Lore - Legends 61: Drowning Deep

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

One of the most iconic creatures from folklore has a terrifyingly evil nature hidden beneath its beautiful facade. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Cassandra de Alba. ————————— Lore Resources:  Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music  Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources  All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: BetterHelp: Lore is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/LORE, and get on your way to being your best self. Acorns: Acorns helps you automatically save & invest for your future. Head to Acorns.com/LORE to sign up for Acorns to start saving and investing for your future today! Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. Mint Mobile: For a limited time, wireless plans from Mint Mobile are $15 a month when you purchase a 3-month plan with UNLIMITED talk, text and data at MintMobile.com/lore. ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. ————————— To advertise on this podcast please email: [e-mail]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2025 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

She survived a death sentence, all because she was ugly. By the end of his life, King Henry VIII would have six wives, and half of them wouldn't make it out of their marriage alive. When he married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleaves, the odds that she would die before her husband were actually way worse than 50%. Two of his previous three wives were already dead. But then, the most wonderful thing happened. Henry hated her.

According to one chronicler, Henry disguised himself when he first met Anne, believing that she would see through the flirtatious ruse and recognize him. Upon seeing her, he embraced and kissed her, without her permission, of course. In return, she, quote, regarded him little and always looked out the window. Translation, she straightened. straight up ignored him. Historians suspect that Anne had no idea who the man assaulting her actually was, because there is no evidence that the king, who, mind you, was wearing a costume, had introduced himself. It's very likely that she ignored him as a tactic to make her strange

attacker leave her alone. And it worked. After meeting her, Henry ranted to anyone and everyone that Anne's appearance was disappointing. She was simply too ugly for him to marry. And of course, it had nothing to do with his bruised ego. No, sir. Well, despite his initial resistance, the pair actually did marry, but only briefly. Henry annulled their marriage after just six months.

Instead of beheading her like he was apt to do, Henry set her up for life with her own palace and multiple estates. And as a reward for taking the whole divorce thing so well, she was frequently invited to courts where she partied hard as the king's special guest. In the end, she and Henry actually became good friends. All thanks, according to many historians, because of her disappointing looks. Good things can come in unexpected packages. You start out expecting what you think is the best

thing for you, only to be handed something different. Life is funny that way. Something ugly can turn into a thing of beauty and vice versa. In fact, if folklore is any indication, the best stories don't always happen when everything goes according to plan. Instead, they seem to take place when we keep an open mind. I'm Aaron Manky, and this is lore legends. Do you remember how old you were when you first learned about mermaids? If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that you probably don't. I think that for most of us, mermaids have just...

always been there, like dragons or Bigfoot. They're such an ingrained part of the cultural zeitgeist that it's hard to even fathom a time in our lives when we didn't know what a mermaid was. And it's actually been that way for a very long time. Mermaids have been central folkloric figures in just about every culture around the world for thousands of years. The first recorded mermaid legend comes from what is now modern-day Syria, all the way back in 1000 BC. According to the story, a goddess named Atargatus dove into a lake trying to turn into a fish. Unfortunately, her wish would not be granted. All the other gods thought that she was far too lovely to become a fish,

and so they preserved her beauty by giving her a fish tail, but keeping the upper half of her human body. And after this, mermaids pop up so often throughout history that it would be impossible to list every single instance. In the first century, for example, Pliny the Elder wrote about creatures that he called Nereids, which were sea-dwelling women covered in fish scales. And then way after that, in 1483, the Nuremberg Bible had an illustration of a mermaid,

a mer man, and a mur dog, all swimming with Noah's Ark. And in 1493, Christopher Columbus reported seeing three mermaids near Haiti. They were, according to him, not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men. Today, most scholars agree that he was probably seeing manatees, and not mermaids. But Columbus's assumptions weren't unusual. For the most part, Western culture has painted mermaids

in a very idealized light. In our minds, they're meant to be beautiful creatures inhuman in their allure. And sure, some of them are. One notable example is the Scottish kiosk, also known as the maiden of the wave. Like most mermaids were used to, she is half woman, half fish.

Although, if you want to get really specific, she's technically half salmon. This lady is as mermaid-y as you can get. Her stunning face has been known to lure sailors to their watery graves. If you're lucky enough to catch her, then she will grant you three wishes. And if you're an especially handsome sailor, then you just might be able to convince her to be your wife. But not every mermaid is like the kiosk. And rather than being disappointed like Columbus was, we should be excited.

