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Dozens of Pairs of Severed Feet Stuffed in Shoes Wash Ashore

The mystery of the severed feet baffled so many people. The feet didn't match nor did other body parts appear.

By True Crime WriterPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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A 12-year-old girl walking along a beach on Jedediah Island in British Columbia stumbled upon a shoe. It was August 20, 2007, when she spotted the single blue and white running shoe. When curiosity got the best of her, the girl picked up the shoe, finding a sock and a human foot inside.

Another Tennis Shoe Found

A short time later, a Vancouver couple found a black and white Reebok tennis shoe near Gabriola Island. The couple found the men’s size 12 shoe- the same size shoe discovered in B.C.- during a hike. It, too, contained a sock and a human foot.

Though the same size, the feet did not belong to the same person. Both feet found inside the shoes were right feet and the shoes did not match.

Stunned, police weren’t sure what to make of the decomposing feet in shoes. Communities of people feared a serial killer was on the loose, others certain that foul play was somehow involved in the sudden appearance of feet on the beach.

More Feet Wash Ashore in the Years Ahead

In the following year, five more feet-in-shoes appeared on different Canadian beaches. The identity of the owners of the feet stumped police -as did how the feet landed on public beaches.

Feet continued to appear on beaches and waterways around Vancouver Island for the next 12 years. A total of 15 washed ashore at Salish Sea; six turned up in Puget Sound in Washington state across the U.S. border. All except one foot was inside of a sneaker; the other wore a hiking boot.

The most recent foot washed ashore incident occurred in 2019. It was New Year’s Day when beachgoers discovered the foot stuffed inside of a shoe on a beach in Everett, Washington, U.S.A.

Hoaxes and Conspiracy Theories

Many hoaxes and theories about the feet came into the police. Pranksters stuffed shoes with chicken bones and scattered them along shorelines. Some tipsters blamed the feet on a serial killer while some theorized the feet belonged to migrants sitting at the ocean’s bottom. Some tipsters suspected aliens had a part in the feet 'appearances.

Scientists Explain the Sudden Sighting of Feet Washed Ashore

With help from Scientists, investigators determined the feet were from cadavers that had sunk and remained underwater as they decomposed. The feet were covered in adipocere, leading experts to suspect that crustaceans ate the bodies, working around bones to pick apart the soft tissues, disarticulating the feet in the process of chewing the body.

The feet were all separated from their bodies via natural processes such as those described above.

Investigators determined the feet had been in the water for less than a decade since sneakers designed in the last decade almost always float thanks to gas-filled pockets and lighter foam in the sneaker soles.

And so, the change of sneaker design is responsible for the massive increase in the number of feet and shoes washed ashore since 2007.

Scientists and investigators have linked the feet to the missing body, mainly people who’ve died in accidents or by suicide.

Understand the Science

For more in-depth details about the decomposition process and how this is possible, click here to read an informative Science-based article from National Geographic.

Or, if you’re like me and need a laymen’s version, click here to read this awesomely informative, well-written piece from The Hill.

My brain becomes discombobulated with all that smart Science stuff!

In the meantime, click here if you want to check out more true crime stories. We have tons of stories to pick from. Only the best stories make it here. There are tons of stories to pick from, so prepare for a night of true crime fun!

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About the Creator

True Crime Writer

The best of the worst true crime, history, strange and Unusual stories. Graphic material. Intended for a mature audience ONLY.

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