Mysteries

Strange visitors

• TaleKyoto and Obama (Wakasa), Japan, 1449 to 1764

  Yao Bikuni, the nun shown in Kyoto in 1449

  In 1449 three Kyoto diaries recorded a nun from Wakasa shown for a fee. They disagree on her age and never mention a mermaid, which comes 150 years later.

  

• TaleKinderdijk and Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1421 to 2022

  The Kinderdijk cradle and its cat: first ashore at Dordrecht

  A baby in a cradle, with a cat keeping it level, is said to have given Kinderdijk its name in 1421. The oldest text we found with the cat names no dike.

  

• TaleHitachi (now Ibaraki), Japan, 1803 to 2026

  Where the Utsuro-bune landed depends on the text

  Fourteen old texts tell of a round vessel and a woman with a box on a Hitachi beach in 1803. The beach named in the Toen-kai text appears in no Edo record.

  

• TaleEdam and Haarlem, Holland, Netherlands, 1403 to 1786

  Before the Edam mermaid had a tail

  Edam says a mermaid named Minne was caught in 1403 and taught to spin. The chronicles name no one and give no tail; the tail first shows in a print of 1645.

  

• TaleNew Mexico and Texas, 1629 to 1690

  The Lady in Blue had no name in 1630

  In 1630 the Jumano told the friars a young woman had preached to them, dressed like the nun in a portrait. Ágreda's name and the blue came later.