Because that diversity in folklore is beautiful. Even if the mermaids themselves aren't always picture-perfect. There are hundreds of versions of mermaids from all over the world. Almost every single culture has their own idea of what a mermaid is. Or, at the very least, they have their own version of a scaled humanoid sea creature. Mermaid folklore is everywhere, and more often than not, these fantastical creatures don't look or act anything like the Little Mermaid. One of the most famous examples is the Mamiwata.

Stories about her come from west, south, and central Africa, and she's particularly popular in southeastern Nigeria. She's believed to be derived from both African water spirits and European mermaid folklore. Her beauty is legendary, but she doesn't always look the way we would expect a mermaid to look. Sometimes she's depicted with a fish tail, but even more often, she's shown with the lower body of a snake.

In fact, many stories about Mamiwata hold that she can actually charm snakes, especially aquatic species like the Anaconda. She's considered to be the protector of mothers and children, and particularly of mothers who have been separated from their children. Historians believe that this particular characteristic developed during the transatlantic slave trade. For hundreds of years, families were brutally separated from one another, and that cruelty left a scar. Mamawati isn't just a folktale. She's the representation of an entire continent's trauma.

All the way at the opposite end of the world, Inuit people have their own. version of a mermaid. Or rather, a mermaid-like creature. It's called the Kalupiluk. These ocean-dwelling humanoids are covered in scaly green skin, with long black hair, razor-like fingernails, and webbed hands. In some stories, they have a bloated face like a drowned corpse. In others, they have an upturned snout. They are unequivocally, extremely ugly. But ugliness doesn't stop them from doing their jobs. It's said that the Kalupilut spent all their time lurking around holes in the sea ice, waiting for a chance to snatch any children who wander too close. Some say that they eat their captives, while others say that they adopt

them as their own. One of the more disturbing theories is that the Kalupilut actually lull the kidnapped children into a deep sleep, and then they siphon their youthful energy to keep themselves young and healthy, like an aquatic vampire. No matter what actually happens beneath the ice, though, one thing is consistent. The children are never seen again. It's a terrible fate, but it's also an avoidable one. There are ways to spot things from a distance. If you see steam rising off the ice, then a Kalupilut lurks nearby. And if you hear a knocking sound, then that's a Kalupilut beating against the ice to lure you in.

Now, conveniently, these are also both signs that the sea ice might be weakening or cracking. And if children know to avoid those warning signs, then they won't fall through. because you don't actually need a Kalupiluk to make children disappear forever. You just need one wrong step. It might just be one of the ugliest mermaids in the world. Found in Japan, the Ningyo is often described as looking more like a deformed sea creature than anything else. The most popular description of its appearance is a fish with a hideous human face. In some stories, it has a human torso and arms that end in clawed hands, but usually

it's just a weird fish-like thing. No matter what, it's described as ugly, with a mouth like a monkeys and a shrill, childlike voice. Now, you might like the idea of seeing a mermaid, but you better hope that you don't ever see one of these. Some legends claim that the nigno is a portent of doom. After they show up, destruction follows, often in the form of an earthquake or a tsunami. It's possible that this aspect of their story is a result of a misidentification of orefish, who sometimes wash up to the shore before major natural disasters. So, in short, this is not really something that you want hanging around for too long. But despite all of this negative Ningo propaganda, they do seem to have been given two positive attributes. They

cry tears made of pearls, and their flesh grants immortality. And with eternal youth on the line, who cares about how ugly the thing is, right? It's the ultimate lesson in not judging a book by its cover. Sure, it may look weird and moonlight as an omen of death, but the possibility of immortality outweighs all of that. But, of course, it's not that simple, right? You can't just touch their skin and then live forever. No, you have to consume their flesh.

You have to eat it. But to do that, you'd actually have to kill one, and these slippery buggers don't want to be caught. If you did eventually manage to capture one, then you would have to kill it as quickly as possible. Because if you didn't, then it might put a curse on you, and maybe even wipe out your entire village with a giant tidal wave. It was a pretty big gamble, so most Japanese fishermen didn't even try hunting for them. The risk greatly outweighed the reward. But sometimes a ninja would accidentally end up in their nets anyway.

