There is no evidence that mermaids exist, a US government scientific agency has said.
The National Ocean Service made the unusual declaration in response to public inquiries following a TV show on the mythical creatures.
It is thought some viewers may have mistaken the programme for a documentary.
"No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found," the service wrote in an online post.
The National Ocean Service posted an article last week on its educational website, Ocean Facts.
Images and tales of mermaids - half-human, half-fish - appear in mythology and art from across the world and through history, from Homer's Odyssey to the oral lore of the Australian aboriginals, the service wrote.
The article was written from publicly available sources because "we don't have a mermaid science programme", National Ocean Service spokeswoman Carol Kavanagh told the BBC.
She said that at least two people had written to the agency asking about the creatures.
The inquiries followed May's broadcast of Mermaids: The Body Found, on the Discovery Channel's Animal Planet network.
The programme was a work of fiction but its wink-and-nod format apparently led some viewers to believe it was a science education show, the Discovery Channel has acknowledged.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-cana
OP: Hmm...people taking a fictional TV programme as fact? Not as crazy as it may seem, in the UK they used to put shows on on April 1st that presented themselves as factual, one about spaghetti growing on trees for example.
This one freaked people out and has become a cult classic and is well worth a look on YouTube for its spookiness:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternativ
The National Ocean Service made the unusual declaration in response to public inquiries following a TV show on the mythical creatures.
It is thought some viewers may have mistaken the programme for a documentary.
"No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found," the service wrote in an online post.
The National Ocean Service posted an article last week on its educational website, Ocean Facts.
Images and tales of mermaids - half-human, half-fish - appear in mythology and art from across the world and through history, from Homer's Odyssey to the oral lore of the Australian aboriginals, the service wrote.
The article was written from publicly available sources because "we don't have a mermaid science programme", National Ocean Service spokeswoman Carol Kavanagh told the BBC.
She said that at least two people had written to the agency asking about the creatures.
The inquiries followed May's broadcast of Mermaids: The Body Found, on the Discovery Channel's Animal Planet network.
The programme was a work of fiction but its wink-and-nod format apparently led some viewers to believe it was a science education show, the Discovery Channel has acknowledged.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-cana
OP: Hmm...people taking a fictional TV programme as fact? Not as crazy as it may seem, in the UK they used to put shows on on April 1st that presented themselves as factual, one about spaghetti growing on trees for example.
This one freaked people out and has become a cult classic and is well worth a look on YouTube for its spookiness:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternativ
http://www.australiangeographic.com.a
I saw the show because I love those fictional "what-if" documentaries (don't judge me) and it was seriously annoying because it talked about government cover ups a lot. Like "our plucky team of scientists found out that some government agency was hiding information about a mermaid sighting on a beach, so we went and hunted that info down and here it is!"
The mermaids were poorly CGed in the way of those low-budget documentaries, but I can see how people might have fallen for it (we're talking about a country where 30%+ believe in Bigfoot and 50%+ believe in ghosts, so believing the tv show about mermaids isn't that farfetched). I started in the middle of the program and don't remember seeing any "this is a work of fiction" disclaimers. They may have been there before commercial breaks and I just tuned them out, but I don't remember them.
eta: thanks for the headsup on Alt3 btw, will be checking that out :D
Edited at 2012-07-03 05:19 pm (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostw
As for fiction being mistaken as real and causing panic, don't forget about the Mercury Theater On The Air's production of Orson Welles's War of the Worlds back in 1938. Yes, it was regularly announced that it was fiction, but people still freaked out. And then there's the 1949 Spanish reproduction that caused panic and riot in Quito, Ecuador that left six dead - including the girlfriend and nephew of one of the men responsible for the reproduction.
I immediately thought of the Mercury Theater incident when I read this story, but hadn't heard about the Quito riot, or the Ghostwatch thing. I guess this kind of thing (people confusing fact with fiction) must happen a lot more often than I realized.
I'm so sad to hear this is what it's become D: D: D:. What a tragedy.
Hmm...people taking a fictional TV programme as fact?
I think some people do. I heard "rumors" that Chinese people turn their aborted fetuses into dumplings and that it's a "delicacy". I thought, WTF would believe that shit? And then I remember there's an obscure (for the US, at least) Chinese horror movie about a Chinese woman who made dumplings from fetuses to preserve her clients youthful looks and I thought: OMG >_> Really?
Then again, they also believed Chinese were making fake eggs with gelatin and sodium acetate, and that they were importing them to Chinese sellers in Ireland.
They're nice people and all, but damn they can be led to believe anything. And they're going to become doctors too...
It's ridiculous that people still believe that to this day.
The Chinese horror movie wasn't even all that good. You should ask your friends if they think Chinese people believe some psycho killer jumps into teenagers dreams to kill them all the time over here. XD
But yeah Most Cable shows have turned into utter crap now....I just wanna watch cats all day.