Here comes the merfolk! Meet US' secret community of real-life mermaids

In the US, a nascent, but slowly growing 'secret' community of people who identify themselves as 'merfolk' is exploring life in the deep. The community spends their time donning elaborately decorated silicone tails and want to give up their day jobs for a permanent life in the sea

Seattle’s mermaid community, (from left) Caitlin Nielsen, Ed Brown, Tessie LaMourea and Morgan Caldwell, spends their time either swimming in the sea or pools. Pics/BARCROFT TV

In the US, a nascent, but slowly growing 'secret' community of people who identify themselves as 'merfolk' is exploring life in the deep.

The community spends their time donning elaborately decorated silicone tails that can cost up to $3,500 (Rs. 37 lakh) and swim in the sea and pools in the region.

This is the community is actually giving up their lives on land and dream of having a permanent sea life as mermaids.

Last year, hundreds of people from around the world gathered at the Greensboor North Carolina for the world’s largest MerMania convention where they spent hours in an Olympic-sized pool, while sporting embellished handmade fins and tails and makeup.

Among them is Caitlin Nielsen, now 32, who even as a kid thought she was part-human, part-fish. She had long dreamed of being a mermaid and watching the Disney movie The Little Mermaid did nothing to ease her aspirations, Barcroft TV reported.

Now, under her 'mer' name of 'Cyanea', she earns a living running mermaid workshops and creates majestic silicone tails. "When my tail is off I feel a little bit awkward. Suddenly I have legs and I don’t know what to do with them. I feel extremely clumsy," she says.

Ed Brown, 24, a friend of Caitlin, who also identifies himself as a 'mer' believes that being the mythical-being is a chance to live out a dream, or fantasy, which allows them to temporarily escape from reality. “When I’m in the water with my tail on, it’s just like magic,” he says.

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