In one of the more famous stories, a fisherman came home grinning ear to ear. He'd caught an unusually large fish that day, and he wanted to show his new trophy off, so he called his friends over to have the gigantic fish for dinner. But after his friends arrived, the smiles fell off their faces. They recognized what the fisherman had missed. He had accidentally caught a ninyo. It was long dead, so there was no risk of it cursing them, but even so, everyone felt uncomfortable eating such a noble creature.

They just felt disrespectful doing so. They didn't want to dampen their host's good mood, though, so they all pretended to eat their dinner, hiding pieces of the nigno's flesh in their sleeves when the fisherman wasn't looking, like Jerry Seinfeld putting pieces of steak in those napkins. After dinner, everyone left the happy fisherman, disposing of the mermaid meat before they got home.

But one man was so drunk that he forgot. When he got home, he flung his coat off, and then he passed out. While he was asleep, his teenage daughter snuck over to his coat. She rifled through the pockets, hoping that he had brought home a treat for her, and when she found the Ningyo meat, she was delighted. She promptly ate every last piece, and it was all delicious. The next morning, her father realized what had happened, and his heart nearly stopped. What if he accidentally poisoned his daughter?

What if the Ningyo meat had killed her? But his daughter was fine. In fact, she was more than fine. she was in perfect health, and she stayed that way for the next few days. And then days turned into months, and months turned into years. And the whole time, she stayed perfectly healthy, and she never aged. The man's daughter eventually got married and had children and had grandchildren, and through it all, she retained her teenage youth and beauty.

But that was of little comfort to her. She was forced to watch the world turn without her. As each decade went by, more and more of her loved ones passed on, while she remained trapped in a young woman's body. Eventually, she decided that she didn't want to be part of a world that she could not participate in, and so she joined a temple and became a Buddhist nun. After 800 years of being a nun,

she finally decided that she no longer wanted to be alive. So she found a cave to sit in, and she prayed. She prayed incessantly to be freed from the shackles of her unending existence. They say that she prayed there for so long, that she actually turned to stone. According to the legend, that cave is still around, located on the grounds of a Zen Buddhist temple in the prefecture of Fukui. Inside is a stone that has the appearance of a beautiful young woman.

They call her Yobikuni, which translates to 800 Buddhist priestesses. And some believe that inside the stone, she is still alive. One version of the legend says that before she secluded herself, she planted a camellia tree outside the cave. she told people that if it ever stopped blooming, that would be a sign that she had died. Camelias, unfortunately, still blossom around her cave to this very day. If you haven't noticed, we humans don't have very much in common with most mythical creatures, not even with the half-human half-fish kind,

Think about it. Mermaids are essentially alien to us. They're quite literally magical. And most importantly, they live deep underwater in the ocean. If mermaids actually existed, then it's unlikely that we would ever see one, let alone talk to one. But that wouldn't make a very fun story, would it? For a folk tale to be compelling, the human needs to have some kind of interaction with the mermaid. Enter the art of bargaining.

Usually in mermaid stories, both the mermaid and the human, wants something, something that they can only give to each other. That desire is a very powerful narrative tour. On the most basic level, it means that the mermaid and the human will have a reason to interact with one another. Beyond that, though, it serves another important purpose. It levels the plain field a bit. The magical sea creature needs something from a powerless human,

and so suddenly they're more unequal footing than we would expect, despite the fact that the human has no magic or scaly tail to speak of. But just because they need each other doesn't mean that the mermaid will be nice about it. One of the best examples of these slippery bargains comes from Cornwall, located in the southern peninsula of the United Kingdom. Lined with towering cliffs, white sandy beaches, and picturesque fishing villages, the Cornish coastline is breathtaking. And so, of course, it's the ideal environment for a mermaid.

The story goes that there was once a fisherman named Lutie who lived out on the Lizard Peninsula. One day he finished his farm work early and decided to go for a walk on the beach with his dog. Eventually, the sun began its descent, and he knew that it was time to go home. He had just turned around to go back when he heard a long, wailing cry. Lutie looked all around him, but no one was there. And still, the cries continued, pitching louder and louder. So Lutie left his dog on the beach, following the sound to a maze of rocks that had been revealed by the low tide. And there, he saw her.

The most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. She had pale, luminous skin and green eyes that sparkled like emeralds. Her thick golden hair cascaded down her back, and it was so long that it covered her entire body. Lutie must have stood there for ages, just gaping at her, but she never saw him. Instead, she was facing towards the sea, crying out at the distant waves. She continued to cry as he approached, unable to hear his footsteps over the roar of the ocean. Lutie tried to ask what was wrong, but as soon as he spoke, the woman screamed and dove into a tidal pool.

