Mermaids: The Dark & Messed Up Origins | Exploring the Myths Behind Infamous Sea Creatures 

Remember if you hear the Sirens call just put in your earbuds... or run it's your choice.

In a world tormented by sirens, airpods are our only hope.

The History Channel in the mid 90's was my introduction to Mermaids, they talked about how drunken Sailors would mistaken Manatees as Beautiful Women with a fish's tail, and even at 6 years old 3 questions would pop in my head; 1. How long were they at Sea? 2. How drunk were they? 3. What in the world did the Women from their home look like?

*hears humming and hums along* "Congratulations you were killed by a mermaid!" Well Hell

If a mermaid started singing, I'll start singing to let's see who'll run away.

The Pan's Labyrinth melody in the beginning made me feel so nostalgic ✨🥺🥺😔

That transition into the promo was smooth af.

“Messed Up Origins” ..... clever title choice 😉

In Jamaica, we call mermaids River Mumma (River Mother), a similar story as Sirens, once men hear their singing you're under their spell and led to their deaths.

Mermaids are one of my favorite mythical creatures. Sirens are pure evil while Mermaids can be either good or bad.

My grandpa was a Costa Rican fisherman in the early 1900s; on a tranquil night on the sea, he and his shipmates saw two mermaids come to the bottom of their boat, touch it, circle it, and observe them before swimming off. He said it was terrifying and they looked pale and scary

In Nigerian culture, Mermaids are called 'mami water' it is actually a representation of a Yoruba deity of water but cultures outside the Yoruba cultures see them as sea spirits that cause misfortune. I believe most cultures have mermaids or mermaid like figures in folklore. This video was helpful, thanks!👍

As a child I was always fascinated by mermaids and sirens. Now as a 23 year old that fascination is still present and only grows more. They are truly something magical, they appear in so many stories fact & fiction yet we still don’t know that many things about them. I may be made fun of but I do think that they do exist. Only 5% of the ocean is explored and considering how we’ve seen how humans treat other creatures it would make sense that the mer people have learned to not associate with humans. As much as I would love to see them I am afraid that some people would attack and kill them and display their bodies as some sort of trophy.

"Congratulations, you were killed by a mermaid" Me: I guess I'll call out from work.

...”they preferred to tickle their victims to death instead of drowning them...which Sounds equally as horrifying...” 😄😆

The Haitian mermaids actually scare me the stories you hear and when people do come back they’re different.

I research all kinds of monsters for my books, and I can assure everyone that it is a good rule of thumb that supernatural beings are more malevolent than they appear in fairy tales. Mermaids, leprechauns, even the tooth fairy.

So the mermaids from Pirates of the Caribbean were accurate? Also those from Harry Potter?

Sirens/Mermaids are one of my favorite mythical creatures so this video intrigues me. Also there is a Philipine equivalent called Sirena. Which is very similar to other mermaid equivalents. Half fish, luring song, drowning.

And this is a good example of why I don't fuck with the ocean.

Japanese mermaid tears can grant wishes if you capture them because they harden to become pearls

I find it terrifying that somehow the whole world (some civilisations that never come into contact with others too) talk about the same subject, slightly different stories just like Greeks but they all mention women like creatures with hypnotic singing voices, or extremely manipulative

*hears humming* Me: *Loads Shotgun with Malicious Intent and turns on Chainsaw*

12:44 Nigerian here, We usually call them "Mami Water"

Hoho this popped up right when I was listening to my jolly sailor bold

When I saw the american TV show Siren I truly realized that sirens and mermaids are used as synonyms nowadays. I knew sirens as they were described in that story about Odysseus .

My dad actually saw a mermaid. It was in Oklahoma around the 1950 “s. He was a child. A neighbor adult caught two mermaids in a creek. They were babies one male one female. The adult neighbor caught them in a jar. The mail jumped out. The man sold the mermaid to a person from New York City for a large amount of $. My dad said the mermaid was not cute. He said the face was weird. It’s an old story that is told in my family. My dad is 77 and he still tells that story

Who does the illustrations in these videos? THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN YOUR VIDEOS ARE AWESOME!

