However long one is in this weird game of being a paranormal journalist, things can still catch you out. So it is with the story of the Exmouth mermaid, as I reported in my last blog for this column. Now, one would think that, after twelve years or so of writing for a living, I would have leaned to double check my sources etc. Well, I have been somewhat caught out by this one! The story of the Exmouth mermaid of 1812 is, in its essence true, but the one thing that does not ring true is the illustration that accompanies it.
It all started due to a reader of the article asking me for a higher resolution copy of the picture. This is a perfectly fair request, and one that I was happy to oblige with. Upon deeper research on the net, I found that the picture involved almost perfectly matched a drawing of a mermaid, famous in cryptozoology circles, called the “Feejee” mermaid. This was exhibited by the famous showman Barnum, in the US in the 1840”s. “Odd!” I thought, so I dug even further. Now, this is where the tale darkens somewhat. What on earth was a picture of an 1840’s exhibit doing, illustrating a story in an 1822 newspaper? For a moment my mind raced with fantasies of time warps etc! Oh!..The follies of old age! But, I am sad to say, the answer lay in the timeline of the relic itself. Let’s have a look at that timeline:-
1822…an American sea captain, Samuel Barret Eades brought to London a wonderful relic, which he had come across in the far east. This relic had been got from Dutch fishermen, who, in turn, had obtained it from some Japanese fishermen. This was the mermaid!. It was exhibited at the Turf coffeehouse, at St. James Street. Now, the same paper that had reported the Exmouth case, The “London Mirror” also reported on the number of visitors to this exhibition, some 400 a day!
1823...The exhibition comes to an end, when Eades is sued by the co-owner of the ship he had sold to but the mermaid in the first place. The relic disappears from public view then until the 1840’s, when it is sold to Barnum by Moses Kimball, owner of the Boston museum.
So, there is the answer!. For whatever reason he had at the time, the editor of the “London Mirror” decided to illustrate the 1812 Exmouth story with a picture of the “feejee” mermaid, which was at that time being exhibited at St James Street!. Journalistic license indeed!
The moral of this story? Well always double, double check your sources! And remember, there is always more than one ending to any story!
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