Mermaids: The New Life Aquatic

Seeing dozens of women in scallop-shell bikini tops struggling to force their legs into latex tails inside Las Vegas cabanas does not ruin the magic of mermaids. At least not for the small group of men who’ve come to the Silverton Casino, just off the Strip, for Mer-Con, the Comic-Con of mythical aquatic creatures. Like many of the men at the Aug. 12 convention—other than the old guy playing Poseidon and a smattering of effeminate mermen—Thom Shouse is dressed like a pirate. Or at least kind of like a pirate. “I’m not a pirate,” clarifies Shouse, wearing a poufy white shirt and a red bandana. “I don’t have any skulls and crossbones on me.” Shouse, it turns out, is a businessman of a different sort. “I’m the minder of mermaids. I have mermaids that get treasure for me. Pirates are my friends because I get mermaids to be with them and tell them stories and just be pretty.”

When he is not pimping out mermaids, Shouse is a special effects artist specializing in amphibious women. After creating the tail for the 1984 mermaid epic, Splash, Shouse went on to become the world’s top designer of bespoke urethane tails. And business has never been better: Shouse, who claims he believes mermaids are real, says there’s currently a six-month wait for one of his multi-thousand-dollar creations. That’s because mermaids are about to swamp vampires and zombies as supernatural rainmakers in popular culture.