Since 2007, 18 detached feet have washed up on the coast of the Salish Sea, in British Columbia Canada and Washington USA. As of December 8th, 2017, thirteen feet have been found in the Canadian province of British Columbia, and four in the US state of Washington. Most of the feet have washed up in sneakers/running shoes including Nike, New Balance, Adidas and a couple of the feet have washed up in a Hiking Boot. The numbers vary a little from article to article. Most of the feet have been right feet.
The latest washed up near Vancouver, a lone left foot wore a white sock inside a black velcro shoe and was still attached to its lower leg bones, the tibia, and fibula. A man was out walking his dog discovered the foot sitting on a bed of kelp.
Photograph,Mike Johns NYT
The discovery of the feet have lead to a media sensation around the world and there have been many theories. These include……… Victims of Plane crashes, victims of The Boxing day tsunami in 2004, and the victims of serial killers or organized crime..
In December 2017, the Guardian reported “In the past dozen cases, the provincial coroner’s office has ruled out foul play… All of the individuals either killed themselves or died accidentally, with their feet naturally coming apart from their bodies during decomposition, said the coroner. .. The ubiquitous presence of running shoes might explain some of the mystery; made with light but durable materials, the shoes both protect the foot from decomposition and act as a flotation device that pulls it to the surface.” The agency said in a statement ” in none of the cases was foul play involved.In the past dozen cases, the provincial coroner’s office has ruled out foul play, noting that none of the feet showed signs of trauma. They have identified eight of the feet, saying they included two pairs, and determined that the remaining lone feet belonged to men.
The following information is from Wikipedia (link below) regarding the feet found to date.
#1 August 20, 2007, Jedidiah, British Columbia, Canada. A girl visiting from Washington picked up a size 12 Adidas shoe and opened the sock to find a man’s right foot. It is thought to have become disarticulated due to submerged decay. This kind of shoe was produced in 2003 and distributed mainly in India.A man’s right foot; size 12 white-and-blue-mesh running shoe. The remains were identified as those of a missing man suffering from depression.
#2 August 26, 2007, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada. A man’s right foot, discovered by a couple, also disarticulated due to decay. It was waterlogged and appeared to have been taken ashore by an animal. It probably floated ashore from the south.The shoe, a size 12 white Reebok, was produced in 2004 and sold worldwide but primarily in North America, and the type has since been discontinued.
#3 February 8, 2008, Valdes Island, British Columbia, Canada. A right foot in a size 11 Nike. The remains were identified as a 21-year-old Surrey man reported missing four years prior, whose death is considered “not suspicious”, indicating either misadventure or suicide. This type of shoe was sold in Canada and the United States between February 1, 2003, and June 30, 2003. It has been confirmed that the right foot found February 8 on Valdes Island and left foot found on June 16 on Westham Island belonged to the same man.
#4 May 22, 2008, Kirkland Island, British Columbia, Canada. A woman’s right foot; blue-and-white New Balance sneaker. The fourth foot was discovered on an island in the Fraser Delta between Richmond and Delta, British Columbia. It was also wearing a sock and sneaker.It is thought to have washed down the Fraser River, having nothing to do with the ones found in the Gulf Islands.The shoe was a New Balance sneaker manufactured in 1999. In 2011, the fourth sneaker found in Kirkland Island was identified as being part of a pair of blue and white New Balance sneakers belonging to a woman who jumped from the Pattullo Bridge in New Westminster in April 2004.
#5 June 16, 2008, Westham Island, British Columbia, Canada. A man’s left foot was found by two hikers on June 16, floating in water in Delta.It has been confirmed that the left foot found on June 16 on Westham Island and the right foot found February 8 on Valdes Island belonged to the same man
#6 August 1, 2008, Near Pysht Washington, US. A right foot inside a man’s black size 11 shoe was discovered by a camper on a beach. It was covered in seaweed. The site of the discovery was less than 16 kilometers from the international border in the Strait of Juan de Fuca . Testing confirmed that the foot was human. Police say the large black-top, size 11 athletic shoe for a right foot contains bones and flesh. This was the first foot of the series to be found outside of British Columbia. The RCMP and Clallam County Sheriff’s Department agreed on August 5 that the foot could have been carried south from Canadian waters.
#7 November 11, 2008, Richmond British Columbia, Canada. A known woman’s left foot, in a shoe that was found floating in the Fraser River in Richmond. The shoe was described as a small New Balance running shoe, possibly a woman’s shoe. A forensic DNA profiling analysis indicated that it was a genetic match to the foot discovered on May 22 on Kirkland Island.
