Case file · Fairy lore
The mermaid of Edam
Dutch chronicles report that after a storm in 1403 (or 1404) women of Edam found a mermaid stuck in the mud; she was taken to Haarlem, taught to spin and lived there for years.
1403 CE · 52.51, 5.05 · status: legend
The account
The story is told by later chroniclers such as Hadrianus Junius and was widely repeated in early modern books of wonders.
The sceptical view
Probably a stranded seal or a story embroidered from one.