they are just fiction or if they are an actual, if rare kind of mermaid.
In the 1787 version of Bluebeard written by Anne-Marie Benoit, the murderer’s last wife finds the room where the previous wives’ corpses are. This room is described as “[…] covered in blood, so deep that Vivienne could sink her foot in it and she would still not touch the stone floor. […] Shaken by the sight, she dropped the golden key, which sunk straight to the bottom. Frantically, the young girl tried to reach for it, but she was not able to find it. She fell to her knees and started crying, for surely now her husband would find out she had stepped in the forbidden room. But suddenly, a bloody arm emerged from the blood, and handed her key, now red rather than golden. The face of a dark haired woman appeared too, staring silently at her. Several other women emerged from the blood, and started approaching the first one. Terrified, Vivienne grabbed the key and ran away from the room, locking it behind her.”
A paper written by Lord Thomas Crawford in 1886 describes in great detail this species of mermaid. He describes them as inhabiting only places where extreme bloodshed has happened, and only surviving as long as their blood supply does not run out. They only seem to inhabit it, and are never observed to consume it. They are described as being deathly pale and sporting dark scales. After Thomas Crawford’s death, many of the pages of his work were lost, along with his methods. Without any explanation of how he managed to perform such an extensive investigation, his work has been mostly considered as speculative or outright fiction.
The subject of whether Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed could have been a historical blood mermaid, has been debated for decades. Thomas Crawford addresses it in his paper, indicating that she was, in fact, not one and that “she is another kind of creature altogether.”
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