Are Mermaids Real?

In 2009, the local administration of Kiryat Yam, a small town in Israel, declared a prize money of $1 million to anyone who could prove the existence of mermaids off the Israel coast. Quite a few residents of the small town were more than convinced of their existence, with some of them even stating that, they had a seen a mermaid jumping out of the water, like a dolphin, and performing acrobatics in mid-air. This is just one of the many instances which has raised an intricate question in many minds - are mermaids real or not?

What are Mermaids?
Mermaids are mythical creatures cited in various literary works and folklores. They are typically, described as the living beings with the upper torso of a woman and lower torso of a fish. These creatures have been allegedly sighted by many sailors and fishermen in different parts of the world. Like unicorns and centaurs, even mermaids have become an integral part of mythology and folklore in several cultures, across the world. Determining, whether mermaids are real, may seem to be a tedious task if we blindly go along with the masses. However, a bit of investigation is enough to reveal that mermaids are mythical creatures, and not real ones.

Mermaid Myths and Legends
The first reported sighting of a mermaid can be traced back to Assyria in around 1000 BC. Some accounts describe mermaids as good-willed creatures, who granted wishes to sailors, while some describe them as evil creatures or signs of bad omen. Seafarers believed that sighting of a mermaid was a sign of approaching storm. According to a popular myth associated with mermaids, their voices are so enticing that the sailors, who heard them sing, often got enchanted and either smashed their ships onto the rocks or grounded it. It's the aura around these myths and legends, that makes many people ask 'are mermaids real', in an attempt to ascertain the fact about their existence.

Mermaids: Real or Myth
People who believe that mermaids are real, and these includes those working in the field of cryptozoology, give the examples of various mermaid sightings all over the world. However, none of these sightings are reliable, as they are not backed by any sort of evidence. The last few years have also witnessed the desperation of people trying to prove that mermaids exist by manufacturing fake mermaid carcasses, and implying that they were real mermaid carcasses which have come ashore along with the waves. It is no at all difficult to fabricate a carcass of a mermaid, if you can get your hands on the carcass of a monkey and a fish. Such carcasses and pictures have become popular exhibits in museums the world over, thus making many people believe that mermaids are real indeed.

Are Mermaids Real or Fake?
The description of mermaids as half human and half fish is too vague, to be true. If one considers that the two species are not at all similar by any means. It is assumed that the sailors, who saw mermaids with their own eyes, may have actually seen the manatees or sea cows. Though these creature doesn't resemble a human being by any angle, there are significant chances that the home-sick sailors, with the thoughts of their woman in their mind, must have mistaken these creatures for mermaids. This reasoning runs parallel to that of a mirage, wherein a tired and thirsty individual wandering in the desert, in search of water, is confronted with an optical illusion or mirage every now and then. Just like the thirsty wanderer in the desert, spending months together on the ship is bound to make the sailors wary of the sea. In such circumstances, the image of a beautiful mermaid sitting on a rock in the middle of the vast ocean can be best described as nothing else, but a hallucinatory experience.

It is not at all easy to make someone change his belief, even if it is a false one. Similar is the case of people who wonders, whether are mermaids real or not. Over the last few centuries, exaggerations and false beliefs have made the mermaid myth quite popular. When the local administration of Kiryat Yam declared the huge sum as prize money, several people from all over the world flocked to the region, in a desperate attempt to get a glimpse of this mythical creature, demonstrating an excellent example of the term 'gullibility'. Even though mermaids have been described as beautiful creatures in almost all the cultures, the carcasses making it to the shores, every now and then, seldom do any justice to this description.