Straight Out of Fiji: The Merman

I am a man of many strange fascinations.  One of the things I am always on the lookout for is another Fiji Merman. 

The Fiji Merman is an iconic sideshow attraction made famous by P.T. Barnum in the 1840s.  The merman was the upper-half of a monkey sewn to the lower part of a fish through the magic of Taxidermy.  The object was displayed as a genuine mermaid.  There were many imitations of the Fiji Merman and to this day they are still popular attractions in the few sideshows that remain.

I wanted to take a look at the different incarnations of this beautiful creature that can be found across America.

Palace of Wonder, Washinton, DC

The Museum of Wonder is a bar in the nation's capital that just so happens to have the best collection of sideshow artifacts on the planet.  They have several Mermen on display.  Here is a re-creation of Barnum's original merman.

This large specimen is displayed alongside another cryto-taxidermic legend: The Fur-Bearing Trout.

And here is the terrifying "Sea Wurm"

Ripley's Believe it or Not

Another wonderful place to spot Merman is at the various Ripley's Believe it or Not Museums that are spread across the tourist towns in this country.

Orlando, FL

St. Augustine, FL

Myrtle Beach, SC

Gatlinburg, TN

State Fair Mermaids

This Mermaid I found out the Mountain State Fair in Fletcher, NC was in pretty rough shape.

While that kind of looks like a blob of nothing, it is part of the tradition of altering skates and rays to look like supernatural humanoid creatures.  Sailors used to catch them and alter them to sell to tourists as oddities.  This surely contributed in the creation of the Fiji Merman.

Here is a sideshow banner for "Misty, the Mermaid" at the Porter County Fair in Valparaiso, IN

 

 As is the tradition with sideshow banners, it is far more tantalizing then it is accurate.  Say hello to the actual "Misty".

Uchee Meraid

In the woods of Alabama lies the mysterious "Alabama Museum of Wonder", a folk art mecca created by artist Butch Anthony.  Within this Museum lies the mysterious Uchee Mermaid.

While visiting Butch's Museum at his yearly folk art festival "Doo-Nanny" I also had a chance to catch this bonus Merman that washed up after Hurrican Katrina.

Abita Merman

At the Abita Mystery House in Abita Springs, LA (another fantastic folk art museum) there lies several horrifying mermen mixed in with other strange and unusual creatures.

Of course I could go on and on about the wonders at this place.  Just check out me holding this Alligator Man.

Fishbob

Of course I couldn't stand idly by.  I needed to possess my own mermaid.  I ordered my own mermaid off Ebay, which I dubbed "Fishbob".  I don't think he is actually made from a monkey and a fish, but I love him all the same.

Disney's Merman

The Walt Disney Company is not one to be left out of the loop, and every real tourist destination needs a Fiji Merman.  Walt Disney World has its own Fiji Merman, while they kept true to its origins, I must say they have altered the "feel" quite a bit.

Cletus, The Smokey Mountain Merman

Of course, this blog is about the South I wanted to end with a True Southern Merman.

Check him out.  First of all he is part rainbow trout, which is pretty awesome, not to mention his sweet facial hair.  Instead of swimming the open ocean he prefers to stick to Mountain streams and swimming around grist mills.

For only a quarter you can look at Cletus for a few precious seconds through this viewfinder.

Sadly, he looks less like a mermaid and more like a dead toad in a jar.

The Carpetbagger

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The Most Important Man in Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC is known as "The Holy City".  The city is known for its rich and elaborate history as well as its beautiful architecture and unique culture.  One of the most must-do activities in Charleston is the Carriage Ride.

The carriage industry is highly regulated by the city, only allowing a certain amount of carriages at once and keeping track of which carriages are in what area at any given time.  Of course having a city full of roaming horses has certain repercussions.

Horses urinate and defecate in large overwhelming amounts.

So, what prevents the beautiful city of Charleston, the Paris of the South, from becoming one big horse toilet.

This man:

When a horse does its business in the street the carriage driver tosses a special horse grenade that marks the soiled spot in the street.

All day our hero roams the street of Charleston chasing down these foul grenades.  Power washing the filth away with the intensity in his eyes of a thousand burning fires.

I bet that horses haunt his dreams.

I would like to take my hat off to our nameless hero.  Thank you sir.  Thank you for preventing one of the most beautiful cities in the world from becoming a dystopian hellscape of horse leavings. 

The Carpetbagger

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The Bear Pits

Here in the Smokey Mountain the Bear is King.  They are used to advertize and sell just about everything.  I actually think that there are more fiberglass then flesh bears in these hills.  You may set out to see a bear in the woods, but they are hard to find, and you might get eaten.  Usually you are going to have to set for seeing a taxidermied bear.

Or a Fiberglass Bear.....

However, if you insist on seeing a real flesh and blood bear you may have to engage in a timeless and controversial practice:  The Bear Pit.

There are four active Bear Pits in different tourist towns.  Cherokee, NC has two of them.  Across the Mountain in Tennessee there is one in Pigeon Forge, TN and then a few hours South there is one in the bizarre Bavarian mecca Helen, GA.

