Bizarre Story: Feet washing up on Canada Shoreline

[JonathanG]

I just saw this on Fox News. This story sounds bizarre and a nice one to post, discuss, and keep up on. This is just insane the more I read about it. Five of the six washed up were right feet, and all of them were in socks and sneakers.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/17/world/main4188192.shtml

(AP) A fifth human foot in a year has washed ashore off the coast of British Columbia, and this time it's a left one.

Police said two people out for a walk spotted the left foot floating in water off Westham Island on Monday morning.

Delta Police Const. Sharlene Brooks said officials are working with the B.C. Coroner's office to see if this foot is linked to any other partial remains recovered in the province.

Westham Island is at the mouth of the Fraser River, about 15 miles south of Vancouver.

"A passerby noticed a shoe floating in the water, pulled it in and notified police," Brooks said. "We're treating it as a criminal investigation."

While the similarities to the other found feet is strong, she said there's no indication this foot is related to the other cases.

"We're certainly not discounting the possibility that this may be linked to the other recovered feet, but it's just too premature and very speculative for us to even entertain that right now," she said.

The last foot was found May 22 on Kirkland Island in the Fraser River, about one mile away from Monday's discovery.

The first in the series was found nearly a year ago on Jedidiah Island in the Strait of Georgia. Within days, another right foot was found inside a man's Reebok sneaker on nearby Gabriola Island. The third was found in the same area, on the east side of Valdez Island in early February.

The origin on any of the remains is still unknown.

"This might take a long time," Brooks said. "This is not CSI." She said in order to identify the foot, other remains from the body or identifying material such as a DNA would be needed. "It's going to be pretty difficult."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has said there's no evidence the feet were severed or removed from the victims' legs by force.

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer based in Seattle, Wash., said when a human body is submerged in the ocean, the main parts like arms, legs, hands, feet and the head are usually what come off the body.

He said his theory is that the feet came along as a result of an accident that might have happened up along the Fraser River, that washed down and spread out along the Straight of Georgia.

Ebbesmeyer said when the third foot was found the feet could have drifted from as far as 1,000 miles away. Ebbesmeyer said the feet could have been severed or detached from their bodies on their own.

[MalahatTwo7]

Actually as of this morning, there are now 6 feet that have been found. The latest was found on a beach just a bit south of Campbell River, at Thunderbird Park.

As the good British Columbian and Westcoaster that I am, and having worked with SAR out of the Victoria Rescue Centre, you can bet I've been keeping up with this story since it first started last summer. Been some bizarre happenings, and some suggestions have been that these are pieces from folks who have been lost at sea either due to ships/boats sinking or airplane crashes. No word has come from the BC Coronors office or the RCMP at this time, so speculation is high, as you can imagine. The report of the 6th foot even made the Channel 4 NBC news this morning. Go figure eh. LOL

Sixth foot found near Campbell River. Discovery left RV park manager rattled

Sandra McCulloch, Times Colonist Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Another foot in a sneaker was found today on the southern B.C. coast, this one on a Campbell River beach on Tyee Spit, adjacent to the Thunderbird RV Park and Campground.

The find by a woman walking the beach deepens the mystery of where six feet, five of them right feet, have come from and why so many have come ashore in the last year.

This was the second foot found this week and the sixth discovered on south coast beaches since August 2007. The latest appears to be a right foot encased in a size 10 men's black sneaker.

B.C. RCMP Const. Annie Linteau said that the latest foot and shoe have been sent to the BC Coroners Service for analysis.

"About 10:30 this morning a woman came in my office asking me to call the RCMP because she found a foot in a running shoe," said Sandra Malone, Thunderbird campground manager.

The woman was clearly disturbed by the discovery, said Malone, who immediately called the Campbell River RCMP on the non-emergency line.

While waiting for the RCMP to arrive, the woman accompanied Malone on foot to examine the find.

Malone saw the black running shoe, "it looked like a size 10 or 11. You could see two leg bones sticking up from the foot about three or four inches. There was no tissue or muscle or anything."

