The Mud Mermaids
By Cole Herrold
Merfolk are, in general, a difficult to
peg bunch. They are the culmination of fantasy stories, faerie folk,
misidentified animals, and potentially cryptozoological beasts. Their reign in
the sea is something that has been disputed time and time ever since man has
ventured out over the blue abyss. There have been some interesting reports that
have come out over the years that do point to the existence of merfolk, but
these cases usually come from the deep ocean or off of a beach. Yet, as I've
researched into this phenomenon, there have been a few times id come across a
mermaid that seems out of place from the oceanic lair they're supposed to
dwell, for there have been several cases of merfolk reported in both rivers and
lakes in landlocked sections of the world.
In Vevay, Indiana, one such account took
place of not just one but two semiaquatic fish people. Vevay is located in
Jefferson County and is located on the Ohio River in Switzerland County. The
area was founded in the early 1800s and founded by Swiss immigrants and with
them their legends and hopes and dreams. Part of the main formation of the town
was with the planting of vineyards and production of wine, which to this day is
still celebrated with a Swiss Wine Festival. The town has a rich history that
makes it a quaint place to reside, and it just might have a pair of murky
residences just off the coast of the modern dwellings.
It was in the Saturday, October 20th
issue of the Akron Daily Democrat in 1894 that readers would encounter
the surprise of their lives. In a small article entitled “Mud Mermaids-Strange
Humanlike Creatures That Live In the Ohio River” the article describes a pair
of mud-covered miscreants who were sighted on the banks of the Ohio River. The
creatures were dubbed Mud Mermaids by the townsfolk when they saw the strange
species when they came to the shore for fishing, boating, and other necessary
and recreational activities. Their appearance was described as reptile-like but
with human-like features. When semi-submerged as they swim, they look very much
like human beings with some unique characteristics but in all human-like in
form. The features that seemed non-human were described on several accounts are
large dog-like ears that behave similarly to those of a canine. Yet these
creatures seemed unintelligent when many who saw them looked in their eyes.
These creatures utilize the tides to extend their domain at times. During this time,
certain areas of the banks of the river had areas with logs and stumps of
trees. When the tide comes in and submerges this deforested section, the
creatures will come and dwell within there. When the tide is low, there
would-be tons of deshelled mussels and fish bones, which indicated that these
semiaquatic creatures would be carnivorous. These creatures apparently require
a lot of food to survive as the locals would describe that when the tides would
come in to wash the remains of the beasts feasts away, the next time the tide
was low, a new batch would be filled in its place. The first occurrence of
these creatures being sighted by the locals is in 1890. Yet a truly detailed
account of these beasts would come from a Ship Captain who, like many
Cryptozoologists in later years, would search for unknown animals. He, however,
found his quarry.
Confederate Captain J.M. Ozier of
Covington, Kentucky, who had searched the area for the beasts, would be the one
who would describe the creature the most in description. While out boating, he
came across two of the creatures of what he believed to be both a male and a
female. He claimed he could distinguish between the two sexes by stating that
the male acted aggressively when he had approached as either the beast was
territorial or attempting to protect its mate. He would go on to take notes of
these amored aquatic animals stating they are approximately 5ft in length,
about 150lbs with a yellowish color. Its body is humanoid but only from the
waist up, and even then, its hand are webbed with long claws. It has legs
humanlike in shape yet shorter than the arms, and the body in the back tapers
to a point but not in the same way as a classic tail. On its back, there is
coarse hair as well as a third of the way down its body. The skin of the lower
portion of the body seems elephant-like, but the upper portion appears
smoother. As well as appearing brighter than the lower portions. He describes
it bearing a surprisingly strong resemblance to Zip, a member of P.T. Barnum's
Troop, which is interesting seeing as how Zip seems to have very little
compared to the Mud Mermaids. Another feature the Captain seems to emphasize is
how skittish these creatures are. He would state that when these creatures are
disturbed, they would submerge not in the classic way as seen with animals but
would simply submerge like a stone that is dropped in the murky depth. With
that biological survey of the creatures, we are left with more questions than
answers. Yet that is all we have to go on a strange anomaly known as the Mud
Mermaids.
This case is over 130 years old, so a
further investigation into the witnesses of this case is impossible, which is
unfortunate but not surprising with Crypto-historical cases. All we truly have
is what was written about in the Democrat, what other researchers have speculated,
potentially related cases from other areas, and a lot of guesswork. In many
ways, these cases are the most frustrating because we are left with more
questions than answers, and there is extremely little chance we will come to a
conclusion unless some diary or journal is unearthed stating it's a
journalistic hoax, or of some local’s prank, or even of some other sightings
that lend credence to the account. So, we as researchers and those who have an
interest in the phenomenon to assume that its either a case of yellow
journalism or an authentic account.
