The Weeki Wachee Underwater Mermaid Show From the 1940s Enjoys a Newfound ‘Retro’ Popularity

In a dryadic episode of Amazing Places, host Tom Scott visited the tiny Florida town of Weeki Wachee, the home of gorgeous natural springs and a legendary underwater mermaid show that began in the 1940s. While the show was very popular up through the 1960s, the cynicism of the 1990s along with the shiny newness of other more modern parks almost took the show down. But the nostalgic philosophy that states everything old is new again, the show has once again enjoyed a healthy rebound with help from an appreciative state.

Weeki Wachee Springs was a private company all the way up until 2008, when the state of Florida,
in an effort to help save it, acquired the attraction. And not only did they acquire it or the natural resource that we have here, the spring, the scrub habitat that surrounds the spring, but also because of the cultural significance of what the mermaids have meant to Florida tourism for seven decades now.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.