She felt "sick inside to think that that's somebody's foot and where is that person?" Malone said.

The bones seemed to be cut clean across, said Malone, suggesting an instrument had been used to cut the bone. "You could see it was a cut," Malone said.

A uniformed RCMP officer arrived and confirmed the report. A forensics' team of officers then arrived and stayed at the site for a couple hours.

Guests at the campground were curious as to what was going on at the beach, said Malone.

"There was a lot of shock," she said. "The first thing on everyone's mind was what we'd all heard on TV, with the other feet that have been found still in the running shoe."

Malone suspects this foot belonged to someone who was the victim foul play.

She spent most of the day answering a torrent of media calls and participating in media interviews, "so many I've lost count. I'm still trying to have lunch [at 3 p.m.]."

Linteau said the RCMP could not comment on whether this latest foot appeared severed, but added that it will be investigated in connection with the other feet that have been found.

While police are giving few clues as to where their investigation is going, a retired coroner and military diver believes there's no foul play involved in the severed feet.

"I just think the more people you have missing the more chances you have of finding naturally occurring denegration of the body," said Ian Buckingham of Victoria, a retired physician and coroner. He has also served as military diver with the Canadian, U.S. and Royal navies.

While more people are missing, there are also more people walking beaches than before, said Buckingham.

"Some [feet] have been discovered by pets who have good noses," said Buckingham. "I just think there are lots more people out there than there used to be."

The ankle joint can "easily" come apart from the leg during a body's disintegration at sea, said Buckingham.

A left male foot in a sneaker was discovered Monday floating in the water off Westham Island, at the mouth of the Fraser River. A woman's foot was found in May on Kirkland Island, also in the Fraser and a kilometre from Westham.

In February, a severed foot was found on Valdes Island east of Yellow Point and last August, two feet washed up on Gabriola and Jedediah Islands in the Strait of Georgia.

smcculloch@tc.canwest.com

[JonathanG]

The fact that they all seem to be male, socked sneakers, and the MAJORITY (5 out of 6) being the right foot makes it sound almost like a serial-killer type events. Like you said, it's all speculation. I'm looking forward to hearing back from the coroner.

[MalahatTwo7]

Actually 5 out of 6 are male. There was a report of one of the earlier shoes belonging to a female (potentially).

A woman's foot was found in May on Kirkland Island, also in the Fraser and a kilometre from Westham

[nameless]

they talk about it potentially being from bodies of victims of a boating incident or plane crash. Have there been any of these incidents in the past couple years? Seems like it'd be pretty straight forward, we've had X amount of incidents in the last few years, and this many involved a bunch of men.

[MalahatTwo7]

Yes, actually there have been several incidents of either boats lost or airplane crashes in the area between Olympic State Park, WA to Juneau, AK. In the past 6 years at least 3 aircraft have crashed in the waters off the coast of BC, one just north of Campbell River. Also there was a ferry boat sinking in which 2 passengers were lost and never recovered; incidentally, one was a female.

I'll try and find some of the other follow on stories to this.

[superchef]

very strange. I saw that story earlier. With all the coastline on the west coast, I wonder why they are all washig up in Canada.

[len1582]

Missed the first part of the broadcast but on todays news they said one was an animals foot stuffed into a sneaker.

[CanadianFyrTrks]

very strange. I saw that story earlier. With all the coastline on the west coast, I wonder why they are all washig up in Canada.

Well it was a decision they collectively made one night at the reebok convention

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Rick, I was going to look for your thread tonight to update you guys on the finds this week, or start a new one if I couldn't find it. Oh well, this thread will do just as well :)

Although the following article doesn't mention it, I just heard on the radio a few minutes ago that the latest "foot" was apparently a dog's paw. Sick Fhucks :mad:

As if it wasn't bad enough that we don't know what the hell is going on with all these feet washing up on shore, now there is/are some sick whacko(s) out there who may have killed a dog to do their stupid copycat hoax. :mad:

The rumours are indeed running rampant. Here's a small sample (some of which have not been reported in the articles shown here or the original thread) that I've read about or heard on the news or been told by other people, with my personal thoughts in italics in the brackets.

