The Legend of the Mermaid of Santa Maria begins during the American Civil War, though specific dates and details have been lost over time. According to the legend on a dark and stormy night a cargo ship was tossed against the rocks and sank. The next morning, many of the sailors were found still alive on the beach. Many of the survivors claimed that they were pulled to shore by a beautiful mermaid. She became known as the coastal guardian of the waters surrounding Santa Maria.
When the war ended, a wealthy young woman had a lighthouse built on top of the cliffs. Several of the sailors claimed she resembled their aquatic guardian angel from the night of the storm; she eventually took one to be her husband and they became the lighthouse keepers. Many of the town elders took her resemblance to the mermaid as a premonition of a real flesh and blood guardian to watch over the passing ships. In the coming years, the town grew.
Time passed and the lighthouse remained in the woman's family. As the decades passed and technology came into existence that the lighthouse slowly lost its usefulness. Still it stood tall on the cliffs as a symbol of simpler times. After World War Two, The lighthouse was updated and partly coverted into a private residence.
Sightings of the mermaid were rarely consistent, but she continued to appear when she was needed. Every so often, there is a time where she seems to disappear and for years no one sees her. Then another sighting changes her description; her scales, fins, hair change colors or her build and afew times people claim to see a merman instead. Whether it is the same mermaid or several over many generations has been debated. Some claim the mermaids are a blessing to the waters surrounding Santa Maria, but there are those who see them as demons. It is during active sighting that the city flourishes and the times the mermaid leaves or goes dormat that the town struggles.
The last sighting was nearly twenty years ago and Santa Maria is all but a forgotten ghost town. The lighthouse still stands, a reminder of better days. For some it is a link to the past they want to forget. Rumors of mermaid hunters have been on everyone's lips since the last sighting. Did the mermaid curse the town when she came? Or did her death curse the town? Or were the mermaids driven away?
Beach goers still look for her, partly out of blind faith and partly out of hope that the mermaid will return.