Here is the basic idea behind the bear pit.  Take a concrete pit and fill it full of bears.  

Check

Well, that would just being boring and sad, so you have to spice it up a bit.  As you enter you are give a plate of apple slices, stale bread and wilted lettuce.  You then chuck these pieces into the pits and the bears catch them in their mouths.  The following videos illustrate this process.

Some of the bears learn tricks to draw in more food, like this fellow who climbs up in a tree and claps.

Maybe a little degrading for something that could rip your head off with a swipe of his paw.

He looks a little more dignified here, reciting Shakespeare.

Cherokee Bear Zoo keeps other animals as well, such as this tiger.

and this monkey that makes faces and shakes his genitals at you........

Now these Bears pits have become very controversial and has lead to Peta starting a campaign against them.

They put up this billboard with a sad little bear.....

When that failed to win people over they replaced it with the following sign....

That is right....if you visit the pits, bears will eat your children!

Peta brought out its big guns and sent in Bob Barker to make an appeal to the chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee the have the bear pits shut down.

I forget which one is the real chief

 The Chief responded by banning Barker from the reservation.

I like to see myself as having a neutral point of view on this, but I have a confession to make.  I cannot say "no" to an opportunity to get close to wild dangerous animals.  At the Cherokee bear zoo I paid to have them let me hold a tiger.

and a bear....

As I went to pet the bear, the Hispanic gentleman that was handling the bear instructed me not to touch his face.

"He doesn't like having his face touched?"  I asked.

"Um....it is a bear," he replied.

Fell free to make up your own mind on the Bear Pits.  They are definitely a throw back to a type of zoo that is generally not seen in our modern culture.  Good or bad they are a pieces of roadside history.

The Carpetbagger

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Popcorn Sutton

NOT MY PHOTO

In my little corner of the Appalachian Mountains, there is no bigger folk legend then Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.  Popcorn was seen as the last of a breed.  He was considered the last of the great Mountain Moonshiners, and he would tell you this himself. 

My introduction to Popcorn came in the form of an innocent looking piece of plywood.

Now I have had my picture taken with a real Indian....

But never a real moonshiner..........The idea fascinated me. If Native Americans could charge for pictures, why not Hillbillies?

After a little bit of poking around, it turned out that this was no ordinary Hillbilly, this was the Hillbilly.  Popcorn Sutton has been featured in countless documentaries and books about old time mountain heritage and moonshine making.  His manifesto titlted "Me and My Likker" was released in 1999 and followed up with a documentary by the same name.   He would also make a prominent appearance in the History Channel special "Hillbilly: The Real Story".  Past clips of Popcorn are shown on the History Channel program "Moonshiners."  He wasn't the only moonshiner, but he had the most style.  He was a living museum piece.

I was determined to meet this legend.  I stopped at the local Mountain Museum.

The lady that worked there was familiar with Popcorn, but said that he had become more reclusive and did not come around much anymore.  She did sell me a nifty Popcorn Sutton shot glass, though.

I couldn't seem to catch up with him, but everywhere I looked there were signs taunting me.

As it turns out there was a good reason that Popcorn wasn't coming around much.  He was in some legal trouble.  Popcorn had been arrested for get this:  Making Moonshine.  Popcorn was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

I didn't give up hope though.  Certainly he would return to he would return to Maggie Valley with a heroe's welcome.  Sadly, this would not be the case.  What would happen next, would be foreshadowed in the most unlikely of places: an Interview with Johnny Knoxville.

 

You can watch the Interview HERE.  Be warned, it may be the funniest thing you have ever seen, but it is also incredibly crude an inappropriate. 

During the interview Popcorn shows Johnny that he has already purchased his tombstone, and his casket (as well as the shovel to bury him for some reason).  Here is his tombstone.

NOT MY PICTURE

While at the time this seemed like a bit of crude humor.  It was no laughing matter.  Popcorn's "Fuck You" was directed right at the Federal Government.

 Popcorn would kill himself with carbon monoxide rather then going to prison.  He made the decision to end things on his own terms.  Some say this embodies the Mountain spirit that Popcorn championed.

Popcorn's moonshine, which led to his arrest and suicide, can now be purchased legally in liquor stores as his widow would team up with Hank Williams Jr. to manufacture Popcorn brand moonshine.

I regret not getting a chance to meet this Mountain legend while he was alive.  There is talk of a Popcorn Museum popping up, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

You can visit his home site in Maggie Valley, NC, but it is covered in brambles and vicious dogs.

Regardless, Popcorn's legacy still haunts the Mountains....

Here is a mannequin tribute put up by a local craft shop....

Or this local museum display....

Or this shrine found on top of a local gas station's coffee maker....

While you can't have your picture made with a real Moonshiner anymore, it seems that the legend of Popcorn Sutton will last forever.

The Carpetbagger

Please feel free to e-mail me at jacobthecarpetbagger@gmail.com
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