Medical students pulling a prank.

(I mentioned this one when we were talking about it at work this afternoon, and someone made a good point - medical students have to account for all the body parts, and would lose their licenses if it was discovered they had thrown some body parts into the ocean. Nobody thinks a medical student would be so stupid as to pull a prank like this.)


Victims from the 2004 tsunami (why would they only be washing ashore in BC?)

Plane crash or shipwreck victims

(One of the ladies at work who has been following the story is under the impression that one foot was identified by a lady as that of her husband - a victim of a plane crash because it was the same size foot and the same type/color of running shoe that her husband had. She also thought that three of the feet were identified by DNA as being victims of a plane crash.)

Organized Crime

Other theories are that the feet may have originated in the Fraser River or one of the other rivers that flow into the ocean, because the foot earlier this week was found at the mouth of the Fraser.

Sixth severed foot a hoax
Latest discovery appears to be animal bones stuffed in sneaker
Sandra McCulloch, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, June 19, 2008
VICTORIA -- A foot found Wednesday on a beach in Campbell River was not human and appears to be a hoax, said the chief coroner's office today.

A forensic pathologist and an anthropologist have examined the shoe and the remains inside it, and identified it as the bones of an animal's foot inserted into a shoe, along with a sock and packed with dried seaweed.

The coroner's office chastised whoever is responsible for the hoax, calling it "reprehensible and very disrespectful for the families of missing persons."


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RCMP officers on Wednesday investigate severed foot.
Dan MacLennan, Courier-Islander

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Font:****The foot was found Wednesday on a Campbell River beach on Tyee Spit, adjacent to the Thunderbird RV Park and Campground. It was the sixth such discovery on the southern B.C. coast since August 2007. So far, the five previous finds were human. The first four were right feet, while the fifth, which was found on Monday, was a left. All have been inside running shoes. Only the fourth appears to be female; the rest were likely male.

According to Sandra Malone, Thunderbird campground manager, a woman found the latest foot at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Malone saw the black running shoe, "it looked like a size 10 or 11. You could see two leg bones sticking up from the foot about three or four inches. There was no tissue or muscle or anything."
The bones seemed to be cut clean across, said Malone, suggesting an instrument had been used to cut the bone. "You could see it was a cut," Malone said.

Investigations into the other five missing feet are continuing. While police are giving few clues as to where their case is going, a retired coroner and military diver believes there's no foul play involved in the five severed human feet.
"I just think the more people you have missing the more chances you have of finding naturally occurring denegration of the body," said Ian Buckingham of Victoria, a retired physician and coroner. He has also served as military diver with the Canadian, U.S. and British navies.

While more people are missing, there are also more people walking beaches than before, said Buckingham.

"Some [feet] have been discovered by pets who have good noses," said Buckingham. "I just think there are lots more people out there than there used to be."

The ankle joint can "easily" come apart from the leg during a body's disintegration at sea, said Buckingham.

A left male foot in a sneaker was discovered Monday floating in the water off Westham Island, at the mouth of the Fraser River. A woman's foot was found in May on Kirkland Island, also in the Fraser and a kilometre from Westham.

In February, a severed foot was found on Valdes Island east of Yellow Point and last August, two feet washed up on Gabriola and Jedediah Islands in the Strait of Georgia.

smcculloch@tc.canwest.com

Oh yeah, another thing I heard on the radio early this morning was that a reporter went to a store (probably in Vancouver) that sold Nikes and showed a picture that was taken by a civilian, perhaps the one that found the fifth foot, to some young retail staff and asked if they sold or could tell them anything about that type of shoe (or something along those lines). :mad:

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Interesting ....

One foot riddle solved; police ID missing man
Times Colonist

Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008

One of the first two feet discovered last August in the Strait of Georgia has been identified as belonging to a depressed man who went missing last year, RCMP said in news reports last night.

