Mermaids

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hell listeners, I can't thank you enough for stopping by
for another episode of the Paranormal Activities Podcast, a show
dedicated to all those things that go bump in the
night and then some to day's episode is more like
a splash in the night. We're going to talk about

(00:23):
wait for it, that's right, mermaids. Throughout human history, the
image of mermaids has transcended cultures and continents, manifesting as
enigmatic beings of the water, part human, part fish, an

(00:46):
often part spirit. In ancient Greece, the earliest sea spirits
were the sirens, first described in Homer's Odyssey. Originally bird
women who lured sailors to destruction with haunting songs, these

(01:07):
figures evolved over centuries into the familiar fish tailed mermaids
of lore. Combining beauty and peril. They symbolized the dangerous
allure of the sea itself. Far to the north and east,
Slavic folklore birds the russovski, the restless spirits of young

(01:32):
women drowned, often unjustly or tragically. These beings were neither
fully human nor fully spirit, tied to the lakes and rivers,
seductive and vengeful, Unlike the Greek sirens Russoalki could be wrathful,

(01:55):
dragging men under water to share their fate. This dark
twist showed how a murmaid lure reflected cultural anxieties without
death and the afterlife. In Japan, the Neningo offered a
different vision, more fish than woman, sometimes described as a

(02:20):
monstrous fish with a human face. Eating Ningo flesh was
said to grand immortality, but catching or as signing one,
was often dire omened. The Japanese saw these beings as
mysterious forces of nature, neither holy, malvant nor benevolent, bridging

(02:45):
the natural and supernatural worlds. In Africa, particularly in West
African and diaspora traditions, the water spirit Mami Wata dominates
the imagination. Dis maidlike entities are often depicted as stunningly

(03:06):
beautiful women with the lower bodies of a fish or snakes.
Mommi Wata is venerated in many communities for her powers
to heal, curse or bestow wealth. Her worship blends African
traditional religion with European and Caribbean influences, highlighting how mermaid

(03:29):
mythology adapts through cultural exchange. Similarly, in the Caribbean, the
lower La Serene reigns in Haitian bugle and related spiritual systems.
She is a powerful water spirit associated with music, healing,

(03:50):
and seduction. She's both a protector and a warning, embodying
the ocean's mystery and danger. Northern Europe's Scandinavian myths introduced
how true a sea maiden, often betrayed as tragic figures
who fall in love with humans but are doomed to

(04:12):
the sea. These mermaids could foretell death, help fishermen, lure
men to watery graves, reflecting the perilous livelihood of coastal
communities dependent on the ocean. Celtic legends tell of the

(04:32):
Selkies and marrows, beings who transform between seal and human form.
These stories are often tragic romances where humans capture selkies
skins to keep them on land, only were the selki
to eventually return to the sea, symbolizing freedom and loss.

(04:55):
Across Asia, the Sirena of the Philippines holds a vital
place in folklore stories. Unlike Western mermaids, these creatures have
long hair and often inhabit rivers and lakes as well
as oceans. Their songs weaving spells that can enchant or doom.

(05:17):
Aboriginal Australians speak of water spirits akin to mermaids like
the Burnip, or water maidens, guardians of sacred waterholes who
can shapeshift or trap on warry travelers in the wetlands.
These stories emphasize respect for water as life giving dangerous force.

(05:41):
Accounts of mermaid sidings of long peppered sailor's logs, exploring
journals and folklore archives, blurring the lines between myth and
possible reality. Christopher Columbus famously reported a mermaid siding in
fourteen ninety three near the Caribbean Islands or you could

(06:02):
say Caribbean. Though he admitted these creatures were not as
beautiful as they are painted. His report stoked European imaginations
about the New World's mysteries. If a mis pirate Blackbeard
is said to have steered clear of waters, rumored to
be haunted by mermaids, weary of their dangerous influence, his

(06:26):
log books warned of strange lights and songs heard beneath
the waves, omens of shipwrecks and death. Naval officers and
whalers in the seventeenth nineteenth centuries often documented strange humanoid
shapes glimpsed on the horizon or riding ocean swells. These

(06:47):
sightings were sometimes explained to wave as manatees or dungongs,
but the frequency and similarity of accounts suggest a deep
seated cultural phenomenon. The imamous features mermaid, a grotesque fake
mermaid assembled from a monkey's torso sewn onto a fish,

(07:09):
was popularized by showman P. T. Barnum in the nineteenth century.
Though a hoax, it reflects the deep public fascination the
idea of mermaids as both freakish and fantastic. Coastal communities
in Norway and Ireland still tell tales of mermaids in

(07:32):
a fiords and bays, reported sidings passed down orley through generations.
Blending superstition and local history. These communities live with an
ongoing sense that the boundary between human and water spirit
remains thin. Mermaids are rarely mere mythic figures. In many traditions.

(07:55):
They possess paranormal abilities that make them forces to be
reckoned with. The most iconic power is their sirens song,
a hypnotic melody that entrances sailors, making them before we
get reason and steering them toward doom. Some legends create
mermaids with the ability to control storms and weather, raising

(08:18):
violent tempests or calming sea's will. This control over nature's
most chaotic elements reinforces their dual role as protectors and destroyers.
Mermaids are also renowned for shape shifting in glamor magic,
changing form between human and fish, were disguising themselves as

(08:40):
beautiful women on shore to interact with or deceive humans.
These abilities deepen their mystery and make their figures of
fascination and fear more chilling. Are tales of mermaids as
soul harvesters, capturing these spirits of drowned victims and trapping
them in underwater realms, denying them rest. Such stories connect

(09:05):
to mermaid's broader beliefs about the afterlife and ghostly captivity.
In many cultures, time is said to behave strangely around mermaids.
Travelers who encounter them might find years have passed when
they return to shore, or experience a time distortion under water,

(09:25):
suggesting mermaid realms exist out of sync with the human world. Often,
a mermaid's appearance is an omen of death or disaster.
Their presence for warning shipwrecks, drownings, or personal tragedy like
Banshee's wailing before death. Mermaids serve as supernatural messengers between

(09:53):
life and death. Unfortunately, that's all the time that we've
got for today's episode of the Paranormal Activities podcast. The
show dedicated to all those things we can't explain, the
things that go bumping the night, and who knows what else.
More importantly, the show dedicated to you are listeners. I

(10:16):
can't thank you enough for listening to another episode. Till
next time,