Going under the assumption that this is an
authentic encounter, where do we stand on this phenomenon? The first place
logically to check is with the possibility that this could be a misidentification.
The Ohio River is a diverse location with countless species that occur and
frolic. Aquatic mammals make a decent amount of the population of the river,
with such members as otters, beavers, minks, and muskrats. The largest of these
animals is the North American otter, which can reach a little over two feet in
length. There is the possibility that many of these animals could have been
what was seen. The descriptions matching even more if any of these animals had
mange resulting in the yellowish and brownish kind of skin. Yet the comparisons end there. It could be
possible that, as with many big fish tales, there is a level of embellishment
in this case though it would appear that most are if not all of the description
is total imagination. While we can't dismiss this possibility in its entirety,
it would seem unlikely as the descriptions seem to match what the witnesses in
Vevay and what Captain Ozier had seen. The fact that Ozier is assumedly a
salted seasoned sailor adds more authenticity to his description, seeing as he
clearly would know the difference between the local fish and aquatic fauna and
a mud mermaid.
There is a famous type of adjusted
taxidermy in which skates and rays are turned into the forms of strange
creatures. These are referred to as Jenny Hanivers. Jenny Hanivers have been
formed by several different craftsmen for many years, and many who first see
them are taken back and that they can believe that these creatures are, in
fact, strange biological anomalies. Some researchers have even gone and made
comparisons with creatures like the Bishopfish and Sea Monk to these kinds of
manufactured art. These figures do, in fact, bear a strike resemblance to what
was seen in Vevay in some regard. It is possible that this Captain might have
seen one of these figures and created a tale based on these fanciful
taxidermied specimens. Yet that is once again speculation based on nothing but
what we see now with these unique mummified specimens.
While these possibilities are possible,
there is another element outside of the previously listed and yellow
journalism. The next most possible outcome is that this could, in fact, be an
as of yet unknown animal. What this animal's ancestor could be is clearly
something that would be almost impossible to determine. It is not uncommon for
something to become semiaquatic or fully aquatic if its ancestor was, in fact,
terrestrials. Whales, for example, started out as Pakicetus, which was a small,
almost rodent-like beast that, through millions of years, resulted in the
colossal cetaceans we see today. Could some species result in a similar
evolutionary choice-generating in these strange beasts that were seen in the
1890s?
Merfolk were a phenomenon I truly did not
think could possibly occur and were the products of misidentified animals or
objects. I had heard of the infamous Christopher Columbus account, which was
when he claimed to of sighted three mermaids who were terribly ugly; most scholars
conclude it was a manatee. Yet as I began to do more research, I had opened my
mind a bit to the possibility. With the Mud Mermaids, however, I do not believe
they are mermaids or merfolk in the classic sense. They seem to be connected,
though, to a phenomenon, I have a true love for, that being the Aquatic
Humanoids. These creatures are similar to a few different aquatic humanoids I
have read about over the years, like the Loveland Frogman, which does make its
home in the Ohio River, as well as the aquatic enigma known as the Green Clawed
Beast, which attempted to drown a woman in the same state, and the Fishman type
creature seen in Kentucky. In fact, the beginning of the article definitely
seems to point to this kind of beast. Yet, the extremely detailed human points
of the Mud Mermaid in the description are very different than the other
previously mentioned cryptids. I could definitely see a possible Loveland
Frogman type creature, and there is the chance that maybe that is the case with
this creature as the other features could have been elaboration. Yet the
Captain, if his account is accurate, is something entirely different and
something that as of yet matches no known cryptid or known animal. Species
outside of Insects, Crustaceans, and Arachnids do not typically have the
multitude of limbs as seen in this case. These mud mermaids are more like
aquatic centaurs in that respect (Which are an entirely different mythological,
paranormal, and potentially cryptozoological pedigree, namely Icthyocentaurs).
In Barton M. Nunnelly’s Book The Inhumanoids,
which has been one of the most useful tomes in my research, describes another
account of a semiaquatic merbeing that does have some hallmarks that echo back
to the Mud Mermaids. The account, however, predates the mermaids by
approximately nine years in Vincennes, Indiana, on January 16th in
1885 when several hunters would encounter a beast while out hunting. The group
had no luck, but they would soon encounter a beast that had more luck than them
as they came across it sampling its prey, a large hog. that was described as having the head and face
of a dark-skinned human whose mouth was lined with fangs and razor-sharp teeth.
Its neck was approximately two to three feet long, covered intermixedly with
short red hair and scales as bright as a sunfish. It did have a tail about
three to four feet long, and it curled up over its back. Its webbed feet were
attached to short legs and on its ties sprouted long claws. One hunter
attempted to lasso this strange beast but was, in turn, hit in the head by the
creature's tail. The beast made for the creek, which was no doubt the gate to
its watery lair, and disappeared in the water. After the creature escaped a
most certain able end, a monster hunt was conducted in search of the beast. Its
outcome is unknown, but most likefully they came out empty-handed as such a
prize would have definitely made the papers.
