The Feejee Mermaid, and Japanese Mermaid folklore
This post is a bit belated - it’s transferred over from my Substack, Puppets and Primates. I wrote it in October 2024 following a day at Brighton’s Booth Museum, where myself and my partner Ulysses Black were filming for an upcoming puppet project, which we really hope to share in the next few months.
Following a day at Brighton’s Booth Museum filming some footage for an upcoming puppet project with Ulysses Black (more about that soon!) I thought I’d write a post about the Feejee Mermaid (also known as the Fiji Mermaid).
The Feejee Mermaid was a Victorian hoax - a strange object exhibited by P.T. Barnum in 1842, presented as a real mermaid, caught near the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific.
In reality, this little, sinister-looking siren was a composition of the head and torso of a monkey and the tail half of a fish.
This “original” Feejee Mermaid was bought by an American sea captain called Samuel Barrett Edes from Japanese sailors in 1822. It is believed that this specimen was one of many created commercially by Japanese fishermen, probably in the early 1800s. The reason for their manufacture is unclear. It’s possible that the fishermen were having a laugh, or that the fake mermaids may have even been used for religious ceremonies. They were certainly made for sale at Asian markets, where they were very popular with Victorian tourists in the late 1800s.
The Ningyo
It does seem that mermaids in traditional Japanese lore were quite different to the beautiful, alluring and feminine ones of the Western imagination. There is a creature in Japanese folklore called the ningyo (the Japanese word is comprised of the characters for “human” and “fish”). The ningyo is described as quite an eccentric and creepy creature - a sort of human-fish with the mouth of a monkey. It is thought that these human-fish stories arrived in Japan via China, where various lore around the ningyo can be traced back to as early as the fifth century BCE. An old belief in Japan was that eating a ningyo would grant you eternal life. The most famous Japanese folklore about this is the yaoya bikuni legend where a girl eats the flesh of a ningyo and lives for 800 years.
Ningyo were also believed to bring misfortune and storms, and a washed up Ningyo was considered a bad omen signalling war and calamity.
Over time, depictions of the ningyo were apparently quite varied - some with four limbs, some with just two arms and both the head and body of a fish, some more like the “classic” western idea of an attractive human woman or man with the tail of a fish.
One woodblock shows the ningyo as a frightening looking fish creature with a human face and red devil-like horns, and long black hair. The specimen is described as being 10.6 metres long!
Mōri Baien's Baien gyofu (“Baien’s Catalogue of Fishes, 1825) contains illustrations of a ningyo, representing the “stuffed” fake ningyo, known as the Feejee Mermaid in the West:
And, you can see from the illustration that the pose of the ningyo is very similar to the illustration of the “original” so-called Feejee mermaid, purchased by the aforementioned Edes:
The “mermaid”, following her attainment by Edes, went on quite the journey via London to New York, where she ended up in the hands of P.T. Barnum (who had her on loan from Boston showman Moses Kimball). Amusingly, Barnum advertised the Feejee Mermaid with this image:
One can only imagine the surprise of the excited public on seeing the shrivelled little monstrosity with a skull-like head and tiny, razor-like fangs.
For the next twenty years the Feejee Mermaid split her time between Kimball's museum in Boston and Barnum's museum in New York. Following a tour of London in 1859, she returned to Kimball’s museum. This was her last known location - the original Feejee Mermaid was never seen again. It is thought that she was destroyed when Kimball’s museum burned down in the early 1880s. There have been many replicas made since, with people even trying to claim today that theirs is the “original” Feejee Mermaid - many fakes of the original fake mermaid. One replica can be found at the Booth Museum (pictured below… more about this and an upcoming puppet film with Ulysses Black in an upcoming post…).
In late 2014, I did a short show about the Booth Museum’s Feejee Mermaid with my dear friend Lynne Thomas, who died last year. We performed it at the wonderful Booth Museum, then later at Brighton Museum. We played the roles of two charlatans trying to “sell” the idea that they have a real life mermaid to show the audience.
Here is the poem Lynne and I wrote for our performance ten years ago. It’s full of creative licence, as anything to do with the Feejee Mermaid should surely be:
The Feejee Mermaid’s Tale, 2014
Ladies and gentlemen, please gather around!
We’ll tell you a tale of a strange thing we’ve found!
We won’t waste your time, and you’ll never be bored
For we’ve something to show you that you can’t ignore
Tonight you will see though you do not know it
A theme of philosopher, scholar and poet
My dear sister and I will shortly uncover
A wonder of worlds for you to discover
So here we are now, in 1855
Surrounded by beasts of land, sea and sky!
