is the only other person here who even knows what one is without google.

I didn't need to google it.  The only times I am aware of people (usually women) wearing a merkin are in Hollywood movies and possibly photoshoots.  To avoid full frontal nudity & an NC17 rating, many actresses wear a merkin.  

I recall being somewhere where the laws didn't allow for full nudity at a strip club so the dancers wore pasties and merkins.  The merkins were not realistic looking.  A small bikini bottom would have covered the same area.  Sometimes merkins are tricked out with decorative items; similar to the grooming technique they call "vajazzle."  

No, I have never seen one in real life, and if that were to happen, I'd most likely be out of there.  I can't imagine anything attractive about them nor any otherwise positive thing about them. Turn-off!