Do you believe Mermaids exist?

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This article is based on a true-life event that happened to my mother at a young age. Till today she says it did happen to her, true or false? Let me leave that to my readers.

It's currently raining heavily here, I guess that also contributed to me writing this article. It's the end of August and the rainy seasons are back. I do not despise this weather, a lot of farmers are happy with this and I do hate hot weather.

I'm going to approach this article from a standpoint that you will understand better. She told us this story in her language. For those of you who do not know, My Mother is a part of Southern Nigeria in Africa and they are known for having a lot of dialects and as much as I would love to type in the dialect in this article, I feel it won't be just as much appreciated as compared to If it were in English.

• Mum's point of view

It was 1981, it was the rainy season just like this one, I was only 7 at this time, it had rained heavily the day before as it did on other days. Back at home, the rain usually lasted for days after it had begun.

My aunt had just come to the village and my mom had permitted me to go to the town with her, and I was very excited. So, when the rain finally stopped, I grabbed a few of the clothes I had planned to wash by the riverside, it was only around 6:30 am but Farmers were already going to check on their crops. I planned to quickly wash that morning so it would dry quickly before the rain started again.

I was the only one by the river bank, the rain has caused the river to rise, so there was a place we couldn't go beyond because of the depth. We were never allowed to play beyond that place,e, especially during a rainy season.

As I turned my back against the river to start washing while sitting on the rock, I heard a powerful splash behind me. It was so great that I jumped and tried to run out of fear, It felt as though a big tree had fallen into the water and the splash was just everywhere, so I turned to see what had just happened.

I was so little at this time but what I saw haunted me for years that I couldn't drink water with my eyes open for fear of seeing this "being" appearing before me again. I can still describe it vividly as I close my eyes. He was a man, a white man. Hardy do white people come to the village only on special occasions after the Civil War as missionaries to give free treatment, food, and clothes and they were Reverend Sisters (Women, not Men).

He was a white man with a lot of hair on his head, curly hair and his chest were also filled with hair, he was tall too, I couldn't see from his waist below but he had to be tall to be able to stand on the deep side of the river. Did I mention that it was really deep?

He was smiling at me, beckoning on me to come closer, he held a ring in one hand. He couldn't talk but his motions meant for me to come closer.

At this point, I froze, not out of fear but shock. There was no way anyone could stand. I wondered how anyone could stand at such great depth, on a rainy season. Much more a white person.

My instinct told me to run but I couldn't seem to move my legs fast enough, I managed to run as fast as my legs could take me, I was in so much shock and as soon as I saw some women gathered close to the riverbank, I ran towards them screaming for help and fainted as soon as I got close enough, they rushed to my aid and took me to the town square.

Before this, my grandfather who was the king had warned the villagers never to go to that river or any river when it rains. This mandate didn't come without a good reason. This was not the first time such an event had occurred, long before I was born, 2 kids went to the river to play when "they" appeared, they were able to get the little girl but the other boy escaped, he told the story but no one would believe him. Who would believe the word of a kid?

The villagers all came out to search the riverside to at least find the poor girl's body, but they couldn't. After days of searching, they all gave up and assumed the fishes must have done away with her remains and so the chapter closed.

7 years later, this young girl was found again by the river bank, the "beings" had brought her back and left her by the river bank when the villagers found her they were shocked and filled with a lot of questions, she still had the same wrapper she wore the day she went missing. At first, she couldn't talk as she was also in awe coming back to the land I presume.

Her mother wept for Joy on seeing her daughter, but something had changed, the "beings" didn't harm her instead they had taught her special healing techniques, there was no ailment she couldn't cure. Unfortunately, she didn't live long, a part of the story said she died in her sleep, another part said she had been murdered, that mystery remains unsolved.

From the little she was able to say of these strange beings from the river, they had taken good care of her. She said that place was like a home underwater and the people there were nice to her, they had fishtails. The reason she couldn't speak well when she was found was that she had forgotten how to speak our dialect.

After my ordeal, My grandfather did a cleansing to send whatever spirit that tried to get me away, I couldn't go near any river for a long time. This haunted me for years.

How did she breathe underwater? Where What did she eat? I do wonder.

I have always known we were not alone, there are still a lot of mysteries unknown to mankind.

Do you believe Mermaids exist? I don't know about you, but I do. I also know that the reason why they don't come out is due to Human nature, their urge to dominate every single creature that threads this Earth.

What do you believe? Myth or real? I leave that to you.

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