Mermaid Photograph From 1865 Resurfaces Raising Questions

An old freak show display revealed that of a mermaid, unfortunately the entire show and event ended, due to a fire which burned things down. The man’s name behind this was, Phineas Taylor Barnum, born in 1810 later dying in 1891. He was a showman, politician and businessman. Also known as P.T. Barnum, he brought audiences a slice of life, along with a circus filled with treats.

Image: P.T. Barnum

Barnum is remembered for bringing forth entertainment to audiences around the world. He later founded the Barnum & Bailey Circus show. This mermaid photograph and advertisements of promotion with it, remain as endearing tributes of yesteryear. The world has certainly changed ever since.

The fire allegedly happened in New York City, back on July 13th of 1865, it destroyed a number of displays and other property, belonging to the museum that was setup by Barnum and company. Origins of the fire are rather mysterious. It is believed that insurance fraud was created to escape any outstanding debt.

Previously, a Confederate group attempted to burn the museum before but failed. There were a number of animals that managed to escape and later rescued. However, some animals including several large whales, were not so lucky being boiled by the flames. Others animals that rampaged through the city were later shot down.

The people there, managed to all escape unharmed. Barnum lost all of the artifacts that the public knew about including the infamous the Fiji mermaid. However, people believe there are some still hidden somewhere, that are still around. After all of this, Barnum would later partner with Bailey Circus and the rest was history from then on.

The remaining mermaid photograph, is quite intriguing and has since inspired on screen incarnations of sirens and other sea type entities. There is much that lies deep within the ocean, that mankind doesn’t know about yet.

While it may seem pretty far fetched, quite possibly a mermaid type creature could actually exist. Most of our world consists of water and covers the planet for many miles. These type of living things, certainly are at an advantage over the rest of us.

An example of a once believed to be extinct species, was the coelacanth fish. This fish was assumed to be extinct sum 65 million years ago. Now, in modern times…the fish was proven to actually still exist.

The specimen seen in the photograph, appears to be mummified…as it seems to be floating inside of a glass display. Certainly there are many hoaxes that have been made. However, this mermaid may have been the real deal.