The sight was really not for the faint-hearted. Behind the glass there was a creature that did not resemble a mermaid (as we used to imagine - half-woman, half-fish). It was some kind of hybrid, with the upper part resembling a humanoid creature and the lower part - a fish.

In July 1842, an Englishman named Dr. J. Griffin, a member of the "British Lyceum of Natural History" in New York, USA, arrived in New York City. Dr. Griffin brought with him a mermaid allegedly caught off the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific.

The news immediately spread throughout the city, appeared in the press, and crowds of reporters rushed to the hotel to see the mermaid. Those who were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the miracle claimed that the mermaid was real.

After that, Mr. P. T. Barnum, the owner of the American Museum, visited the editorial offices of the main newspapers of New York, where he stated in full voice that he was trying to persuade Dr. Griffin to exhibit the mermaid in his museum, but the Englishman refused to do so. Well, "it so happened" that he had prepared in advance ads for the future exhibition (the ad contained an engraving of a typical European mermaid), which will now prove useless.

After crying to the newspapers, Barnum left, having thoughtfully left "unnecessary" to him announcements. The newspapermen decided to print the engraving on wood and distribute it.

Thus, the cunning Barnum distributed 10,000 brochures depicting seductive mermaids throughout the city. The publicity stunt worked, and soon "The Mermaid of Fiji" became the most talked about topic in New York. Dr. Griffin eventually agreed to show his treasure ( but only for a week) in a concert hall on Broadway.

The week-long exhibition was a success, and Griffin allowed the mermaid to be exhibited at the Barnum American Museum ( for a month now ). In addition to the exhibition, the doctor lectured to the crowds who came to gaze at the curiosity.

The creature that was presented to everyone as a mermaid was actually the top half of a young monkey planted on the bottom half of a fish. Creating such a creepy creature would not have been possible for Barnum or even Griffith himself. Researchers believe that the "mermaid" was made in Japan around 1810, where such "works" are traditional among fishermen. This mermaid was bought by Dutch merchants, who then sold it in 1822 to an American sea captain named Samuel Barrett Eads.

Eades had paid a huge sum for the "mermaid", and wanted to get his money back and make money by exposing her to the public. But the captain failed to do so. He soon died, and the "mermaid" passed to his son, who sold it to Moses Kimball.

After a month-long successful exhibit of "Fiji Mermaid" at the Barnum Museum, the exhibit toured the South. But, because of the riots that broke out in South Carolina, the tour had to be urgently interrupted, and the "mermaid" for the next 20 years was exhibited in the Barnum Museums in New York, and in the Kimball Museums in Boston. In 1859, the "mermaid" was sent to London, and when it returned, it was exhibited again at the Kimball Museum.

The "Fiji Mermaid" is believed to have perished in a fire in 1865, but then the exact same mermaid was exhibited in the Boston Museum and also mysteriously burned in a fire. But the show with mermaids turned out to be very popular and profitable business, because the curious did not become less. Therefore, in the States in museums appeared in the next copies - "clones" Fijian mermaids.

There is speculation that the Fijian Mermaid did not perish in the fire, but ended up in Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. This museum does have a Fijian Mermaid, but whether it is an "original" is unknown.

Even today, there are museums in the world that exhibit "Fijian Mermaids," which speaks to the human fascination with all sorts of unusual creatures.

No wonder that such a generally simple scam by R.T. Barnum and his assistant resulted in a long-running international fool's show....