Sea Monsters and Mermen

Is seeing believing? Or does believing mean seeing only what you want to?

A post over at Curious Expeditions on the fascinating story of the Feejee Mermaid, a merman with a long history, made me think about some earlier beasts of the sea. Ambroise Pare's 16th- century Monsters and Prodigies includes a number of illustrations of aberrant fish monsters, mermen, and this stunning "sea devil" (above).

The Feejee Mermaid was eventually outed as a hoax, and one of several mermen sits in an Austrian folklore museum. I'm having a hard time figuring out which one is ugliest. This guy up here or the one in living color. Care to share your opinion?

For those of you looking for more info on the Feejee Mermaid, Google Books will let you read Jan Bondeson's chapter in the Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays In Natural and Unnatural History. For the sea devil, Janis Pallister's translation of Pare's "Monsters and Prodigies" should give you plenty to marvel at.

Pig-Faced Lady of Manchester Square

"Teratology" is the big word in my class this week. We're focused on early-modern monsters. The term "monsters" is used very loosely to include anomalous flora, fauna, humans, and other worldly beasts. The ones that fascinate me most are the many creatures--part human, part other--that populate travel writings from Marco Polo to Mandeville; medical writings by Liceti and Pare; popular broadsides; and, of course, fairy tales.

Miss Piggy from Manchester Square up here delights the eyes and tickles the imagination. But I did have to chuckle awhile back at the publicity for one of my talks. Friends, I can tell you that I look nothing like her. She's much more sophisticated than I will ever be--and dresses much better to boot!

For those craving more: The most impressive book on early-modern monsters and marvels has to be Lorraine Daston and Katharine Park's Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750. Jan Bondeson's books come in close second. Who knew that there were people who can spontaneously combust or that, still now, there are people who are born with tail-like appendages? A doctor and a sleuth extraordinare, Bondeson is on the case.