Left out, though not well known: The Mud Mermaids of Indiana. A group of mermaids traveled through the Great Lake connectors and ended up making their way into the rivers of Indiana (probably still in the lakes too, but i'm unaware of stories about them.) I am not sure which branch of mermaid they are split from, but were I to guess I would wager the Merrows. These mermaids then settled in these localities and stayed. But as the water can disappear for stretches at a time they began burrowing themselves into the mud to stay wet, and sleeping away the dry spells whenever they arrose. Though if you walk over one, it pulls you down into the mud. Not too useful for hunting, but useful enough to keep people form going back there and disturbing them.

As soon as I saw the notification I clicked

That Pan's Labyrinth music at the intro though

Please!!!!!!! Cover Mayan mythology, it's my favourite

Mermaids (especially Rusalka) are one of those cautionary beings. They say DONT FUCK WITH RIVERS

Surprised you didn’t mention the Hans Christian Anderson Little Mermaid. But I guess that story has been told to death by this point.

I remember one time at night i was with a group of friends by the water, and i saw something, like a human figure in the water slowly moving towards us, getting closer and closer every second...never been so scared in my life

"I knew desperate men at sea, when our suppy ran dry, would quench their thirst by drinking seawater. They swore the sirens, evil creatures singing to them from nearby islands, were in fact their wives and daughters calling them home. They endangered the crew, steering us toward the reefs." "Um... how did you fix them?" "We threw them overboard."

I have heard such stories as a child of a man who drown in one of the rivers in my late grandmother's village. People were saying she fooled him to go in the water and cause him to drawn. They are not as beautiful as we would like them to appear in stories but it maybe true that they are able to alter their appearance to hunt the victim down. Strange but real.

My grandma said mermaids do exist. Fishermen would see them and would cover their ears because if they listen to their singing they become hypnotized and the mermaids would lure them and capture them. She said they would say that their singing was beautiful but deadly. Not sure where this would happen but it was in the waters in Mexico.

I think another cautionary tale in Mermaids, sprites, and Fae in general. Don’t go kissing on random women.. they don’t like it and will likely kill you.

