Mermaid at Llanchaiarn, Aberystwyth (1826)

Here's the coast at Aberystwyth, at least:

CC image by Manfred Heyde.

 

In July, 1826, a farmer in the parish of Llanchaiarn, about three miles from Aberystwayth, whose house is within 300 yards of the sea shore, went to the top of an adjacent rock on a fine morning as the sun was rising and shining beautifully on the water, and saw a woman, in appearance, bathing in the sea, within a stone's throw of him, and he, from a feeling of decency, withdraw; but, upon reconsideration, he suspected that no woman go so far into the sea, as the tide was flowing, and he felt certain that the water must be about two yards deep where he saw her stand. Upon this he fell on his face, and creeped to the top of the rock, and had a distinct view of her for about thirty-five minutes. When tired of gazing at her, he withdrew, and ran to call his family to behold this prodigy. He directed them from the door whither to go, and cautioned them to creep as they approached the spot, so as not to alarm the object of their curiosity. Some of them went out not much more than half dressed, and looked at it for above ten minutes, whilst the farmer was calling his wife and youngest child. The wife did not approach in the same manner as the party that preceded her, but walked in sight of the mermaid, at which she slipped into the water, and swam away about the same distance from the shore as when first observed; and all the family, twelve in number, ran along the sore, for nearly half a mile, nearly all the time keeping her distinctly in view, sometimes the head and shoulders above the water. There was a mass of rock elevated about six feet above the surface of the sea, on which she reclined when first viewed. She stood out of the water from the waist upwards, adn the whole family declare the bust to be the perfect shape and size of a girl about eighteen years of age, the hair rather short, and of a dark colour, the face very pretty, the neck and arms of the common length, the breasts not large, and the skin delicately white - whiter than that of any they ever saw washing in the sea. The face was towards the shore. She stooped, and appeared to take up some water with her right hand, and then held the hand before her face for half a minute together. During the act of bending there was something blackish which appeared just above the surface of the water like a short tail turned up; this always appeared when she bent in the manner described. -- She frequently made a noise like sneezing or coughing, and every time this was repeated the rock echoed the sound. The farmer, who looked at her intently for a long time, declared that he had seen but few women who equalled her in beauty. - The whole family, the youngest of them eleven years of age, are now alive, and I had this account, verbatim, from their own mouths, within the last month.

From the Morning Post, July 26th, 1828.