Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Stylized depiction of a MERMAID. (© 2002 ArtToday.com, Inc., an IMSI Company)
and short. Brownish, ribbonlike streamers came
out of its forehead and flowed over its back.
Reynolds watched it for about an hour as it
swam near a rock only 35 feet away.
Schoolmaster William Munro of Thurso,
Highland, Scotland, was walking along the coast
at Sandside Bay in 1798 when he came across
what seemed to be a naked human female sitting
on a partially submerged rock and combing its
long, light-brown hair. He watched for about
three minutes before it dropped into the sea and
disappeared. Had it not been for the dangerous
place where it was sitting and other reports in
which people had seen a Mermaid for an hour or
more, he might have thought it was human.
On October 18, 1811, farmer John M’Isaac
saw a classic Mermaid sitting on a rock on the
Kintyre Peninsula near Cambeltown, Argyll and
Bute, Scotland. Its human-shaped upper half
was white, while the lower half was a reddishgray
tail covered with hair. It seemed to be
330 MERMAID
combing its head-hair with its arms, which
seemed to be short in proportion to its body.
M’Isaac watched the animal for two hours, after
which it tumbled clumsily into the water and remained
some minutes stroking and washing its
chest. He then saw its face clearly, which he described
as human, with hollow eyes and a short
neck. Other witnesses came forward, and they
all signed depositions testifying to the truth of
the incident.
On August 15, 1814, two fishermen saw a
black Merman with a flat nose, curly hair, and
long arms swimming upright in the water off
Portgordon, Moray, Scotland. It was accompanied
by a female, who had breasts and long,
straight hair.
In May 1817, somewhere in the North Atlantic
Ocean at latitude 44°6', the crew of the
ship Leonidas observed a strange animal with a
fish’s tail and humanlike upper parts, swimming
erect about 2 feet out of the water for about six