Since I was a small toddler, I always had a deep emotional and spiritual connection to water, and I still do at 23 almost turning 24. I grew up watching the little mermaid, and it would annoy everyone in my family, not only because I sang like a dying goat, if you can picture that, but also because the songs were catchy. I’m also half Jamaican on my dad’s side and I absolutely loved Sebastian. My connection to mermaids runs very deep into my heart and soul. My dad is very religious( he's 7th day Adventist) but I'm more of a spiritual person that believes there is more than one God. I also believe in karma( not all karma is bad, some is very good), I believe in aliens, reincarnation, parallel realities, the universe, a Goddess, astrology, chakras, soulmates/twin flames, tarot, numerology, the paranormal, and the supernatural. I'm not a religious person but the idea of mermaids for me does not come from the Bible per se, but if you look in the Book of Enoch it explains how mermaids came to be. It explains how God(Yahweh) banished some of his angels from the Heavens (some landed on land, some angels in the sea; or the in-between; and some in hell). These angels are called Fallen Angels, or if you believe in Aliens that could be the case as well. The fallen angels that fell on land mated with women which have created giants, (or Nephilim. After the Great Flood) and other land creatures, such as gnomes, elves, faeries, goblins, unicorns, leprechauns, and fun fact, there could be some evidence of giants, and some others. There could be some sort of portal where some of these creatures could jump from different realities, or other higher dimensions in the spiritual realm. Getting on with the ocean dwellers, the Fallen Angels( or aliens) mated with fish creating mermaids, and other sea creatures. Same thing, there could be a portal in which mermaids travel to where people could rarely see them, because they are part of the spiritual realm, and come from the higher dimensional plane. The Fallen Angels that landed in Hell, produced Ghouls, ghosts, poltergeists, demons, but these could also come from people that could have passed on. For the sake of mermaids, the first recorded sightings were of Enki a Mesopotamian(Sumerian)sea god of water; he also knew knowledge of occult wisdom. He was part of an ancient technologically advanced tribe known as the Annunak tribe. Another account of early mermaid history is of the God Ea or Ooanes, a sea god, with either the head of a fish and legs, or the head of a man, and a body of a fish. He was another sea god, that gave people metaphysical, philosophical, ancient, esoteric, and spiritual knowledge and wisdom, and was an intellectual. Another recorded mermaid sighting, was the Assyrian(Syrian) Mesopotamian(Babylonian) Goddess of Fertility, better known as Atargatis. She fell in love and married a Shephard man, and eventually had a child. Atargatis later accidently killed her lover, and with deep sorrow tried to drown herself in a lake. But because of her ethereal beauty, the Gods didn't want her to fully transform into a fish, instead she became the first mermaid. In Greek mythology we have the sirens. Sirens have the body of women, and instead of having arms, they had wings instead, with flowy long hair. Sometimes they are shown to have the body of a bird and a head of a woman. They were originally supposed to find Persephone and bring her home back to Demeter, from the Underworld, which Hades kept her hostage. The Sirens failed to locate her so Deméter banished them to the mountains, or the cliffs off of the coast where sailors would find them, but unfortunately those unlucky sailors won’t be returning home, due to the Sirens seductive, luring song which I will explain later. The Sirens made an appearance in Homer's The Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus had to instruct his crew to fill their ears with wax as to not hear the sirens alluring hauntingly seductive yet destructive song. This is so they don’t drown nor get shipwrecked, as this is what the Sirens are most famous for. Sirens laid on rocks and had hauntingly yet beautiful ethereal voices that lured sailors to their deaths, similarly to the stories of mermaids. Other Greek mythological creatures, similar to mermaids are the water nymphs, nereids, naiads, Undine, Oceanids, and the Tritons. Tritons are considered mermen which are in connection to Poseiden's son Triton. Poseiden's Roman counterpart is Neptune. In ancient Egyptian mythology, Alexander the Great had a half sister named Thessaloniki. Apparently Alexander found the fountain of youth and filled the water into his flask because it is considered immortal water. When anyone drinks it you will have the power of immortality. So Alexander used this on his half-sister’s Thessaloniki’s hair so now she is able to have immortality. But because Alexander was sick and didn’t drink the immortal water from the fountain of youth, he perished. Thessaloniki was completely grief stricken she tried drowning herself, but failed as she turned into the Aegean Sea mermaid. Legend has it if you pass her she will ask you if her brother Alexander is still alive and well, and is still reining. If you tell her no then you will die at sea, but if you tell her the correct answer and tell her yes he still alive and is still king she will let your ship pass. In other parts of the world we have Lemanja or Iara in Brazil, Yemaya, Yemanya or Yemoja in Yoruba religion, which also came to the Caribbean Islands, particularly, in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic in Santeria, during the Atlantic slave trade; La Siren-Lasiren, in Haitian and New Orleans Vodoo, or Voudu( she is a Lua, protector of the seas. It roughly translates The Siren, or The Mermaid in French- Lasiren, and all these other water deities that came from Africa, derived from Mama Wata, and all these Deities such as Riva Rumma, Iara, Lemanja, Yemaya-Yemoja and some others have came from Africans, that were taken in the Atlantic slave-trade.) In Jamaica we have the Riva Mumma. The Riva Mumma, in Jamaica has a story in which a sailor or pirate has lost his chest or a table full of riches, and it was said to be a golden table. But this golden table drowned down in the river, and folklore has it the mermaids are engulfed around it so no one would get it because people are greedy. Where this takes place is the Rio Cobre river, which will turn green when the mermaids are near. This is the Flat Bridge, bridge. I know I said it twice but yes it is a bridge over the Rio Cobre. In Some parts of Africa, Mama Wata or Mammy Wata, translated to Mother Water. Sometimes she is a woman from the waist up with a tail of a serpent, with a snake around her neck, sometimes she has a fish tail down below, and sometimes, she is portrayed as fully human coming out of the water. Also in African customs we have the Njuzu in Nigera, the Mamba Muntu and Jengu in some parts of Nigeria, the Kaaiman, in southern Africa and in Zimbabwe, and of course the Mama Wata people. In Egypt there was a cave painting of mermaids, and if you think about it, has been there for thousands of years and it hasn't been doctored. If you also think of Egyptian hieroglyphics there are also depictions of half-fish, half human species. It is quite interesting, because in other parts of the world they have their own stories and legends of mermaids. For example, the Austrailians have the Likanaya, and the Yawkyawk. If all these places have literally the same definition and have similar features of what a mermaid could look like, then there has to be some truth. I honestly think, no matter how ridiculous it sounds I do 100% think the government is hiding mermaids from existence. I do not believe in the Aquatic ape theory, but it does sound interesting and something to think about, but I do believe that we humans evolved from water onto land and some didn't, and the others developed into more advanced species similar to us, and they have been in hiding. Thats all I have to say. Please don't hate on my comment. Thanks.