This would mean the Mounties are a step closer to solving the mystery of the five feet, all found encased in sneakers, that have washed ashore on the south B.C. coast over the last year.

Using DNA analysis, police indicated yesterday they have identified the man whose foot washed up on either Gabriola or Jedediah islands last August.


No name was released, and next of kin were being contacted yesterday.

Earlier this month, the coroner announced that a right foot found on Valdes Islands in February and a left foot found on Westham Island on June 16 were determined through DNA testing to have come from the same individual.

On May 22, a woman's foot was found on Kirkland Island, while a left foot was found on June 16 on Westham Island at the mouth of the Fraser River.

Also yesterday, a Washington state coroner said he wants to work with the B.C. Coroners Service to see if there's a connection between footless skeletal remains discovered in the San Juan Islands and the mysterious severed feet.

San Juan County coroner Randall Gaylord said a body was discovered by a hiker on Orcas Island in the San Juan archipelago in March 2007. The body did not have a right arm, right hand, left hand or any feet.




© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

[CanadianFyrTrks]

Have you seen my Feet? LOL (I Know I'm sick!)

[dmleblanc]

Have you seen my Feet? LOL (I Know I'm sick!)


Maybe I could see yours, but I haven't seen mine in quite a while :D

Seriously, though, I like the tsunami theory...you wash several thousand people out to sea at one time and parts are bound to show up somewhere.

Then I got to thinking, why just feet? Then I remembered a water rescue class I took a couple of years ago. I went in the water wearing running shoes and you know what? Running shoes are remarkably bouyant (annoyingly so, when you're trying to work in the water). So assuming that a body would become dismembered in the water over time (sharks, other predators/scavengers, decomposition, etc.), maybe hands, arms, and legs sank, while feet, still snug in a running shoe, may have continued to travel. Interesting theory, yes?

[fireman4949]

Does anyone have any idea how deep the water is off of the Canadian coast? I'd be willing to bet it's at least several feet. :p :D

[egon911]

So assuming that a body would become dismembered in the water over time (sharks, other predators/scavengers, decomposition, etc.) Or by the luggage bar of the airline seat in front of them?

[MalahatTwo7]

Does anyone have any idea how deep the water is off of the Canadian coast? I'd be willing to bet it's at least several feet. :p :D

The best way to think of the average water depth along the west coast of Canada, is to think in terms of Norwegian fiords. The sea floor is very rough, and is more like underwater canyons than just a waterway. Average depth is close on 900 feet, some places less, but most places more. Jacques Cousteau rated the west coast of Canada as one of the top 10 dive places in the world because of it.

That all aside, I think the tsunami theory has a lot of merrit, considering how the Pacific tides and currents work. The Coast Guard has a really interesting computer model that given a known location for something to be introduced to the water (body, luggage etc) that will float, the program can plot with reasonable accuracy where that item could end up. We use it everytime a boat sinks or person overboard, or a/c crash into the water. Of course after about 24/48 hrs the model starts to break down because of possible local weather conditions and just the scope of ground area that gets involved.

[fireman4949]

The best way to think of the average water depth along the west coast of Canada, is to think in terms of Norwegian fiords. The sea floor is very rough, and is more like underwater canyons than just a waterway. Average depth is close on 900 feet, some places less, but most places more. Jacques Cousteau rated the west coast of Canada as one of the top 10 dive places in the world because of it.

That all aside, I think the tsunami theory has a lot of merrit, considering how the Pacific tides and currents work. The Coast Guard has a really interesting computer model that given a known location for something to be introduced to the water (body, luggage etc) that will float, the program can plot with reasonable accuracy where that item could end up. We use it everytime a boat sinks or person overboard, or a/c crash into the water. Of course after about 24/48 hrs the model starts to break down because of possible local weather conditions and just the scope of ground area that gets involved.

I intended my post to be a pun. "...at least several feet." ;)

[MalahatTwo7]

We do agree then, the water is "several feet deep". :D:D

[fireman4949]

...At least 5 or 6. :eek: