Mystery Behind 300-Year-Old Mummified 'Mermaid' With 'Human Face' May Unravel Soon

Scientists have started their research to unravel the mystery behind a 300-year-old mummified "mermaid" with "human face" and tail, which was allegedly caught in the Pacific Ocean, off the Japanese island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741.

Researchers from Japan's Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts have taken the mummy, which till now was kept in a temple in the city of Asakuchi, for CT scanning to identify the eerie-looking creature.

Morphological analysis and DNA testing will also be conducted, following which, the researchers said, they will reveal their findings later this year, according to Gater 98.7.

Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society, who came up with the project, said many believe anyone who tastes its flesh gains immortality.

“Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality,” he said, according to News.com.au. “It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die... There is a legend in many parts of Japan that a woman accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived for 800 years.

“This ‘Yao-Bikuni’ legend is also preserved near the temple where the mermaid mummy was found," he added. “I heard that some people, believing in the legend, used to eat the scales of mermaid mummies.”

Alongside the mummy, a historic letter dated to 1903, believed to be written by a former owner, was found.

“A mermaid was caught in a fish-catching net in the sea off Kochi Prefecture,” the letter states. “The fishermen who caught it did not know it was a mermaid, but took it to Osaka and sold it as unusual fish... My ancestors bought it and kept it as a family treasure.”

It remains unclear how or when the mummy came to Enjuin temple in Asakuchi. However, the chief priest Kozen Kuida said it was put on display in a glass case some 40 years ago.

“We have worshiped it, hoping that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic even if only slightly,” he told The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.

Meanwhile, Kuida said it was likely the creature was the half-human, half-fish construction of a mermaid.

“Of course, I don’t think it’s a real mermaid,” he said. “This was made for export to Europe during the Edo period, or for spectacles in Japan... The legend of mermaids remains in Europe, China and Japan all over the world."

“Therefore, I can imagine that people at that time were also very interested in it," he added. “I think it is made from living animals and we would like to identify them by CAT scans or DNA testing... It looks like a fish with scales on the lower body and a primate with hands and a face on the upper body.”