About

Mermaid Eating Parties or The Rich Eat Mermaids refers to a conspiracy theory claiming that the most elite members of society gather to have dinner parties where they eat mermaids, the fictional half-human half-fish humanoid from folklore. The theory was popularized on TikTok in March 2025 after TikToker @Jlee2.07 posted videos retelling an alleged story of an ex-con fisherman who was commissioned to catch mermaids or sirens to be eaten and researched on by the elite. The theory was perpetuated by many conspiracy TikTokers that month, with others doubting its legitimacy and seeking proof.

Origin

The idea of eating mermaids has been used in fiction for years. For example, the 2003 anime series Mermaid Saga is about someone who becomes immortal after eating mermaid flesh.^[1]

On February 14th, 2020, Redditor u/HeadOfSpectre posted a story to the subreddit /r/NoSleep^[2] about a fisherman who is tasked with capturing a mermaid for some eccentric rich people to eat, garnering over 250 upvotes in five years.

On March 4th, 2025, TikToker^[3] @jlee2.07 posted a video recounting a story about a company that catches mermaids for a living. The story is about a man named Landon who was recently released from prison and kicked from his home. He goes to work for his cousin Travis on the East Coast. Landon finds out his cousin's fishing charter is now managed by another crew and run by a man named Captain Burgess. Despite his hesitancy, Landon agrees to work for the charter because he needs work as an ex-con.

Travis, who still works for the crew, shows Landon around the boat. They walk through a room full of large tanks, resembling fish tanks. Landon asks what the tanks are for and Travis says they're for "the big pay-day," explaining that Captain Burgess has a client that offers a huge bonus for the delivery of a specific type of fish. Later, during dinner, the captain makes Landon sign an NDA.

A few nights later, during a storm, the crew brought a fishing net up from the ocean that had a "pasty, white-ish green-skinned" humanoid with a fish-like body. Landon claimed that the fish spoke in an unknown language and that it sounded like she was begging for her life. The crew puts the mermaid into a tank and she continues to "plead for her life." Travis tells Landon not to make a big deal out of it.

Days later, the crew arrives at a port and takes the mermaid to a warehouse that's set up like a restaurant. The clientele purportedly had radars and technology to track the mermaids. One of the clients took the mermaid and put it on a gurney. The TikToker suggests that the wealthy men in the warehouse ate the mermaid, comparing the setup to a Hibachi restaurant. She then claims Landon continued to work for the crew for the money and the next mermaid they caught was "a fighter." The video gained over 420,000 views in six days.

The TikToker^[4] posted a second video about the mermaid story on March 5th, garnering over 1.7 million views in five days. In this part she talks about the second mermaid Landon allegedly caught, explaining that it was "a fighter." She prefaces the story by claiming the boat crew also catches regular fish for a coverup but focuses on mermaids. She claims Captain Burgess has sophisticated mermaid-tracking equipment

She claims this second mermaid had nails and scratched one of the crew members, who she refers to as Luke, while trying to fight against being put in a tank. The mermaid ends up getting her fingers slammed in the lid of the tank during the struggle, taking the tips off. The clients did not want damaged material. Captain Burgess finds another buyer on a further-off island, meaning they have to feed the mermaid to keep her alive. Landon notices that one of the fingers grew back, suggesting they can regenerate limbs.

Landon tells Travis that he wants to quit but Travis says it's "not going to happen." The buyer ends up being a "big-time military person," with the TikToker claiming the man was less so military and more so part of a secret "black-op" agency deeper than the government. Captain Burgess tells the client that one of the fingers grew back, which they purportedly knew already. Landon, although he wasn't allowed in the facility on the island, allegedly saw that there were other unexplainable creatures caged up besides mermaids.

On March 6th, the TikToker^[5] posted a third story about the mermaid crew, garnering over 700,000 views in four days. She repeats the end of the second part of the video and claims that not all mermaids have regenerative powers, but it's likely that the client wanted this mermaid because of that power.

After the delivery, something started to grow out of the wound on Luke, who was scratched by the mermaid. The crew reports this to Captain Burgess. They bring Luke to the island facility and he's successfully treated, but he has to pick up injections from the facility every few months to treat his wound. The crew leaves the island and returns to the sea to fish. After returning to the port, they're told to stay on the boat. Burgess leaves and returns about a day and a half later.

The TikToker continued to post videos expanding on the story of the mermaid crew over the following days.

Spread

The story garnered viral spread over the following days, resulting in more stories about elite-hosted mermaid parties.

On March 6th, 2025, TikToker^[6] @tiffsghosttalk posted a video claiming that she received an email from someone who allegedly attended an elite "mermaid eating party." Purportedly, the email came from a man living in LA with connections to "the elite." He purportedly got an invitation in the mail inviting him to an "elite gathering" that read like it would have a "delicacy" served at it.

The man went to the party and was made to sign an NDA and leave his phone at the door. He was ushered into the dining room, which had a wall of windows facing the ocean. He alleges that there were about 25 people there, some of whom were well-known, including a popular movie star, a producer and some government workers.

Everyone sat down and there was a "massive silver tray" about five feet long in the middle of the table. The servers lift the lid off the tray and reveal a mermaid. The man was confused, thinking it was fake at first. He claims it smelled "woodsy" and "floral" and that everyone there was excited to eat it. The man "watched in horror" as everyone ate it. He said out loud, "This is some kind of joke right?" The server offered him the food but he left, outraged. Everyone else at the table laughed at him.

The man ends up around the kitchen, where he hears a bubbling sound. He pushed open an ajar door and saw a room full of tanks of mermaids, some of whom seemed aware and some of whom seemed incoherent. The host saw him and called it "the pantry" and he asked if the mermaids were real. The host called it a "mermaid party," the emailer said he was leaving and the host reminded him about the NDA. The video gained over 1.7 million views in four days.

On March 9th, TikToker^[7] @scarebear0 posted a video relaying the story told by @tiffsghosttalk, garnering over 800,000 views in a day. At the end of the video, he suggests that the elite might eat mermaids because "all they have left" to do with their lives is "partake in the taboo," calling Hollywood a "place of degeneracy."

That same day, TikToker^[8] @infinitejackson posted a video repeating the theory, telling people to watch @jlee2.07's videos on the topic, garnering over 1.2 million views in a day.

That same day, Redditor u/Charming_Touch5978 made a post to the subreddit /r/conspiracy^[9] about the theory, speculating that "mermaid" is used as a coded word for "child," suggesting that the stories are actually about the elite eating or abusing children. The post gained over 800 upvotes in a day.

On March 10th, Redditor u/tifubroskies made a post to /r/OutOfTheLoop^[10] asking about the theory.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References