In their 1960 journal, the British Folklore Society reported that Mr. Calum I. MacLean, of the School of Scottish Studies, told in a meeting of the British Association at Glasgow in 1958, that an old fisherman of the Isle of Muck averred that in 1947, he had seen a mermaid.
McLean said that the old fisherman, who died soon before reporting this, had looked up to see a mermaid about twenty meters from the shore. The mermaid was sitting, combing her hair, on a floating herring-box used to preserbe live lobsters. As soon as she looked around, she realized she had been seen, and plunged into the sea.
This appeared from 1976 on in numerous books of mermaid stories and sea mysteries stories, sometimes with dubious details.
And in the 2000's, it appeared in a ufological catalogue of "humnoid encounters".
| Case number: | URECAT-001753 |
|---|---|
| Date of event: | 1947 |
| Earliest report of event: | 1958 |
| Delay of report: | 11 years. |
| Witness reported via: | Told folklorist. |
| First alleged record by: | Journal of the British Foklore Society. |
| First certain record by: | Journal of the British Foklore Society. |
| First alleged record type: | Journal of the British Foklore Society. |
| First certain record type: | Journal of the British Foklore Society. |
| This file created on: | November 2, 2018 |
| This file last updated on: | November 2, 2018 |
| Country of event: | U-K. |
| State/Department: | Inner Hebrides. |
| Type of location: | On the siland of Muck 20 meters offshore. |
| Lighting conditions: | Night |
| UFO observed: | No |
| UFO arrival observed: | N/A |
| UFO departure observed: | N/A |
| UFO/Entity Relation: | None. |
| Witnesses numbers: | 1 |
| Witnesses ages: | 80 |
| Witnesses types: | Old fisherman. |
| Photograph(s): | No. |
| Witnesses drawing: | No. |
| Witnesses-approved drawing: | No. |
| Number of entities: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Type of entities: | Mermaid |
| Entities height: | Not reported. |
| Entities outfit type: | None reported. |
| Entities outfit color: | N/A. |
| Entities skin color: | Not reported. |
| Entities body: | Not reported. Mermaid. |
| Entities head: | Not reported. |
| Entities eyes: | Not reported. |
| Entities mouth: | Not reported. |
| Entities nose: | Not reported. |
| Entities feet: | Not reported. |
| Entities arms: | Not reported. |
| Entities fingers: | Not reported. |
| Entities fingers number: | Not reported. |
| Entities hair: | Has hair on the head. |
| Entities voice: | None heard. |
| Entities actions: | Was there, combed he hair, fled. |
| Entities/witness interactions: | Fled. |
| Witness(es) reactions: | Observed, went. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Not reported. |
| Witness(es) interpretation: | Mermaid. |
| Explanation category: | Invention, not UFO related. |
| Explanation certainty: | High. |
[Ref. fs1:] "THE FOLKORE SOCIETY":
Mr. Calum I. McLean of the School of Scottish studies, told in a meeting of the British Association at Glasgow in 1958, that an old fisherman of the Isle of Muck averred that in 1947, he saw a mermaid:
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"McLean says that the old fisherman, who died recently, looked up to see a mermaid about twenty yards from the shore, sitting, combing her hair, on a floating herring-box used to preserbe live lobsters. Unfortunately, as soon as she looked round, she realized she had been seen, and plunged into the sea. |
[Ref. ft1:] FRANCIS THOMPSON:
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Mr. Calum I. McLean of the School oof Scottish studies, told in a meeting of the British Association at Glasgow in 1958, that an old fisherman of the Isle of Muck averred that in 1947, he saw a mermaid, sitting among his lobster-boxes and combing her hair. She dived back into the sea when she realized she was being watched. MacLean said that no amount of questionning could shake the old fisherman's conviction he had seen a mermaid. |
[Ref. pa1:] DEREK AND JULIA PARKER:
These authors says that the last authentic sighting of a mermaid was as recently as 1947, when an islander of Muck, off the north-west coast of Scotland, saw one sitting on a rock combinh her hair; which is a traditional occupation of mermaids.
