A chilling mummified ‘mermaid’ mystery has finally been solved – after almost 300 years.

Answers surrounding Japan’s mummified ‘mermaid’ have remained a puzzle for scientists for hundreds of years after it was found.

The 12-inch creature was allegedly caught in the Pacific Ocean, off the Japanese island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741.

It’s been kept in the Enjuin Temple, in the Japanese city of Asakuchi for around 40 years.

Measuring 30cm tall, the ‘mermaid’ has two hands reaching up towards an eerily looking grimacing face.

And many aspects of the creature still remain the way they were found hundreds of years ago.

In fact, its hair is still visible on its head and it has the remains of sharp, pointy teeth in its mouth.

While it gives off a human appearance, the fish-like lower half of the body gives way to a strange looking tail.

Locals worshipped the mystery creature for years – believing it granted immortality to anyone who tastes its flesh.

This is because, according to myth, the ‘mermaid’ granted immortality to anyone who tastes its flesh.

Chief priest Kozen Kuida told the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun they even worshipped it in the hope it would help to “alleviate the coronavirus pandemic”.

He said: “We have worshipped it, hoping that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic even if only slightly.”

Last year, researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts took the mummy for tests and CT scans in a bid to unravel its secrets.

They subjected the ‘mermaid’ to tests to determine if its an organic creature or not.

Sadly, they have now discovered that the creature is completely artificial – made in the late 1800s.

This is because they could find no evidence of any skeleton, instead the body was made from paper, cloth and cotton.

Scientists said the lower half of the body actually comes from a fish’s tail – but believe it was added by whoever created it.

The scientists wrote in their study that it is a combination of “Dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins, the fin bones that support the fins, and the caudal skeleton.”

Meanwhile, its jaw and teeth are also taken from a fish while the fuzz on its head originally came from a mammal.

Radiocarbon dating also showed that the mummy dates back to the late 1800s, which fit the team’s initial estimations for when it was made.

After launching the project last year, Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society said the creature could have had religious significance.

He said: “Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality.

“It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die.

“There is a legend in many parts of Japan that a woman accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived for 800 years.

“This ‘Yao-Bikuni’ legend is also preserved near the temple where the mermaid mummy was found.

“I heard that some people, believing in the legend, used to eat the scales of mermaid mummies.”