The Fetalvero Mermaid

 

The Fetalvero Mermaid

By Cole Herrold

Merfolk are a surprisingly common phenomenon in Fortean history; most accounts are held in antiquity, appearing in tales from the beginning of when man sailed the seas. Yet, these aquatic anomalies are not solely confined to the musty journal ledgers of pirates and conquistadors but have occurred up to modern time. Many of these encounters are not like how Disney portrays the phenomenon as these creatures tend to be aggressive at best-chasing humans and at worst drowning them, but in the Philippines, an entirely benevolent version of this creature was reported and that it not only was pleasant but even aided in the work of a local fisherman.

It was in the summer of 1978 when successful fisherman Jacinto Fetalvero It was on a moonlit night as the maritime man was out fishing on his boat attempting to acquire an aquatic bounty that would help him not only feed himself but also help him financially. He had been struggling for some time as he had no real luck with fishing of late. The area he knew was filled with fish, but for whatever reason, they refused to bite onto his lines. On this particular night, he was waiting on his boat rod in hand when he noticed a strange bubbling out further in the water.

Fetalvero continued to watch this churning until he noticed a form that seemed to slowly rise out of the water; as he watched this form, he expected it to be some naturally large native fish or even a shark, but the more he looked, the more he realized that this was not a typical fish. The form soon began to approach his boat, and as he watched, he could see the form clearer and clearer and could tell that this creature was nothing less fantastic than a mermaid. The mermaid was absolutely beautiful, and he would go and describe her as having “amiable blue eyes, reddish cheeks, and green scales on her tail."

The entity approached the man and, seemingly out of either pity, attraction, or some other mindset we do not know, began in helping the man in acquiring a hoard of fish which it would throw into the man’s boat. This continued until his entire boat was filled with the sloshing and flailing forms of countless fish. The entity, seemingly pleased with how the man reacted to its aid, began to return deep down into the water, disappearing from the man's sight. The man, no longer seeing the creature, left the area leaving his newfound marine friend behind, and began to clean and sell the various wares. This interaction seemed to of gone on for some time, and Fetalvero gained some noticeable wealth from this aquatic aid.

Fetalvero eventually, either from being pressed for how he suddenly became so successful or out of his own willingness to share his experience, proceeded to tell several people about his encounter with the marine maiden. The result was unfortunate, to say the least. His story became the talk of the town as everyone began to talk of his encounters, but instead of praise or acceptance, he was treated with disdain and ridicule. This occurred for a long time until Fetalvero ended up refusing to talk about his encounter and assumedly became a recluse because of this.

While Fetalvero assumedly never had an encounter with the entity after this time, but the Philippines are no stranger to this phenomenon. The Philippines have a long-standing tradition of mermaid-like creatures known as Sirena; these entities are similar to the classic Greek Siren in that they are said to be violent creatures that drown and hypnotize men, yet the terror of those who would befall those captured by a Sirena would not end there. The Sirena apparently have a culture, and legends claim that a sailor who is captured would be taken down to the kingdoms that they live in and would be sacrificed to the Sirena's water deities.

Now while there is a rich history of mermaid lore in the Philippines, the Fetalvero account appears to be very different from what the lore says the entities are supposed to behave. While there is no clear indication as to whether the creature could communicate, it does appear to be intelligent enough that it might have human or above human intelligence. If this is the case, the creatures possibly have developed some sort of empathy or other emotions, and in this one particular case, the merfolk showed this as opposed to following the behavior of its swimming sisters.

As a huge fan of faerie folk and the coexistence of the humanoids we share our planet with, this encounter is extremely interesting and one of the few times I could argue it would not be an entirely bad thing to meet a mermaid. With that said, it is important to remain skeptical as this account could have been some elaborate Scooby-Doo style cover-up to possibly some illegal or hazardous fishing methods or simply some story that was created to give Fetalvero some fame in the town. Yet I cannot deny that this account could also have occurred as stated the area is rich with aquatic humanoid lore and also with the constant stream of reports from around the globe of these kinds of entities that there is a chance that this account and the phenomenon, in general, is real.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal/Fish/Amphibian

Location: Philippines

Sighted: pre-September 1978

Works Cited:

A Bestiary of Filipino Fairies By Mga Engkanto

The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology By Maximo Ramos

Encyclopedia of Strange and Unexplained Physical Phenomena By Jerome Clark

Unexplained!: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena By Jerome Clark