Residents of St Catherine, Jamaica say that a bloodthirsty mermaid is responsible for a number of fatal crashes near a particular bridge crossing the Rio Cobre river. This week, a minibus driver was killed and her vehicle fell into the river when she collided head-on with another car. A few days prior, another woman drove her car right into the river in what police claim was a suicide while others blame the mermaid. From the Jamaica Star:
Jay, another resident, said he stopped fishing [at the bridge] years ago after a former resident they called Roaster drowned.
"Mi see him come in one day and a smoke a lot a cigarette and show mi the biggest fish scale mi ever see," Jay recounted. "Roaster decided that him want to go back to see this fish with tail and human head and him never make it back, we find him drown with him neck and hand bruk." Lady G, a resident in her late 50s, confirmed Jay's account.
"It happened 20 years ago when my son was a baby. He (Roaster) showed everybody the big scale and say he was going back for that fish. We know he met upon the mermaid because of how him bruk up when we found his body with a string of fish tied to his shorts," she said. Lady G said the only thing that will quiet the mermaid is blood, so as soon as it is satisfied, the accidents will cease.
image (cropped): "Ningyo no zu": A flier of a mermaid, dated 5th month of Bunka 2 (1805), (Public Domain)
