Mystery Mermaid

Photo Caption:
MONKEY BUSINESS - Barnum called his Feejee Mermaid hoax a "genuine fake."

The hideous creature has an uncannily wide-eyed stare. Tufts of coarse hair cling to the shriveled skeleton of its head and left shoulder. Only one arm remains. It bares its tiny, pointed teeth, daring anyone to voice doubts concerning its authenticity. One cannot even see the seamless transition from the monkey's torso to the fish's tail.

P.T. Barnum's Feejee (Fiji) Mermaid, cloaked in a mystery as intriguing as the little monster itself, has fascinated generations since the mid-19th century. Considered lost for the past several decades, the mermaid has surfaced at St. Bonaventure University.

According to university records, after Barnum's death in 1891, his estates were auctioned off and Stanford White, a New York architect, acquired the Feejee Mermaid. The mermaid then passed to the Rev. Irenaeus Herscher, O.F.M., at St. Bonaventure through a donation after White's death in 1906.

And after that, no records of the creature's location could be found.

The March 24, 1983 edition of The Bona Venture described the mermaid's history and concluded hopeful that it would one day be found on campus. In 1992, the university received a letter from the Natural Museum in Scotland which had also discovered the mermaid was at the school somewhere and wrote requesting information, not knowing the artifact remained virtually lost.

In the fall of 1996, Brother David Haack, O.F.M., curator of The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, noticed some of the items on Father Irenaeus' inventory sheets could not be found. Curious, Brother David canvassed the university searching for the missing objects, including the mermaid.

He thoroughly examined all of the pieces in the basement of Friedsam Memorial Library, Father Irenaeus' primary cache. Brother David then tried Hopkins Hall. Yet, the mermaid remained elusive.

Hearing of the intensive search, Art Brown, director of maintenance, suggested to Brother David to look in Francis Hall.

The tip led the friar to a room under a stairwell in Francis, unopened for more than 30 years. The key long since lost, Brother David drilled out the doorknob and entered what he described as a "tomb."

In actuality, it proved more like a treasure chest.

In a large cardboard box, nestled in a Japanese doll collection, Brother David discovered a shoe box. He opened it and carefully pulled back the tissue paper, expecting to reveal an unusually exquisite doll. Instead, the grisly grin of the Feejee Mermaid greeted him.

"We didn't know what to think. It was sort of an ugly thing," Brother David said.

Junior John Rigney, helping Brother David at the time of discovery, "wondered if it was a real thing."

"At first I thought it was just a monkey," he said.

Documents found with the mermaid authenticated it as Barnum's original. However, the creature appears to be the only part of Barnum's collection at the university.

"It's one of a kind," Brother David said.

Although the Feejee Mermaid may be unique to St. Bonaventure, other "mermaids" can be found at various places throughout the United States.

A letter to the university from David Heppell of the National Museums of Scotland hypothesizes early Indonesian inhabitants created "mermaids" to ensure a good fish harvest that year. From there, the artifacts made their way to Europe as curiosity items.

According to his autobiography, Barnum received the mermaid in 1842 from the curator of the Boston Museum. Just under 3 feet long, the mermaid proved the biggest attraction at Barnum's Great American Museum in New York City. Within a month, he tripled his profits.

Known throughout the world, the March 31, 1995, episode of the "X-Files" even made reference to the mermaid's legend.

Yet, the mystery of the Feejee Mermaid remains far from solved. Heppell questions how the mermaid could have possibly survived two devastating fires to the Great American Museum - one in 1864 and another the following year.

Displayed last spring in The Paul W. Beltz Gallery, the mermaid currently resides in The Quick Arts Center's upper-floor vault among paintings, Oriental vases, sculptures and other artifacts.

"We just don't have the facilities to display the entire permanent collection on a permanent basis," Brother David said.

"She's been inspirational in the very least, just to get people's imaginations working again. In order to keep the mystique continuing, we're going to hide her again."