Fiji Mermaid - Definition and Overview

P.T. Barnum's Feejee mermaid from 1842

A common feature of sideshows, a Fiji Mermaid (also Feejee Mermaid) is a mummified body of something, supposedly a creature that was half mammal and half fish.

The original exhibit was popularized by circus great Phineas Taylor Barnum, but has since been copied many times in other attractions, including the collection of famed showman Robert Ripley.

Barnum's preserved mermaid was allegedly caught in 1842 by a "Dr. J. Griffin." Griffin was actually Levi Lyman, a close associate of P.T. Barnum. This original exhibit was shown around the United States, but was lost in the 1860s when Barnum's museum caught fire.

In reality, it was either the work of an Indonesian craftsman using papier-mâché and materials from exotic fish or the tail of a fish and a torso of a baby orangutan, stitched together with the head of a monkey.

External links

• Mermaids on the Web (http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/mermaids/): Feejee Mermaid gallery (http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/mermaids/31.html) with annotated links (http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/mermaids/8.html)
• 1850 Newspaper Advertisement (http://www.missioncreep.com/mundie/gallery/gallery19.htm) for the Boston Museum and its Feejee Mermaid

See also

• cryptozoology
• Mermaid