What a collection, a majestic menagerie!
Such creatures you’d thought were only imagin’ry!
Here we encounter such gifts of creation
Mammals, reptiles, insects and crustaceans
To see these beings in the flesh is a treat
No longer reserved for just the elite
Brought back from far lands both exotic and queer
By many a fervent and keen pioneer,
Tokens of their travels they bring to our coast
So us folk can witness the wonders they boast
Specimens such as my monkey friend Bill
Rescued from the forests of wild Brazil
By a young man who went out exploring the tropics –
We’d tell you Bill’s tale but that’s going off topic!
Instead let’s return and speak more of the sea
And the men who set sail so valiantly
On ships led by a fishtailed maid at the fore
Seduced by her song to seek a new shore.
The sea holds the key to all hope and despair
For the brave men who venture to lands strange and fair
In search of adventure they rush from their homes
Leaving sweethearts and mothers to weep all alone
For some their reward is a watery grave
Where they lie unremembered beneath the salt waves
Some who live haunt our streets like pale ghosts in a dream
For the horrors they’ve witnessed cannot be unseen!
Those who resist the dark call of the siren
Can gain boundless riches and rival Poseidon
And be known by all sailors as kings of the sea
Who swim amongst mermaids in sweet harmony
We know that you think that mermaids are fable
Like Santa Claus, giants… a babe in a stable!
But these maidens we speak of, are in fact a truth
For those still in doubt tonight we’ve got proof!
Friends I implore you, please remain still and calm
Beauty is fragile and must not be alarmed
So now all is quiet, without further delay,
We present to you…. Our Fiji mermaid!
Gaze now in wonder at this fabulous sight
Appearing here just for one night
But creatures so rare oft are despoiled
And her life has not been without hardship and toil
Our story begins in the fair Fiji Isles
With a fisherman who all the while
Cast his net into the ocean deep
And dreamt of the fishy rewards he might reap.
The simple old man gasped in shock and surprise
As he hauled in his net to claim his prize
For there, tangled in seaweed, he found her –
A mermaid, trapped between ray and flounder.
Her new life began on a small market stand,
Beside bodies of fish with whom she’s once swam
With the lower part of her body, whilst the upper –
Because of our kinship – saved her from supper!
The old man was kind and kept her in good health
He knew she was key to his impending wealth.
And along came the answer to his silent plea –
- Captain Samuel Barrett Eades!
Who saw her and knew he’d discovered the key
To open a portal to celebrity
So certain was he that his fortune he’d found
That he sold his own ship for six thousand pounds
He wasted no time and brought her to London
Where knowledge and culture thrive in abundance
How we might wonder did they cross the Pacific
With no boat? We’ve no time for specifics
On route he promised her a life rich and grand
He told her he loved her and asked for her hand
He dressed her up finely in satin and pearls
She told us he promised to give her the world
Our mermaid of course was completely enraptured
A stranger to love she was easily captured
And reeling and floundr’ing - half-fish out of water
She followed his whims like a lamb to the slaughter
She felt she could face any struggle or strife
If she were alongside the love of her life
He took her to star in side shows round the city
And now her tale turns to one of pity
The public accused the sad pair of deceit
Said she was a fraud and that he was a cheat
His words and her charm were soon met with cruel jeers
She was heckled offstage distraught and in tears
Ladies and gentlemen you’ve heard the story
She swins here before you in all her glory
So how can you doubt what we tell you is true
Does this fair maid look like a fake to you?
The captain of course soon tired of her beauty
When he saw it never could lead to booty
The virtuous maid was tossed harshly aside
Like flotsam and jetsam thrown up by the tide
And that’s when we rescued her all in a flap
Like many a maid who has loved the wrong chap
This poor child brought low by love’s sad caprices
Broke our soft heart into a million pieces
We too have often been lost and forlorn
And played the cursed role of the foolish girl scorned
Ladies who amongst you has not been flattered
By a silver-tongued charmer who left your heart shattered?
We took pity on her and we’ve played our role
To help mend the poor creature’s destitute soul
In kindness we helped her to regain some health
But friends we must tell you we don’t have much wealth
We may look like ladies but we’re working girls
Making a poor living in this harsh, cruel world
It pains me to say we’ve come close to famine
She tries to help but alas she’s half-salmon!
So ladies and gents if you would be willing
To give us a penny or even a shilling
For you kindness and your generous attitude
You will receive our eternal gratitude.
In memory of Lynne Thomas, 1955-2023.
Finally, here’s link to a Feejee Mermaid brooch in my etsy shop!
