For Halloween, I wanted to dress as a sailor since they are a critical part of mermaid stories and folklore. As we’ve discussed in class, stories about mermaids were often circulated by those who were constantly at sea. In order to make sense of what they had seen while at sea, they used mermaids to explain the myriad of sea creatures that they encountered during their time on the water. Plagued with tiredness and isolation, it was easy for them to mistake certain creatures for mermaids – making them believe that animals such as a manatee could be a mermaid. Sailors then become the eyewitnesses who recount their tales to those they come in contact with. These stories and folktales told by sailors are then the basis for some of the mermaid tales that we know and love today. In turn, stories such as “Odysseus and the Sirens” are possible because they are composed of the accounts that sailors had while on their voyages. While mermaid tales were being circulated long before it was simply a “sea tale,” sailors still hold a pivotal role in continuing the tradition of passing down these stories as a warning and explanation of what they have seen on their journey.