There are some mysteries which are so weird that we know they'll never be solved conclusively. Instead, their strangeness gives them an eerie resonance. It means that people will pick apart the puzzle for years to come and, no matter what evidence is presented to try and assuage our suspicions, we can't help but suspect foul play. Until very recently, the Salish Sea in the tranquil wilderness of British Columbia was best known for its peaceful scenery and stretches of wild woodland lying on its banks. In some places, the water is deep enough to make a boat necessary, but in other parts, it is shallow enough to wade into, and flotsam and jetsam often drifts along the currents, littering the shores.
But lately, the Salish Sea has developed something of a macabre reputation, mainly because the flotsam littering the shores isn't trash, but human flesh. As of December 2017, 13 severed human feet, (most of them still clad in soggy trainers trailing laces behind), have been recovered from the banks. No one knows where the dismembered limbs have come from, or why they alone are the only appendages left intact. There is still no solid explanation.
The first foot was recovered on August 20, 2007 on Jedediah Island by a woman visiting from Washington state. She found the white trainer lying on the ground, and curious, she picked it up and peeked inside. She made the grisly discovery of a pale and partially-decomposed foot nestled inside. Taking it to the police, they identified the remains as belonging to a severely depressed male who had disappeared weeks previously. It was assumed that the man had taken his own life by drowning himself, and that his foot had become detached as the body succumbed to necrosis.
The ligaments at the ball and socket joint of the ankle are notoriously weak, so it would be easy for decay to set in and sever the muscle from the bone while underwater, leaving the air trapped in the white sneaker to make it light enough float to the surface." As forensic expert, Gail Anderson, explains: "Something you’ll notice is that the only feet washing up are in running shoes … they’re not washing up in stilettos or sandals, or as bare feet. It’s basically a flotation device, so it’s going to hold it all together and get it washed ashore."
If this incident had been the only one of its kind, then this would have been nothing more than a disturbing footnote. But soon enough, other feet, still wearing their shoes, were discovered. A mere week after the first foot was found, another was noticed by a couple on Gabriola Island. Five other disarticulated limbs were discovered in 2008, and now, ten years later, a total of 13 have been found in Canada alone. Some of these mortal remains have been identified as belonging to the victims of suicide, but others are so waterlogged that identifying them is more or less impossible.
What's even weirder is that, while the majority of the cases of severed feet are 100 per cent verified, there are already people in the area carrying out a form of "copycat crimes" via crude hoaxes. Some of the feet, which were apparently "discovered" by hikers, were later found to have been filled with raw meat. Barb McLintock, a local British Columbia coroner, told the Guardian in 2016: "We’ve had people put dog foot skeletons in runners and leave them on the beach, and somebody even used old chicken bones."
Many people initially dismissed the story as an urban myth, or a case of media exaggeration. But coroners who have examined the remains found in British Columbia have all confirmed that the case is as unusual as it is inexplicable. The fact that two different feet were found within a week of one another on more than one occasion has been given a "million to one odds" and described as "an anomaly". Once the third foot was found, investigators began speculating about the possibility of human interference. Could it be a serial killer on the loose, leaving creepy trophies in his or her wake for unwary bystanders to find?
Some amateur investigators believe that the feet could be the work of a criminal syndicate or mafia activity; it is possible that the corpses of the deceased could have been weighted down when they were gotten rid off, and the feet were separated due to natural decay. Others believe that the feet could belong to people who died in boating accidents or plane crashes: yet if this is the case, how is it that none of the wreckage has been recovered? Why do the feet remain when everything else has been washed away?
Another, more far-fetched theory, is that the feet belonged to people who perished in the Asian tsunami on December 26, 2004, and have drifted thousands of miles into the Salish Sea. Writer, Shane Lambert, supports this hypothesis, based on the fact that the majority of training shoe brands found were sold or manufactured in 2004 or before, and states that ocean currents from southeast Asia would have taken the remains northward up the Pacific Ocean to end up in the Salish Sea.
Indeed, ocean currents are capable of carrying floating items incredibly long distances, and an object of comparable weight can float as far as 1,000 miles (1,600 km). In fact, under optimal conditions, oceanographers predict that human remains could remain intact in water for as many as three decades, if not eaten and left in cold water, which means that the feet may have been floating around for years.
We may never know exactly why these body parts have been so well-preserved, or where they have come from. Perhaps one day the mystery will be solved. Until then, the unattached feet will continue to provoke conspiracy theorists, and leave fishermen and hikers feeling distinctly uneasy.