Terrified that she would drown, he scrambled over the rocks to rescue her, but when he looked into the water, he froze. In place of where her legs should have been, there was a fish tail. As a lifelong resident of the Cornish coast, Lutie had seen mermaids from a distance before, so her fishy state wasn't a huge shock. He had, however, never actually spoken to one. so he wasn't really sure what to do with a mermaid who was so upset. He eventually decided that he should probably just treat her like any other woman

and try to calm her down. So he spoke soothing words to her until eventually she felt comfortable enough to poke her head out of the water. And that's when the mermaid told Lutie that she had been combing her hair and then she had accidentally fallen asleep. And when she woke up, the tide had gone out and she had been stranded on the rocks. In a desperate move, she begged him to carry her. her back to the ocean. She didn't have to ask him more than once. Lutie was more than happy to help this beautiful woman return home, and so he slung her over his shoulders, and he took her to the water.

She was so grateful that she gifted him her comb, telling him that if he wanted to see her again, then he just had to run the comb over the surface of the water three times. She also told him that in return for his help, she would grant him three wishes. Lutie's wishes vary by the telling of the legend. But most stories agree that he wished for the power to break spells, the power to call upon spirits for information that would do good for others, and the power to cure diseases. In some versions, he wished that these abilities would be passed down throughout his family line, and in others, the mermaid just threw that in as an extra bonus. In fact, she was so impressed by Lutie's kind-heartedness that she decided that she wanted him to come with her.

She told him all about the beautiful life they could have together under the sea, with all the riches that he could ever want. And Lutie was tempted, and he was even more so when she gave him a kiss on the cheek. He could feel something in the ocean calling him. He leaned towards the mermaid, and she wrapped her arms around him, preparing to pull him under the waves. He closed his eyes, letting the seduction take over. That is, until his dog, still back on the shore, began to bark. Immediately he was snapped out of his trance. He pushed against the mermaid, but she held on tightly and pulled him toward the ocean.

In the nick of time, he pulled out his iron pocket knife and slashed it at her, and the mermaid released him. Finally, free from the beautiful, murderous mermaid, he scrambled back up the shore. As he fled, her song followed him across the sand. Farewell, farewell, for nine long years, then my love, I will come again. Mine, mine, forever mine. Folklore is a funny thing. Humans have, for as long as we've been around, crafted stories of weird and fantastical creatures.

They are bizarre and otherworldly and often terrifying. But under all of that, they've almost always had a lesson to teach us. something to make our mundane, non-fantastical lives better. And mermaids had been one of those creatures for a lot of cultures. In fact, you can see that educational core in the ending of Lutie's encounter with his mermaid, because despite the fact that he rejected her, the mermaid held up her end of the deal.

It soon became apparent that Lutie's three wishes had been granted. He was able to use his powers to break his neighbor's curses and cure their maladies, eventually news of his talent spread and people suffering from witchcraft traveled from far and wide to see him. But his new life would it last. Nine years later, on a moonlit August night, the mermaid called for Ludi. He didn't seem unhappy about it either. In fact, some of his loved ones said that they even saw him smile when he heard her voice. He ran down to the beach and jumped into the sea, and nobody ever saw him again. His powers had been passed on to

all of his descendants. And so they continued on with the family business. Long after Lutie disappeared, his children kept breaking spells and healing the sick, and then their children inherited the gift, and then their grandchildren. But none of it came without a price. You see, every nine years like clockwork, one of Lutie's descendants vanished into the sea. One day they were here, and the next, gone. Just because Lutie had been happy to reunite with his mermaid didn't mean that anyone else wanted to join him, but that didn't matter because now they were cursed. An entire family suffered because of a bargain that none of them had made. Lutie's mermaid may have been beautiful, but she was ugly on the inside. She trapped an untold number of generations

into her scheme, all so that she could have Lutie under the waves with her. Folklore is a mirror of the real world. We may not actually have mermaids, but we do have villains, and one of the most valuable lessons that folklore can ever teach us is that some of the most hideous creatures wear the most beautiful masks. Never get taken in by a pretty face, because they might just take you deeper than you ever wanted to go. I hope you've enjoyed diving into the world of mermaid folklore with me today. If you want to keep exploring the wonders of the deep, though, I have one more story for you, and it is to die for.

Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Who do you go to in order to solve your life's problems? A friend or family member, that special group chat with all your besties, or maybe oversharing with strangers on social media? there is a difference between all of those options and talking with an actual therapist, a real professionals who are clinically trained and licensed, and BetterHelp is your key to finding them.

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Limited time, new customer offer for first three months only, speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan, taxes, and fees extra. See MintMobile for detail. Marina's husband was dead, but that was okay with her because she had already moved on. And how could she not? After all, she was young and beautiful. In fact, she was one of the most beautiful women in the town of Simbersk, known today as Ulyanavsk, Russia. She may have lost a husband, but there was no shortage of men who wanted to be with her. She could have had. have her pick of the litter, and she had already made her choice. She was in love with Ivan.

The only problem was that Ivan was not in love with her. He was already engaged to another woman. Marina tried to win him over, but he was resolute in his decision. He was staying with his fiancé. And so, heartbroken, Marina did the only thing that she could to escape the pain of Ivan's rejection. On the day of his wedding, she threw herself into the Volga River and drowned. And the People of Simbursk searched for her, but they never found her body. Most believe that she had been swept away by the current, never to be seen again. But others began to whisper that perhaps she had become a Rosalca. Since Marina had drowned, this wouldn't necessarily be an odd assumption.

A Rosalca is a water spirit from Slavic mythology. They were once human, but different regions had different theories on how they came to be. Some say that they are the spirits of unbaptized babies, while others say that they are born of women who died as virgins. Still others claim that they are the spirits of women who drown themselves after suffering heartbreak, virgin or not. And based on the rumors about Marina, it would seem that the people of Simbersk bought into the latter explanation.

Now, no matter what their backstory was, all Rosalchi were believed to have wild hair, worn loose in flowing down their backs. And believe it or not, if you want to understand the Rosalchi in the context of the Russian culture, then that flowing hair is more important than you might think. You see, for most of Russian history, women never wore their hair loose. When they were young maidens, they wore their hair in a single braid. Then once they were married, their hair was slicked back into two braids and hidden under a cap. If a married woman was to uncover her hair, it would be seen as the greatest shame,

almost on par with adultery. Loose uncovered hair meant that a woman was immoral, which is exactly what a result was. In northern Russia, the Rosalca is widely considered to be an ugly creature. In the south, she was a beautiful maiden. But ugly or not, both versions were known for combing their long hair and dancing naked under the moonlight, completely free from the societal pressures that Russian women were faced with every day. If you're thinking that it would be pretty fun to be a Rizalka, then you wouldn't be wrong. And for your average Russian woman, the Rizalka's lifestyle probably did sound like an utter dream.

dream. For a repressed, buttoned-up village girl, whose life was little more than a string of rules and obligations, then nothing would sound better than to frolic around in the woods at night, flaunting loose hair, and even looser morals. But of course, that lifestyle couldn't be seen as desirable. Oh no, even if it was. So the storytellers gave the Rosalchi a nasty hobby to ensure that everyone knew that they were evil. They liked to lure men to the water, and then drown them. And if that was true, then back in Simbrisk, Ivan was in trouble. Rumor had it that Marina had been spotted sitting on the riverbank in the evenings, combing her hair, and staring at the house where Ivan lived with his new wife.

And sometimes people passing by would hear her wailing. You abandoned me. You destroyed me. My cruel one. My dear one. During the day, things weren't much better. It was said that Marina was creating whirlpools in the river, and they were so strong that they sometimes capsized boats. Eventually, word of Marina's fate reached Ivan. Naturally, he was distressed, but he was also flattered. After all, it wasn't every day that your dead girlfriend terrorized the town because she still loved you from beyond the grave. So at midnight every night, Ivan visited Marina. He took a boat out onto the Volga River, and he sang to her. And whenever he did, the Rosalca would jump out of the water and into his arms, embracing him. And this only seemed to feed Ivan's ego. He continued to

visit Marina completely forgetting that he had a wife waiting for him at home. Nights after night, he sang for her. Until one night, Ivan vanished. In the morning, all that was left was an empty rowboat and a pair of oars. The people of Simbursk never saw Ivan or the Rizalka again, but they say that they are living now at the bottom of the river together, where Ivan sings for. his love every day. At least, I hope that was how this story ended. Otherwise, Marina's unrequited love story ended two lives, her own and Ivans. This episode of Lord Legends was produced by me, Aaron Manke, with writing by Alainke, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Cassandra de Alba.

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