August 10 – The people of Tom’s River, N.J., are just now having a little sensation – it being nothing less than the capture of a veritable mermaid or at least a water animal strongly resembling that poetic species of fish. Two fishermen, while pursuing their vocation a few days ago in the Inlet, effected the capture after a violent struggle. At seeing the animal its captors became hugely frightened, and took to their heels. After a while they mustered up sufficient courage to return and look at their prize. In appearance it more resembled a human being than a fish, having a face frightfully like that of a man or woman, with body and breasts exactly resembling the latter. The lower part terminated in a fish tail. The fishermen, after looking at the monster, became so superstitious, that they threw it back into the sea. It’s a pity they did not preserve it.“Mermaid found in New Jersey,” Port Jervis Evening Gazette, Port Jervis, New York, August 10, 1869.

Thanks for this historical item from

Jerome Clark.