The most interesting evil mermaid flick I’ve ever seen is “She Creature,” which was made in 2001. Stan Winston and his special effects team did a phenomenal job on creating the mermaid and the sea monster that she turns into later in the film.

Some stories say that the experience of a siren/mermaid luring you in is like you hear singing, all of sudden your right next to the water, then like a blink of any eye your fully in the water…then all you can feel is your last breath leaving your lungs beneath the waters.

She Creature is my favorite mermaid tale. Classic horror, reminds me of old Universal films.

Mermaids and siren myths always center around the men who encounter them (or the women who become them), but I always wondered if a woman on Odysseus’ ship would be as susceptible to the sirens as men.

It's always good to see videos like this that cover general mythical concepts, and this one is good since I am trying to create my own "mermaids" in my story setting that live underground on venus.

Can you please do more videos on south East Asian mythology and fiction? My friend is Thai and she told me about this poet that wrote a story about a prince who had a baby with a mermaid and there’s giants and stuff. The poet’s name was Suthorn Phu he started working on this epic fantasy from 1822 and took 22 years to finish in 1844!

I have always been so fascinated with merfolf ever since I was a child ❤️

Well s***, just when I was going to take down Thanos, a bloody mermaid comes along and kills me a bit!!

7:50 Sirens; the dark, edgy sisters of mermaids. Sirens are considered to be evil creatures who live in the sea. Generally, they are depicted as beautiful women with the tails of fish, but they can also be shown as scary, humanoid creatures with sharp teeth for tearing apart humans. Sirens are known for luring in sailors with their enchanting songs and then killing them.

I read years ago that mermen have their own siren singing that when heard by sailing women they would jump off their ships to try and reach them only to drown before they got there.

Your voice is so calming. I enjoy listening to you tell stories.

I find it horrifying and glorifying at the same time while they're singing harmonies and luring you to accept your death (unwilling) but hard to not stop listening to the sound of their beautiful voice 😩🌊

This video was actually very enlightening, I learned a lot more than I thought I already knew. Is there a chance you would do a history of dark elves

Pan’s Labyrinth in the beginning was **chef’s kiss**

I've binged so many of your stories in the last couple of hours. I've been subscribed for a while but damn, it's always a great time on your channel.

For women month you should make a some videos on incredible female goddesses like Persephone, Ishtar and Freya. Or the goddess Inanna.

I thought the bird women were Harpy's in Greek mythology

my mom's grandpa once saw a mermaid, my mom told me that her grandpa love to fish at night, cause that's what fishermen's do here in the Philippines, one day he sailed at night and he's doing great since he's getting a lot of fish until there's something smelly around him(smell's like fish) suddenly he saw a light , not too far from him, it's really bright then he approached it because of his curiousity and saw a mermaid twirling and swimming round and round looking like she's having fun, my mom said her grandpa got scared because od the looks, it's not pretty at all and looking like a fish, he quickly left and after he left and he's already in distance, the light suddenly dissaperead so that day my Mom's grandpa doesn't sail already at night alone, idk but my mom always said this is true but idk if this true or not

"... reminding you to stay away from the fish women." but ... but .... they started singing Macarena!

The animations are mesmerizing. I love the painterly style, the color choice is deliberate and beautiful and my favorite part is the composition of all the little elements and deep plane movement. All the little animations like moving kelp and water while the camera is moving gives the image a 3D pop in my brain. It looks magical.

As a young man, my mother always told me fables of mermaids 🧜‍♀️

This was amazing as always! I loved the intro and the sponsor segment!

Thank you for covering this topic because I freaking love mermaids 🧜‍♀️ Keep up the great work!

Also I love the improvements in the art and editing as time goes on. Excited for more videos!

Found your podcast!! I’m so happy about this!! ❤️

I love this intro! It really felt like I was walking into the dark Forest Lake

If merfolk were real, I'd hope they were monstrous with an air of ethereal beauty.

Imagine if a woman described the sirens song and all she heard was terribly loud, deafening screaming. Just something of nightmares.