#8 October 27, 2009, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. A right foot in a size 8½ Nike running shoe on a beach in Richmond. The remains were identified as a Vancouver-area man who was reported missing in January 2008 and died of natural causes.
#9 August 27, 2010, Whidbey Island Washington, US. A woman’s or child’s right foot, without a shoe or sock. This foot was determined to have been in the water for two months. Detective Ed Wallace of the Island County Sheriff’s Office released a statement saying the foot would be tested for DNA. However, there was no match found in the national DNA database
#10 December 5, 2010, Tacoma, Washington, US. Found on the tidal flats. “The right foot was still inside a boy’s size 6 ‘Ozark Trail’ hiking boot, and likely belonged to a juvenile or small adult,” police spokesman Mark Fulghum said Tuesday in Tacoma, about 40 kilometers south of Seattle and 225 kilometers south of Vancouver.
#11 August 30, 2011, False Creek British Columbia, Canada. Sex unknown. The foot was found in a man’s white and blue size 9 runner, floating next to the Plaza of Nations marina, attached to the lower leg bones. It had disarticulated naturally at the knee due to the water.
#12 November 4, 2011, Sasamat Lake British Columbia, Canada. A man’s right foot inside a size 12 hiking boot was discovered by a group of campers in a pool of fresh water at Sasamat Lake near Port Moody. In January 2012, this foot was identified by the B.C. Coroner’s Service as that of Stefan Zahorujko, a local fisherman who went missing in 1987. Police believe the foot separated naturally from the body and do not suspect foul play.
#13 December 10, 2011. Lake Union, Seattle, Washington, US. Human leg bone and foot in a black plastic bag under the Ship Canal Bridge.
#14 January 26, 2012, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. On January 26, 2012, the remains of “what appears to be human bones inside a boot” were found in the sand along the water line at the dog park near the Maritime Museum at the foot of Arbutus Street, in Vancouver
#15 May 6, 2014. Seattle Washington, US. Human foot in white New Balance shoe found along the shoreline of Centennial Park near the Pier 86 grain terminal. The New Balance model 622 athletic shoe was white with blue trim, size men’s 10½. This model of shoe was first available for sale in April 2008 From an initial news photo, it appears to be a left foot.
#16 February 7, 2016, Vancouver Island BC, Canada. Hikers on Botanical Beach, near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, found a foot in a sock and running shoe.
#17 February 12, 2016, Vancouver Island BC, Canada. A foot washed up near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. BC Coroners Service said it matches one found there five days earlier.
#18 December 8, 2017, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. Remains of a leg with a shoe attached washed up on the near the settlement of Jordan River. on Vancouver Island
There have been a number of hoaxes, after the eleventh foot was found on August 31, 2011, several running shoes containing what police suspected was raw meat were found washed up on Oak Beach, British Columbia. A “skeletonized animal paw” which was put in a sock and shoe and then stuffed with dried seaweed was also found.
In 2012, in an article from Dailymail.co.uk (link below), Most of the victims were suicides who threw themselves off bridges into the water after which their bodies decomposed naturally, investigators have revealed. The remains were then taken by the tide and deposited at random places along the coast of British Columbia in Canada and Washington State in the U.S. The only reason the victims’ feet survived is that they were all wearing rubber-soled shoes like trainers, which fish are unable to chew through. Stephen Fonseca, who has worked each of the cases, told the New York Post
In another article, victims jumped from a bridge over the Fraser River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver.m ctvnews.ca (link below),
Forensics consultant and former Toronto Police detective Mark Mendelson says with this many feet being found in such a short period of time, he’s suspicious something is up. “I don’t know whether you can look at this as just a coincidence,” he told CTV’s Canada AM Thursday.
There are many articles that have been written about this case, all over the internet. I will have links below to my sources of information and other links to other articles, which have explanations or theories. Feel free to do some more research yourself.
I have a couple of questions.
Why nearly all right feet?
Where are the rest of the bodies?
If the authorities believe that a lot of the feet were from suicide victims jumping off a particular bridge, why weren’t some security of some kind put at the bridge?
How can the authorities lump all the cases together, and say that no foul play was suspected, when in one case the foot was found in a plastic bag?
My questions go on and on.
What are your theories?
ctvnews.cahttp://www.newsweek.com/human-foot-training-shoe-latest-series-severed-feet-discovered-salish-sea-743739
http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2016/05/18/the-strange-salish-sea-foot-mystery/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Sea_human_foot_discoveries
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/13/canada-human-foot-british-columbia
New Zealand Mysteries 