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The Tombstone Merman
In 1880 the remains of a “Merman” were brought to Tombstone,
Arizona. Mermen, the male counterparts
of mermaids had a long tradition in Western mythology, dating back to the time
of the ancient Greeks. The creatures are
said to be human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down.
Chinese businessman Quong Kee had this particular specimen on display at
his “Can Can Cafe”, where it both intrigued and horrified his customers.
Although during the 19th century artifacts such as this were
still thought by some to be real, the hoax can be traced back to 16th
century China, where such mermen were manufactured by joining the upper part of
a monkey’s body with the lower part of a fish.
These oddities were imported into Europe by the Dutch East India
Company, where they were taken to be the remains of actual creatures.
In 1845, sideshow impresario P.T. Barnum began
displaying a mummified mermaid supposedly caught in the waters off Fiji. Once again this was a feat of taxidermy which
melded a monkey and a fish. Barnum made
a fortune showing the weird creature, and there were soon many copycat
creations appearing in sideshows.
Although there are many mummified mermaids, mermen
like the one in Tombstone, now on display at the Bird Cage Theater, are
rare. There is another one of these rare
artifacts on display at the Indian Trading Post in Banff, Canada.
