Few weeks ago, I went to visit the Black Mere Mermaid pool located in Staffordshire in the UK…
Set on a craggy and barren southern edge of the Peak District, beside the Leek to Buxton road, it is said that the dark peat-stained waters of the pool are bottomless; cattle refuse to drink there and birds never fly above it.
The Legend on the Mermaid on some sites compared to others does contradict itself to some degree. Some state that the pool is haunted by a mermaid which did seem to confuse a few who seen my reel on the location on my Facebook page.
The Legend
Well there is two, the first states that the mermaid was brought to the pool by a sailor who lived in the nearby town of Thorncliff. When the sailor died, the mermaid became angry as she could not return back to the sea.
The second tale states that, a beautiful young woman who was dubbed a witch after rejecting the advances of a local man named Joshua Linnet, was drowned by locals at Black Mere Pond after Linnet convinced the local
It is said that with with her final breath, the women put a curse on Linnet. His body was found by the pool 3 days later with claw marks across his face. It is said that the soul of the women returned to this realm in the form of a mermaid, to haunt the pool and seek her revenge on Linnet.
Both tales state that if you glaze upon the pool at midnight, the mermaid is said to rise from the depths of the pool combing her hair. She is said to lure you to the pool and pull you to your death.
The pool as over the years had many recorded deaths by drowning, however it does seem a particular popular area for people to go for a swim.
The last recorded sighting of the Mermaid was in the 19th Century when a group of workmen decided to try and drain the pool. The workers stated that the Mermaid arisen from the pool and stated she would flood the nearby towns if it was not left alone. Its said that the trenches they up and left after the sighting can be still seen today left untouched as they never went back to finish draining the pool.
The Siren
The legend seems to detail the entity more as a Siren than a Mermaid. Sirens; the dark, edgy sisters of mermaids are considered to be evil creatures who live in the sea. Generally, they are depicted as beautiful women with the tails of fish, but they can also be shown as scary, humanoid creatures with sharp teeth for tearing apart humans. Sirens are known for luring in sailors with their enchanting songs and then killing them. Mermaids on the other hand tend to be harmless and generally good natured who would not kill.