Another interesting thing is that this is
not the only case of a mermaid-like creature in the United States. In a book on
the total opposite end of the unknown spectrum, Haunted Bridges: Over 300 of
America’s Creepiest Crossings, which I used back in my ghost hunting days
to search for outside investigation sites. There is a bridge located on Highway
130 in Westville, New Jersey, that crosses over the Big Timber Creek. This
particular creek allegedly was a spot the Lenape Indians viewed as a sacred
spot. The natives of the area claimed that a strange creature akin to a mermaid
dwells in the Creek. According to the source, sightings are still occurring,
and people will leave tokens or offerings to it along the bridge and area. Yet,
I have not found any sources on the internet or in any other book on the
subject, so whether this is folklore or an actual Cryptozoological phenomenon
is difficult to ascertain.
While there are reports of merfolk-type
creatures and aquatic humanoids, these creatures do not match exactly any known
species. It is well known that the Ohio River area is a hotbed for this kind of
activity, yet with some imagination, there's a resemblance to the Loveland
Frogmen or even possibly the Octoman, but still going off the reported
sightings, they do not look at all like any of these creatures. There is,
interestingly enough, a similar type of creature seen in folklore and romantic
taxidermy as Gatormen. They essentially are the Feejee mermaid with a monkey
head and humanoid torso attached to an alligator's body. They do bear a
resemblance to the Mud Mermaids aside from their additional pair of legs, long
tales and lack of ears. There are supposed reports in Florida and Louisiana of
these creatures, but this is unlikely and more than likely tall tales and
folklore. This also goes back to the Jenny Hanivers in the idea of the
taxidermied specimens. Whether this Kentucky captain had seen one of these
beasts, either real or taxidermied, and generated a tale of the Vevay Mermaids
from this creature is also a possibility. Yet once more pure speculation.
With this phenomenon, the only other
possibility that ventures more into the fringe and into the more fantastical world
that is supposed to dwell around us. The idea of both faeries and elementals is
something I've found interesting for many years. The interest mostly sprung
from my Irish heritage and ancestry, but from that, I found several books
hypothesizing that these strange humanoids and beasts do, in fact, share our
world with us. While I strongly feel that if these human-like creatures do
exist, they most likely are early hominids or on some of the islands like
Ireland, Iceland, etc. where these creatures are reported that they might be
examples of Island dwarfism, a phenomenon we know that did occur to some of our
relatives in the Isle of Flores; there is the possibility that they are in fact
something supernatural. Mermaids could be guardians or spirits of the water,
whether they be some minor deity as the Greeks believed with their tales of the
Naiads or something like the Fossegrimen or Nokken as simply the elemental or
Shinto-esque forms that are connected to everything. While this possibility is
highly unlikely since the way these creatures behave is more animalistic than
something supposed to be as intelligent, potentially dangerous, and
sophisticated as what an elemental is supposed to be, they give off much more
of a biological vibe. Yet, for completion, I have included this possibility.
While there are countless possibilities of what these creatures could have been, there is still to this day no answer. These creatures are incredibly bizarre and extremely obscure. This is part of the reason I love this account. If these animals did exist, it's safe to say they probably are either extinct or a misidentified unknown species that we as of yet don't have categorized. With that said, the time of the account is also ripe for Yellow Journalism, so while I want this to be a strange merfolk, there is also a strong chance this could be the case. Yet still, this is all speculation, and I doubt that there will be an answer to those murky marauding Mud Mermaids.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Mammal, Reptile, Amphibian, Fish (Merfolk and Aquatic Humanoids are more difficult to decide on a potential taxonomic category due to their mishmash of characteristics)
Location: Ohio River, Vevay, Indiana
Sighted: 1890-1894
Beckley, Lindsey “Mermaids, Giant Turtles,
and Wild Men…Oh My!”. Indiana History Blog. May 29, 2017.
https://blog.history.in.gov/mermaids-giant-turtles-and-wild-men-oh-my/.
Accessed December 29, 2020.
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monstrous turtles to ancient trolls, creepy creatures call Hoosier State home”.
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Accessed December 29, 2020.
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https://www.prairielandparanormalpodcast.com/blog/sfna548h6j3wf4z4u3mr1js1mvrn6r.
Accessed December 29, 2020.
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Accessed December 29, 2020.
Debra, “Vevay Indiana – Reasons You’ll
Love Visiting This Little Town” My Humble Home and Garden. August 12,
2019. https://myhumblehomeandgarden.com/2019/08/12/vevay-indiana-reasons-youll-love-visiting-this-little-town/.
Accessed December 29, 2020.
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Accessed December 29, 2020.
Akron Daily Democrat October 20, 1894
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