Througout Dutch history, several tales have been told about the Meerman and his female counterpart the Meermin. Human encounters with these elusive creatures often ended in tragedy however, with the Dutch being eager to capitalize on their captivity.
Encounters[]
Several stories have been told about the merfolk, with the Zeeland story of Westenschouwen probably being the most renowned merman encounter. However, other parts of the Netherlands claimed to have seen them as well. It was said that in the year 130, a big group of Mermen visited the coast of Friesland. Two of them went ashore and explored the area. Not much later they disappeared back into the sea.[1] And on Texel in 1621, a few fishermen found a merman in their nets. Just when they were about to reel him in though, he managed to escape. They were amazed to find out that half of his body was shaped like that of a lobster.[2]