Mermaids- sightings

It is often hard to distinguish between a mythological story that is written knowing it is just a make believe tale and actual sightings. Actual sightings have gotten rarer as time has gone on since the tale of the mermaid began. However, at the turn of the century it was reported that Alexander Gunn saw a mermaid a few feet away waiting for the tide to come in. Gunn went on to describe her to look “both frightened and angry.” [Marc Potts The mythology of the mermaid and her kin 173] Another reported sighting was in 1939 a Scottish woman out fishing boat depicted seeing a mermaid with “a beautiful face, golden hair, blue eyes and a delicate complexion.” Later, in 1947 yet another fisherman said he saw a mermaid on the Isle of muck. He went on to describe her as combing her hair about twenty yards off of the shore but disappeared into the water when she found she was being watched (173). Ten years later a mermaid came aboard the raft Tahiti-Nui, constructed by Eric de Bisschop. One sailor who was on night watch thought at first she was a dolphin, then he saw her jump onto the raft and stand on her tail, he confronted it and it knocked him down. He described her as “smelly” and having scraggly seaweed covered hair (173). In Queensland, Australia a security guard reported in 1991 off the coast. Why has it been so long between sightings? Some believe the answer to this question is the increasing in shipping and the pollution that comes a long with it. There have been no reports of dead mermaids, but if they dwell under the water there seems to be no need to wash ashore.