Viral Video: Story of Dead Mermaid Washed Ashore After Hurricane Likely Another Hoax

A viral video of dead mermaid making the rounds of social networking sites (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrIimZDDzSo) is likely another hoax story on the Internet that netizens would still be interested in despite all signs the carcass is an art work only.

News of a mermaid corpse having been found had been on YouTube for several years now, but each time a new video clip is posted on the popular video sharing site, it nevertheless gets millions of hit due to public's fascination for the half-woman, half-fish creature.

The claim of the latest video is that it is the clearest video of the mermaid carcass washed on the shores of Florida after a hurricane. The video did not provide more specifics such as what exact beach was it washed ashore and which hurricane.

Prior to this latest so-called mermaid discovery, a video titled Mermaid Sighting in Kiryat Yam also became viral, but it turned out it was a fictional presentation for a special about the mythical sea creature which was first aired on Animal Planet on May 16, 2013.

Jaded netizens, however, refused to be fooled again.

For instance, commenting on YouTube on the latest find, DarthHater100 asked, "So is the guy with the camera the only one who knows about it? If there was something as amazing as a mermaid found, there would be hundreds of onlookers. Everyone is going to want to see it."

SIG442 wrote that it is not a real mermaid based on some telltale signs such as the fish tail being bent instead of straight as most cases of whales washed ashore are and it should not have scales which makes it ineffective in swimming. "This thing shown is a hoax," SIG442 said.

He added the so-called mermaid is part of an art collection and the artist who crafted it - who said he has many of these mythical sea creatures in his collection - had admitted placing the art piece on the beach.

Kalysta Jones pointed out two wrong things with the photo, which are if the body is rotting as seen on the face and hands, the hair should have fallen off, and it was even wearing make-up. "How is that even remotely possible underwater?" she asked. Marlene Mejorado even noticed the alleged dead mermaid having silky hair.

But herobrine264 prefers to believe in mermaids and commented, "Everyone says it fake because they are afraid of the truth." Likewise, Candy sweet insisted she knew mermaids were real.

Meanwhile, christianne1975 questioned the lack of flies when there is a carcass, which are indicators of it being fake.

In the Animal Planet video, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated "No evidence of aquatic humanoids has even been found."