Me and my cousin saw like 20 or more of them on the side of Santa Monica pier a few years back, at first it was just one, it was on the beach at first we thought it was a dog but then when the waves came in it jumped in the water, then more of them showed themselves but kept a distance. They also stayed out of the moonlight, I think to avoid pictures or to be seen even more, they were also lined up like soldiers.. I’m pretty sure they were there admiring the lights on the pier. Honest Truth. the ones I saw look kinda evil, really straight back posture, and even glowed a little, they looked kinda bluish but not sure what color they were but the glow was yellowish greenish luminescent. It wasn’t a very bright glow it was very dimmed but maybe could’ve been the pier lights reflecting off them but I don’t think so..

In Rwanda, mermaid were called Madame samaki, it was black in colour and white in the belly, it was said to see them around lake kivu. This story was told by a family member so I'm sure it was just to scare me 😃

Hearing the humming in the beginning “hey, I know that song.”

I actually love the intro with the lullaby from Pan’s Labyrinth it just fits the kinda chilling mood

I wish you made more like this, the presentation was totally eye catching, my class lost there minds over this and they want to watch it all the time

I've come to a realization Sirens are evil Mermaids can be bad or good Nymphs are good

I love it how you included Slavic folklore.

The "Creature From the Black Lagoon" 1954 (look him up). What would you call this creature? He is a kind of fish-man or "gill-man." Unlike the Sirens he didn't sing to get chicks to leap from their ships into the sea, no he went onto their boat and TOOK THEM!

I would really like to see a video about ghosts. I think its one of the few topics you haven’t covered yet! Love this channel!!

Keep up the good work, enjoy this very much 😎👍🏼

I love your mithology stories 👍😊i learned so much already from you. Thank you for it🤗

Im glad I found this channel. I hope you do selkies in the future and any other beings that are similar.

Loved the Pans Labyrinth lullaby in the beginning. Such a soothing yet haunting song. I shall hum it to my children in the future.

Really interesting and insightful video Thanks for sharing

It was the movie Pirates 4 what lead me to research those creatures, interesting.

Love the videos keep it up!

🌸 The Rusalka were water sprites, spirt of women that died in water, perhaps murdered, they basically seek revenge So they will drown evil men lol 😂

i am so so grateful for this. one of my favorite lores - i always thought it was so cool how every region has their own adaptations of mermaids too

Ha ha, the introduction tongue in cheek!

considering how lazy and apathetic i am if i ever encountered a mermaid id probably just offer them an Oreo cookie. 🤷🏾‍♂️

My first visit to the beach yesterday I became dizzy yet drawn to the water.. I got used to it and didn't wanna leave .. I'm ascended much so I recieved a telepathic message of comfort but I knew it wasn't good.. I kept watching the waters .. and I also felt the force of being pulled in not just by the waves but to go in and I've always had a bad fear of drowning.. its unexplainable.. the ocean had a never ending song as the waves crashed and called my name

In the Igbo myth from Nigeria , we also refer to mermaids at Mami water.. known for bringing fortune to those who can sacrifice and leave treasures at the shore. They are also connected to the sea worship and the cleansing of souls

Will you do a video on the dark origins of Faeries?

Sirens and Mermaids are not the same creature. A Siren is a bird women that lives on the coast by cliffs who lures sailors to crash their ships into rocks with the alluring songs. A Mermaid is a fish woman they live in the sea not on land like a Siren in the original folklore Mermaids would lure sailors with their beauty and pull them into the water taking them down to the depths too drown then let the sea water pickle the sailors before eating them. The latter folklore likely because Mermaids were confused with Sirens it was a Mermaid's song that lured in sailors.

Proteus is my favourite merman with his shapeshifting powers from Greek Myth

this was beautiful and creative. My students would love this verison of mers

Hold up... Is that why emergency sound signals are called "sirens"? So then there is some truth lost in translation here? Now I'm hooked...

“Now, if there’s one place we can rely on for these stories to get super weird in terms of appearance, you can always count on Japan.” True.

Excellent. I really enjoyed this..good job!!!

That humming along with the water and thunder in the begin was hella calming 😂

Waited sooooooo long

Whatever people say, I believe this creature exists. And I love them. Thank you for the video! Love your channel. Much love from Malaysia.