The Feejee Mermaid
P.T. Barnum was famously bold in his efforts to part the American public with their money. And the so-called Feejee Mermaid (otherwise known as the Fiji Mermaid’) is a great example of this. While the modern observer would see it for what it was – an obvious fake – Barnum was convinced he could make money out of this ‘half-human, half-fish’. And he was right. With the public fascinated by mermaids, crowds flocked to see the curiosity for themselves.
Barnum acquired the mermaid from a naturalist at Boston Museum in 1842. Regardless of its origins, the showman sensed he could make money from it, so he agreed to lease it for $12.50 a week. He then promoted it as the ‘missing link’ between man and fish. After whipping up public interest through exclusive showings and letters from ‘experts’ placed in major newspapers, he made a small fortune as crowds flocked to his museum.
In the end, Barnum only displayed the mermaid for five days. And, in fact, it soon turned out to be a monkey’s head and torso stitched onto the bottom half of a fish. Nevertheless, the stunt was enough for Barnum to make a name for himself as a true showbusiness legend. From that point onwards, he became the biggest name in America when it came to exhibiting ‘freaks’ and ‘curiosities’ and soon agents and potential performers were knocking on his door.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“The Feejee Mermaid: Early Barnum Hoax.” Live Science, September 2016.
“True Tales Of The Bearded Lady And The Dog-Faced Boy.” Neatorama.
“Barnum Continues to Hoodwink Audiences in The Greatest Showman.” Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
“The Greatest Show on Earth? The Myths of The Victorian Freak Show”. History Extra. May 26, 2020
“Inside The Tragic Stories Of 9 ‘Freak Show’ Performers”. By Erin Kelly. ATI. October 18, 2021
“The strange tale of the tattooed Irishman.” The Irish Independent, November 2017.
“Circassian beauties and the ugly face of race.” Al Jazeera, June 2015.
“Chang Yu Sing, The Chinese Giant.” The National Museum of American History.
“Incredible Lady Who Had Two Private Parts, Four Legs & Eight Children”. Esh. Medium. Mar 30, 2021
“A beautiful friendship – General Tom Thumb and PT Barnum.” Irish Times, January 2018.
“The fruitful sex lives of the original Siamese twins.” The New York Post, November 2014.
“The Real Tom Thumb and The Birth of Celebrity. By Kathleen Hawkins. BBC News. 25 November 2014