[Ref. mf1:] MAURICE FLEMING:
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And mermaids? Perhaps they should be put into the 'don't know' category. The distinguished folklorist Calum I. Maclean met an old fisherman on the Isle of Muck who swore that in 1947 he plainly saw a mermaid sitting among his lobsters-pots. She was combing her hait, but when she realised she was being watched she slipped into the sea. |
[Ref. mc1:] V. MARK COVINGTON:
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From the time he could walk and talk Quinton loved to visit his grandfather's farm on the little island of Muck and from the time he was five Quinton spent every summer with his grandfather on the island. During the summer of 1947, when Quinton was seven, he and his grandfather made a daily trip to the shore to collect the lobsters from the lobster traps and place them in the floating herring box to keep them alive until they had a sufficient number of lobsters to make a meal. One day as they approached the shore they saw a spectacular sight. They were used to seeing dolphins and porpoises just off shore and an occasional whale spouting further out to sea but there, sitting on the floating herring box, about twenty yards from shore, combing her long dark hair, was a mermaid, a real live mermaid. The old man was the first to see her and gasping, unable to speak, he grasped his grandson by the shoulder and spun him towards the lounging creature. The boy's eyes suddenly became round as saucers, awestruck by the creature. She was beautiful. The boy's eyes followed her body from the tip of her head, her dark hair, cascading down her porcelain back and across her rounded shoulders. lie followed the line of her slender neck down to her small firm breasts, down to her naval \\lhere her white, creamy skin smoothed out into a tail, much like that of a porpoise. When the mermaid realized that she was being watched she gently turned her head to look back at her observers. As she faced Quinton and he could see just how beautiful she was, her high cheekbones, her beautiful aqua blue eyes, her pouting lips, her jet¬ black hair, Quinton became breathless. Seeing the boy in such a state of frozen awe amused the mermaid and she flashed a huge smile, at the same time her eyes twinkling with amusement. Then, while Quinton and his grandfather continued to stare motionless, she winked knowingly and slipped off the herring box and plunged into the sea. From that day forward young Quinton was obsessed with mermaids. He read every bit of literature he could find on the subject and collected mermaid knick-knacks such as mermaid salt and pepper shakers, mermaid statues, mermaid dolls and mermaid posters. He also saw every movie ever made about mermaids. At twelve he had made a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of mermaid sightings from all the tabloids and even bought a 111ap of the world and put pushpins in the location of every place where a mermaid had supposedly been sighted. He was hoping to find a pattern of sightings where he might again glimpse one of the beautiful creatures. Like all childhood hobbies Quinton's obsession with mermaids waned over the years, and by the time he went to Eaton he had traded in his mermaid posters for soccer posters, or posters of half naked pin-up models. He finished Eaton with honors and went on to earn his PhD with a concentration Microbiology and Biochemical Genetics from the University of California, San Diego. From there he was recruited by a small Biotechnology company in the Silicon Valley and went to work in Research and Development. |
Note: this ais from a novel, a fiction, but obviously influenced by the story of the Muck island siren.
[Ref. kh1:] KENDALL F. HAVEN:
This author sites a source saying that in 1947, two old fishermen in their early 80's on the Island of Muck, on the West coast of Scotland reported seeing a mermaid anout 20 yards from shore, sitting on a floating lobster box combing her hair.
As soon as she saw the two men she plunged into the sea and was gone. Both men passed lie detector tests and were convinced they had seen a mermaid.
