# Do sirens exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 11, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943 "2013-10-11T02:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/1 "2013-10-11T02:20:47Z")
You know: the ones that lure men (sailors) close to them with their singing and then drown them. But how would we ever know? If anyone has actually seen a siren, they couldn’t have lived to tell the tale. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/2 "2013-10-11T02:23:47Z")
I thought the song only affected men. It’s 2013, we allow women on boats and ships now, as long as they don’t get uppity. There’s your witnesses. (Also, boats have radios, video cameras, etc. that could record such a thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/3 "2013-10-11T02:26:25Z")
Until contradictory evidence is presented, I’d say that sirens fall in the same category as dragons, werewolves, fairies, unicorns and a good lay for my next Saturday night who will leave early in the morning without clinging. Or, in other words, a big myth. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/4 "2013-10-11T02:28:15Z")
Quite a few sirens have lured men into destitution in Thailand’s red-light areas. A sucker born every minute, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/5 "2013-10-11T02:31:56Z")
Odysseus pointed the way to a scientific experiment: just plug your ears. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/6 "2013-10-11T02:36:23Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Quite a few sirens have lured men into destitution in Thailand’s red-light areas. A sucker born every minute, that’s for sure. One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble, not much between despair and ecstasy… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/7 "2013-10-11T02:41:23Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Quite a few sirens have lured men into destitution in Thailand’s red-light areas. A sucker born every minute, that’s for sure. > [@Fubaya](#): > > One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble, not much between despair and ecstasy… And as for luring _sailors_ to their doom, that could probably describe the situation in Pattaya, site of many a fleet shore leave for the US Navy. I don’t know if the Navy nowadays tries to keep their movements secret anymore like maybe in the Cold war, but everyone in Pattaya always knew when the fleet was coming, because the sailors would always send word ahead to their girlfriends. The bars and brothels were all made shipshape for the sucker … er, I mean sailors. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/8 "2013-10-11T02:42:01Z")
How do we know that that invisible pink unicorn in your garage isn’t really a siren? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/9 "2013-10-11T02:51:16Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > \ If anyone has actually seen a siren, they couldn’t have lived to tell the tale. _Seeing_ sirens isn’t the problem. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/10 "2013-10-11T03:32:56Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Odysseus pointed the way to a scientific experiment: just plug your ears. Actually he was tied to the mast; his men had their ears plugged, but he wanted to hear the song. Despite the lyrics to that song by Mumford and Sons, you only need to do one or the other, not both. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/11 "2013-10-11T04:02:26Z")
Since the factual answer to this is “no,” let’s move this over to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/12 "2013-10-11T22:14:51Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > If anyone has actually seen a siren, they couldn’t have lived to tell the tale. So how have you heard of them? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/13 "2013-10-11T23:12:57Z")
It’s just like how there are no records of anyone being attacked by dolphins. When they do attack, they leave no witnesses. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/14 "2013-10-12T00:04:43Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > It’s just like how there are no records of anyone being attacked by dolphins. When they do attack, they leave no witnesses. Their victims sleep with the fishes. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/15 "2013-10-12T14:41:02Z")
In his book, **Adventures in Unhistory** , Avram Davidson addresses this question. His theory is that what sailors thought were the songs of sirens were actually the sounds of seals. The reason that ships were wrecked by hearing them was, “If you sailed along uncharted waters and shores and were close enough to hear the seals, well, sonny, you were too close…You vessel may strike those rocks.” (He also thought that it might have been shore bird calls.) This is a great book, by the way. He explains possible origins for stories about the phoenix, unicorns, and other mythical creatures. The above quote comes from the chapter “The Prevalence of Mermaids.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/16 "2013-10-12T16:37:56Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > You know: the ones that lure men (sailors) close to them with their singing and then drown them. > > But how would we ever know? If anyone has actually seen a siren, they couldn’t have lived to tell the tale. By the same argument, how do we even have a concept or name for something called ‘sirens’? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/17 "2013-10-19T08:23:16Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > It’s just like how there are no records of anyone being attacked by dolphins. When they do attack, they leave no witnesses. Chihuahuas too, I hear. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/18 "2013-10-19T14:01:44Z")
They used to. However, ever since Hollywood invented the Casting Couch, they have so heavily interbred with Studio Executives that they only exist in a hybrid form, the\* Assistant Producer\*, whose song “Do you wanna be a star or not, Baby?” lures former Midwestern High School Cheerleaders to their beds. ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/19 "2013-10-19T15:14:20Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > By the same argument, how do we even have a concept or name for something called ‘sirens’? Exactly. Maybe there is some entity out there that will instantly kill anyone who encounters it, but any such creature that has been _described by a living person_ must, by definition, be imaginary. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943/20 "2013-10-21T15:48:45Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > You know: the ones that lure men (sailors) close to them with their singing and then drown them. > > But how would we ever know? If anyone has actually seen a siren, they couldn’t have lived to tell the tale. Yes. Yes they do. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sirens-exist/670943.md?page=2)