Hey guys! So one of the posts I wrote got posted to the museum's FB page! I send them to the Communications Officer and she (or one of the curators) decides what gets posted.
Woohoo! It's freaky seeing that up all official looking. I almost never post on my own facebook page, much less this.
I'm sure y'all won't embarrass me. :P Hehe! Guess which one's mine...
https://www.facebook.com/greatnorthmuseum

ALSO: I saw a Fiji Mermaid at the museum today! It was being photographed for an exhibit coming up in a few months, and it's insane! It's a young monkey upper body attached to a wooden carved middle and a fish tail, all taxidermied to look like a mummified mermaid. It is FREAKY. It will haunt my dreams. And yet... It's amazing! I mean, this is a crazy bizarre object and I just ran into it in the hallway in my work! I spent about half an hour after seeing it researching it. I had to know why it existed and then I just got interested. It's so cool! I feel like I could spend all my time exploring the stores, and writing stories about their bizarre histories. I just love this job.

So these mermaids were created by the Japanese, and the oldest is kept by Shinto monks at the base of Mt. Fuji and is nearly 1400 years old. Other specimens are kept across Japan in temples and collections, and across the world in oddities collections and museums. PT Barnum of Barnum and Bailey's Circus had one of these! He tricked people, with a fake backstory, and even the "scientist" who found it. He manipulated all the local newspapers into massive publicity over and over in multiple cities. In the southern tour, he nearly caused a riot and a duel! I could go into so much more detail, but to be honest, it's after 8 and I haven't started dinner! I'd better get going

edit: If you're interested, the Horniman Museum tested their Fiji Merman to see how it's made, of what materials, etc. They CT scanned it and DNA tests, the whole shebang! It's a really interesting read! (At least for me. :P Maybe don't read if that picture above freaked you out. <3)
http://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/unmasking-the-mysterious-merman

<3 Can't wait to be home for Christmas! 8 more days! Ahhh!  xoxoxoxo