# How can people claim this with a straight face? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089 "2012-10-28T00:57:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/1 "2012-10-28T00:57:53Z")
I chanced on a show on the Discovery Channel. It’s about mermaids, for crying out loud, and titled _Mermaids: the Body Found_. It’s synopsis runs like this _A team of scientists testifies that they found the remains of a sea creature with ties to human origins - a modern day mermaid. They claim a massive government cover-up is currenly hiding the creature’s existence from the general public._ With absolutely no hard evidence(the eeeeevil government confiscated/stole it all), and only circumstantial evidence, this “team of scientist” claims there is a ocean going humanoid. And they are perfectly straight faced when they claim this. It’s sillier than bigfoot. I’d say their credibility is shot to heck. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/2 "2012-10-28T00:58:53Z")
Well, the government would certainly like you to think so. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/3 "2012-10-28T01:13:01Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, the government would certainly like you to think so. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/4 "2012-10-28T01:13:52Z")
[Snopes.](http://www.snopes.com/photos/supernatural/mermaids.asp) > [@](#): > > Mermaids: The Body Found was a purely fictional work, dealing with a purported military coverup of the discovery of a remnant population of mermaids described as an evolutionary offshoot of the “aquatic ape” hypothesis (a generally discounted idea that early Hominid species went through an aquatic phase in their evolution). **The program was not fact but rather speculative science fiction,** and it included obvious CGI-produced video sequences like the one displayed above. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/5 "2012-10-28T01:20:08Z")
I liked the show, was I supposed to believe it? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/6 "2012-10-28T01:27:16Z")
Only what, 2 - 5% of the ocean’s been explored so far? Just saying’. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/7 "2012-10-28T03:39:47Z")
And when was the most inaccessible part last visited, and how many times? How long did they stay? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/8 "2012-10-28T03:51:12Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Well, the government would certainly like you to think so. The greatest trick the devil ever played… ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/9 "2012-10-28T03:56:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And when was the most inaccessible part last visited, and how many times? How long did they stay? Two manned missions, most recently in 2012, staying at the bottom for about two and half hours. What? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/10 "2012-10-28T10:26:15Z")
1960’s… oh, next you’ll say a ducks quack does echo. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/11 "2012-10-28T10:31:55Z")
**runner pat** , thanks for your post. I came in on the show after it started and didn’t even watch it all, so I missed whatever disclaimers there were. As fiction then it wasn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/12 "2012-10-28T20:30:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And when was the most inaccessible part last visited, and how many times? How long did they stay? I dunno, but I think there’s a treadmill involved, too. Oh, and something from the 1920’s. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/13 "2012-10-29T19:26:26Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I dunno, but I think there’s a treadmill involved, too. Oh, and something from the 1920’s. No, dude! [It’s _Rio_ by Duran Duran!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=296939) ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/14 "2012-10-29T19:31:52Z")
I watched it…I didn’t believe anything they said for a moment. Apparently they aired a disclaimer at the beginning of the show stating that it was fiction. It’s weird to me that Discovery Channel would air it at all. Why not make a speculative biology doc about what a merperson WOULD look/act like if they existed, rather than something that was not only just pure fiction in story but also in science. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-people-claim-this-with-a-straight-face/639089/15 "2012-10-31T16:22:07Z")
I thought that it was quite fun as a “mockumentary” – very entertaining. They played up the discredited “Aquatic Ape Theory” of alternative evolution, if I am recalling correctly. I don’t think that any one took it that seriously. Still, it was seafood for thought…