[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
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1. Location. Island of Muck Highland Region Scotland Date: 1947 Time: unknown 80-year old Alexander Gunn, an angler saw a mermaid like creature right off the coast of the island. The being was a female humanoid in appearance, and sat on a floating wooded box and appeared to be coming her long blond hair. She plunged into the sea when she noticed the witness looking at her. No other information. HC addition # 408 Source: Janet & Colin Bord, Modern Mysteries of Britain Type: E Encounter with amphibian humanoid. HSI: "6" ROS: "9" Comments: This would be the exact same setting you would expect to see a mermaid. Urban legend or real encounter? |
[Ref. mw1:] "OUR MYSTERIOUS WORLD"
|
This is a timeline of weird and "Art Bell-ish" events and happenings that I have been collecting off the internet for a while. Yes, many of the entries contradict each other, and others are most likely patent lies, but all of these are in the public literature and you can sort them out for yourselves. [... Other cases...] The last reported sighting [in 1947] of a mermaid in Scotland, on the isle of Muck, an eighty year old fisherman reported that he had seen a mermaid in the sea about twenty yards from the shore, sitting combing her hair on a floating herringbox used to preserve live lobsters. Unfortunately, as soon as the mermaid looked round, she realized that she had been seen, and plunged into the sea. But no questioning could shake the old fisherman's firm conviction: he was adamant that he had seen a mermaid. [... Other cases...] |
[Ref. la1:] "THE LOST CITY OF ATLANTIS" BLOG:
In 1947 on the Island of Muck, in the Highland Region of Scotland, 80-year-old fisherman, Alexander Gunn, reports seeing a real mermaid. ‘in the sea about 20 yards from the shore, sitting combing her hair on a floating herring box used to preserve live lobsters. Unfortunately, as soon as the mermaid looked round, she realized that she had been seen, and plunged into the sea.
[Ref. rh1:] RICHARD HAMMOND:
This author says that in 1947 on the Scottish island of Muckan 80-year-old fisherman called Alexander Gunn said he had seen a mermaid sitting on a lobster trap combing her hair. When the mermaid realized she was being watched she immadiately disappeared into the waves.
[Ref. br1:] "THE BATHROOM READERS' INSTITUDE":
This book says that in 1947 a fisherman from the Hebrids island of Muck saw a mermaid sitting on a floating herring box used to preserve live lobsters, combing her hair. She dove into the sea as soon as she saw him. Thw man remained convinced he had seen a real mermaid to his death in the 1950's.
[Ref. km1:] KAREN MILLER:
This author says that the Scottish island of Muck has veen ths dpot for many mermaids sightings, the most recent being in 1947: an aexperienced fisherman saw a mermaid 20 yards offshore, sat combing her hair on the very lobester box he was about to haul.
As soon as the mermaid spotted the man, she slipped into the waves. No one could convice the an that he had not seen a mermaid.
I can easily accept the motion that there are living beings on other planets outside the solar system, that some of them travel through space and that their craft or even these extraterrestrial visiors could be seen on Earth. But it will take a lot of solid evidence to convince me that there are naked women living in the sea with the lower body parts of fishes.
Obviously, this story came from Calum I. MacLean, as a second-hand source. Calum I. Maclean (1915-1960), born in Raasay, Scotland, was a foremost Scottish folklorist and ethnologist. Of course, nothing says he believed the fisherman's story at all.
In December 1945, the Irish Folklore Commission sent Calum Maclean to the Hebrides with an ediphone recording device to preserve folklore tales before the last Gaelic storytellers and folk-singers who had escaped the net of the 1872 Education Act died. He collected recordings and also over 9,000 manuscript pages of notes.
In 1951, Maclean started to work for the newly founded School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh and systematically collected Scottish Gaelic and Scots folklore The very first recordings that he made for the School included no less than 524 Gaelic tales from a roadman. The last stories that Maclean filed were literally on his death bed.
His work and legacy can be read about at the University of Edinburgh website at http://www.calum-maclean-project.celtscot.ed.ac.uk/home
| Id: | Topic: | Severity: | Date noted: | Raised by: | Noted by: | Description: | Proposal: | Status: |
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Invention, not UFO related.
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
| Main Author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Created/Changed By: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | November 2, 2018 | Creation, [sf1], [ft1], [pa1], [mf1], [mc1], [kh1], [ar1], [la1], [rh1], [br1], [km1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | November 2, 2018 | First published. |
