Mermaid. Russia

In November 1989, I received a letter as a response to my magazine publication from a resident of Nizhny Tagil, A.S. Azisova. She recalls the events of 1936, when, together with her father, she traveled through the Ural Ridge (the area of the geographical border between Europe and Asia) from the village of Elizavetinskoye to the Smorodinka stream. About three hundred meters away from him was an abandoned graphite mine. A narrow lake was formed at the site of the mine, the shores of which are already overgrown with bushes and trees. And that's where they saw what the father was going to show his daughter — what is popularly called mermaids.

For a long time they watched these humanoid creatures emerging from the water and climbing a tree, from which they jumped into the water every now and then. At the same time, melodious "singing" without words could be heard from their side. They weren't some mythical creatures with fish tails and scales. They had arms and legs.

Alexandra Stepanovna carried the memory of singing mermaids through her whole life. And she only regretted that she could not share what she had seen with anyone. In fact, try to tell someone seriously. She still doesn't mind going to the same places to check out her childhood impressions.