A video purporting to show a mermaid in either Kenya or South Africa has gone viral on TikTok and other social media platforms. But is it real?
Not according to police in Kenya, no. NTV Kenya tweeted, “Reports indicating that a mermaid has been spotted in Kwale are fake, police say.” The video made the rounds on social media in April 2022.
Reports indicating that a mermaid has been spotted in Kwale are fake, police say
Kwale is located in Kenya, but the location attributed to the video varies by post.
Here’s what you need to know:
A TiKTok Video of the ‘Mermaid’ on a Beach Went Viral
@aamircali Real Mermaid Caught in Muizenberg South Africa🧜♀️🧜😳🤔
According to Snopes, the earliest South Africa mermaid video was posted on TikTok on April 6.
That video, by a TikTok user called aamircali is captioned, “Real Mermaid Caught in Muizenberg South Africa🧜♀️🧜😳🤔.”
The video shows a beach. People stand around what appears to be a fish tail on the beach and then the camera pans to show that there is a baby torso and head attached to the fish.
In the comment thread under that post, some people weren’t buying it. Here are some of the comments:
“Wow… So mermaids wear wigs😲 who’s purchasing wigs under the sea😏😅”
“i need to set up a wig shop under da sea.”
“i catch them almost every day here in PRETORIA lake.”
“forget about the mermaid, them adidas slides dude👀😞😂😂”
“If that was real no one would make a short video the camera man would be 2 curious so would I be, I would make a video or take foto’s from all angels.”
“Funny how this video never made south African headlines 😏”
Another TikTok video posted that same day, with the same video, says it was filmed in Ukunda, which is in Mombasa.
Police Had No Reports of a Child ‘Bitten by a Fish’
One video on YouTube claims a mermaid was discovered in Muizenberg, South Africa. It has had more than 700,000 views on YouTube.
Not so, police there told Snopes.
Snopes also reached out to police. “Please note that Muizenberg SAPS has no reports of a mermaid that was washed by the beach nor reports of a child bitten by a fish,” authorities there told Snopes, which rated the story “miscaptioned.”
People doubted the mermaid story in the comment thread of the YouTube video too. “If that was real, it would be one of the greatest finds in history !! you would think that one or more in the crowd would recognize the significance of that, and call in the authorities to investigate,” wrote one person.
“A lot of people want to believe this is real…I want to believe that people would have the compassion to put the creature back in the water,” wrote another.
“First of all when did mermaids make pig noises?? Second, a real mermaid’s body molds with the fish tail part, they don’t wear a fish skirt kinda thing. And if they actually found a mermaid and they knew what it was, they should’ve known it belongs in the water. Why then, instead of putting it back in the water, they just kept poking at it??” wrote another person in the comment thread.
The mermaid video also made the rounds on Reddit.
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