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View Poll Results: Do you believe in mermaids?
Yes 8 20.51%
No 31 79.49%
Voters: 39. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 02-28-2013, 03:05 PM
 
9,670 posts, read 9,946,511 times
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Stone statues maybe .... could be a demonic deception that some people actually believe , like a UFO alien deception
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Old 03-03-2013, 04:58 PM
 
522 posts, read 620,021 times
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I voted no, but looking up the folklore I was reminded that there is a condition called Sirenomelia and that I saw a documentary on Shiloh Pepin.

Shiloh Pepin, Girl Born With Rare 'Mermaid' Condition, Dies - ABC News

In Memoriam - Shiloh Pepin - Oprah.com


However if by "mermaid" we mean the aquatic humanoid than no. The ocean is vast, but not limitless. Further if they are considered a creature than they would probably need a natural explanation and I don't think they make sense naturally. A humanoid form of marine mammal would likely look much different than the mermaid image. Possibly something like a Selkie, seal-person, but even that seems hard to justify in natural terms.

If it's supernatural you would need a supernatural explanation or justification. There does seem to be some ancient religions that believed gods or demigods that were mermaids or took a mer form. But I'm not a polytheist. Granted some early Christians believed the gods existed, sort of, as angels or demons. So it's possible an angel could take the appearance of a mermaid, but this would get us back to mermaids not existing in themselves except as a form an angel takes.

Mermaids don't really answer any question, metaphysical or natural, that I can see so aren't even entirely analogous to other things believed in. That being said they do have some value, perhaps, as a kind of "proto-alien." I'm reading Eifelheim by Michael F. Flynn, a novel of Medieval people meeting extraterrestrials, and the belief in "other humanoids" maybe gets to some reconciliation of extraterrestrials with Christianity.

I fear this post is a tad too odd though.
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Old 03-03-2013, 05:54 PM
 
Location: Reno, NV
5,987 posts, read 10,437,509 times
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Mermaids smell fishy to me.
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Old 03-03-2013, 11:14 PM
 
Location: Summit, NJ
1,876 posts, read 2,013,094 times
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No. And Splash was terrible.
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Old 03-04-2013, 11:08 AM
 
Location: Texas
38,859 posts, read 25,401,241 times
Reputation: 24780
Default Do you believe in mermaids?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Key West View Post
I kinda do. You know, it's a big ocean, and to automatically say "mermaids are not real", is being very narrow minded.

Here's one!

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Old 03-04-2013, 08:27 PM
 
Location: Freakville
511 posts, read 488,883 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Gringo View Post
Here's one!
Damn...she's FUGLY!!!!
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Old 03-04-2013, 08:28 PM
 
Location: Freakville
511 posts, read 488,883 times
Reputation: 556
I vote yes...search on Weeki Wachee.
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Old 03-04-2013, 10:28 PM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,799 posts, read 21,405,487 times
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Where is the "Maybe" option?
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Old 03-04-2013, 11:16 PM
 
Location: Albuquerque, NM
13,290 posts, read 15,243,278 times
Reputation: 6658
No. I don't believe in mermaids

Pretty ridiculous to believe in something for which there is zero evidence, just a bunch of old stories.
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Old 03-05-2013, 04:38 PM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,799 posts, read 21,405,487 times
Reputation: 9263
Quote:
Originally Posted by filihok View Post
No. I don't believe in mermaids

Pretty ridiculous to believe in something for which there is zero evidence, just a bunch of old stories.
Pretty ridiculous to not believe in something for which there is zero evidence of.
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