Mystery of a 300-year-old mummified ‘mermaid’ with ‘human face’ and tail has baffled scientists

Japanese scientists are probing a mysterious 12-inch creature, which was allegedly caught in the Pacific Ocean, off the Japanese island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741. The baffling mummified creature is now kept in a temple in the city of Asakuchi. Shaped like a mermaid, the creature has hair, teeth, nails, and a lower body with scales.

With a grimacing face, pointed teeth, two hands, and hair on its head and brow, it has an eerily human appearance – except for its fish-like lower half.

Researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts have taken the mummy for CT scanning in a bid to unravel its secrets, as per an NYT report.

Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society, who came up with the project, told NYT the bizarre creature could have religious significance.

“Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality,” he added.

“It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die.”

“There is a legend in many parts of Japan that a woman accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived for 800 years.”

“This ‘Yao-Bikuni’ legend is also preserved near the temple where the mermaid mummy was found.”

“I heard that some people, believing in the legend, used to eat the scales of mermaid mummies.”

“There is also a legend that a mermaid predicted an infectious disease,” Hiroshi stated.

Also, a historic letter from 1903, apparently penned by a former owner, was stored alongside the mummy and gives a story about its provenance.

“A mermaid was caught in a fish-catching net in the sea off Kochi Prefecture,” the letter states.

“The fishermen who caught it did not know it was a mermaid, but took it to Osaka and sold it as unusual fish. My ancestors bought it and kept it as a family treasure.”

It’s not yet clear how or when the mummy came to the Enjuin temple in Asakuchi.

But chief priest, Kozen Kuida, said it was put on display in a glass case some 40 years ago and is now kept in a fireproof safe.

“We have worshipped it, hoping that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic even if only slightly,” he told The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.

Kinoshita, however, takes a more pragmatic view of the creature.

One claim of the origins is that it might be a hoax and the creature may be an article of the show meant to be exported to Europe, according to another report.

The findings of the scientists are expected to be published later in 2022.