Mermaid Monday: Breton Mermaid January 22, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
This one actually appeared in a note to a previous mermaid post from 2011. Beach has since hunted down a slightly earlier account in English (Anon 1812). Note that we are in deepest Brittany, in a land where mermaids were still an important part of folklore in the early 1900s.
On the 31st July, an extraordinary animal was seen by five fishermen, in the creek of Port Melin (Morbihan). Its shape resembled that of a man. It had arms, and the bust was completely human, but the lower part terminated in a fish’s tail. Its head was bald, with the exception of the fore part, on which was a bunch of black hair, and another bunch was perceptible upon the chin. The seafaring people, who have sent us, these particulars, had time to observe the monster at their leisure: it was within half a musket shot of the shore, between two boats, but they were afraid of it and did not go any nearer.
Beach would kill for the original French report (if it exists!): drbeachcombing AT gmail DOT com. Note that this story got published in Britain in the wake of the Exmouth and the Caithness sightings.
