Seventh foot washed up as mystery deepens

thescotsman.scotsman.com...

POLICE in North America are still scratching their heads over a series of feet that have washed up on western shores over the past year in one of the most bizarre cases they have encountered.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are still trying to assess whether the foot, encased in a left-footed blue and white New Balance running shoe, could be a match for an earlier discovery. The latter, shod in a right-footed running shoe of the same brand, colour and size, was discovered in May.

The match, if confirmed, would be the second. The first match was between two feet found in February and June, again in British Columbia. Both were shod in blue and white Nike trainers.

Well, I'm at a loss for words. Anyone care to comment?

How can we make this alien related?



[edit on 11/15/2008 by MsSmartypants]

[edit on 11/15/2008 by MsSmartypants]

I'm surprised this is still going on. I remember hearing about this back when I first registered here.
As for the police theory... sounds odd. Bodies float. How are these people committing suicide that the only part them that floats is the feet?
Also, the bit about the pranksters is stupid. Not surprising, but stupid. Don't know why folks would do that.
Wonder if they've figured out who they belong to.

reply to post by RuneSpider


And if it's from people commiting suicide like they suggested, wouldn't it be a worldwide phenomenom?

Hasn't at least one of the these feet been determined to be an non-human animal and thus, a hoax?

I remember hearing about this earlier in the year. It is such an odd story--I don't recall having heard of anything like this before. I would imagine that if it were a natural byproduct of suicides in the area, we would (as you say) see this happening all over the world. California has a huge incidence of suicides by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge into the bay, and ostensibly many of the bodies are not recovered. This being the case, I would suspect feet to be washing up all over the San Francisco bay area. I suspect this case has something to do with mob killings or perhaps a serial killer. The article mentions that the feet do not appear to have been artificially severed, but there may be a way to separate the feet from the body while maintaining an appearance of natural degradation. It would take great skill and manipulation, but it must be possible. Since this is an isolated phenomenon, I don't see how it could be occurring naturally when we've got undiscovered bodies in every major body of water in the world but no similar phenomenon of feet washing up (to my knowledge).

Originally posted by MsSmartypants

How can we make this alien related?

I have an idea: Perhaps the aliens are currently harvesting human bodies but find our feet to be absolutely disgusting, and thus discard them into the waters. This would be reasonable--personally, I find feet pretty distasteful, too.


GradyPhilpott: Yes, apparently hoaxters have placed a plastic foot in a shoe and also stuffed the bones of an animal foot into a shoe, and left them on the beach. These do not suggest anything more than pranks, though, as the other feet are quite verifiably human.

Call me a bit naive, but in the article it's stated that the feet don't appear to be severed. How would are the feet separated from the rest of the body then? Just through decomposition or what?

This a real mystery. Officials don't have much to go on here, just feet. I'm leaning more towards foul play than suicide simply because the feet, according to the article, having been washing ashore only in the past year.

I would think that if these were suicides, we would have been hearing about feet washing up in the area for years. I doubt people just discovered that they can drown their problems away in the Strait of Georgia only in the last year.

Sea current could explain why the body parts are washing up in a general location.

What is more curious is why just feet and not arms or heads or torsos.

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


Actually that is easily explained. The foot is contained in a shoe, which helps to protect it from some of the abrasive properties of sand and sea, so while sand is pulled back and forth over a body (that may well be wearing some steel chains and a padlock) by the currents, the skin is deteriorated by the abrasive property, but because the shoe is tied tight(or velcroed tight as the case may be) it does not have the exposure to fish and animal life and the abrasiveness of the currents and sand. Over time, the muscles and tissue would decay and break down, allowing the foot to break free and move with the current.

Now I may be wrong, but I bet they haven't found any feet in stilettos.

There is a LOT of illegal immigration to the western canadian shores from the pacific rim.

Perhaps a boat capsized or some immigrants were pushed out right around the time sharks/ killer whales were fattening up. Maybe even excreted.

There are possibly preservation properties to the shoes. Rubber, synthetic compounds that would be noxious to an animal or maybe resistant to digestion and good enough insulation to prevent decay. When the rest of the leg separates the shoed foot can once again float and washes up on shore.

I think it's unique to the area maybe because of a certain species migration path. Maybe this species is the only that can't extract the foot meat from the shoe whether its stomach juice composition or it's method of ingesting.

Or it's some freaky murderer with an odd foot fetish.

reply to post by mkiii


That's a plausible explanation.

Originally posted by zephyrs
Call me a bit naive, but in the article it's stated that the feet don't appear to be severed. How would are the feet separated from the rest of the body then? Just through decomposition or what?

This a real mystery. Officials don't have much to go on here, just feet. I'm leaning more towards foul play than suicide simply because the feet, according to the article, having been washing ashore only in the past year.

I would think that if these were suicides, we would have been hearing about feet washing up in the area for years. I doubt people just discovered that they can drown their problems away in the Strait of Georgia only inWell the last year.

Well, I'm thinking if a body is floating in the ocean and rigor mortis has subsided, the foot would be bending back and forth at the ankle in the ocean waves until eventually the foot falls off.

reply to post by Atlantican


Problem with that is it'd be fairly obviouse if the body parts went through digestion and then excretion. The feet encased in shoes would probably be to large to pass though. Usually a shark will gag up what they can't digest.

I would almost buy the shark idea simply due to the fact that the only other option is a prank or hoax. If its the latter, its gotta be among the most morbid prank or hoax I have ever heard of.

[edit on 16-11-2008 by ch1ldofthe70s]

reply to post by ch1ldofthe70s


With the 'matching' feet washing up months apart, the 'prankster' seems to be releasing the feet one at a time. I wonder if he/she keeps them in the freezer?

I find this odd and scary. Will he release other limbs next? When did these murders take place and why aren't the people that went missing being searched for?

-Ign0RanT

reply to post by Ign0rant


They are, but first they have to be identified. The article mentions there are a large amount of missing people in the area, and each one has to be ruled out. I still don't know if they ever ID'ed the original feet they found.

reply to post by Ign0rant


yes surely there is a missing persons list somewhere they could match these feet up to. With modern forensic technology why is it still such a mystery?

Imagine for a moment if you can.

Considering the timing of the announcement of Vancouver's intent to apply for the 2010 ten Olympics, seems to be strangely close in timing to the media acknowledging the disappearance of many (53 i think) members of the sex trade industry. Robert Picton was charged with the murder of these women around a year before Vancouver was awarded the games. He owned an ran a pig farm (Snatch). Many rumors fly the city. Some suggest he was the fall guy for a sinister gang operation. I shutter to propose this was some sort of social cleansing, in light of the Olympic prospect. Any maybe Picton had nothing to do with it cept for the idea that a dangerous man is behind bars. Maybe you could just hire an outside contractor like... blackwater to covertly "cleans" a social unacceptable issue. Perhaps the lowest bidder was chosen and as a result the cheapest solution. We just might see many feet to come.

What strikes me as a bit odd is that at least four of the seven feet have been in blue and white sneakers... Maybe it is a serial killer who is targeting people with blue and white sneakers.. It wouldn't be the oddest thing for a serial killer to target.

Just an idea I had floating around in my head but I don't know what color shoes the other three were so I'm probably wrong.