On Aug. 20, 2007, on Jedediah Island, just north of Vancouver, a 12-year-old girl was enjoying a casual stroll on the beach when she spotted a sneaker on the shore. In a split second, her curiosity turned to horror. The shoe was not empty; inside, there was a decaying human foot.
Disturbingly, the discovery was not a one-off. Communities near the Salish Sea have made more of these grisly discoveries: the total stands at 21 disembodied feet and counting.
Feet begin to appear
After the girl discovered that first human foot, her mother quickly alerted the authorities, which took the foot for DNA testing. Six days later, a second foot — also in a sneaker — turned up on Gabriola Island, about 50km away. By early 2008, more feet were discovered along the shores of Valdes Island and Kirkland Island, all just off British Columbia.
The discoveries continued through 2009 and 2010, with additional feet found near Richmond, British Columbia, and Tacoma, Washington. The Tacoma discovery marked the first confirmed case on the U.S. side of the Salish Sea.
Forensic analysis identified some of the remains, linking them to people reported missing years earlier. In 2008, investigators also found that two of the feet belonged to the same individual.
Throughout the 2010s, the discoveries continued sporadically. In 2016, a foot was found in Port Renfrew, British Columbia, and in 2018, a sneaker containing a human foot was discovered on Gabriola Island. This was the same island where someone had discovered a foot over a decade earlier.
Below is a complete map showing where the feet washed up. The locations are: Jedediah Island, Vancouver Island, Valdes Island, Kirkland Island, Westham Island, Pyscht, Gabriola Island, Sasamat Lake, False Creek, Port Renfrew, Whidbey Island, Jetty Island, Tacoma, Seattle, and Richmond.
A complete map of the feets’ locations. Photo: Dennis Bratland
Police found two “feet,” which turned out to be animal paws and raw meat. However, discoveries of human feet continued, with the latest shoe found in July 2023.
The feet mostly belonged to men, and the shoes were usually brand-name running sneakers like Nike, Reebok, and New Balance. There were also a couple of workmen’s boots. DNA testing has identified most of the victims.
Theories
What is your first thought? Many people would assume this was the work of a serial killer. Could leaving the feet and disposing of a body be a calling card?
A second theory is mob activity. Major cities like Seattle and Vancouver are home to several gangs involved in drug and human trafficking. The Salish Sea could be a dumping ground for bodies, and perhaps severed feet could be a way to instill fear or a form of torture. However, authorities don’t know of any gangs in the area that do this.
Brian Dunning of Skeptoid suggested that the feet might belong to trafficked migrants moved in shipping containers.
Nike shoe found in 2017. Photo: British Columbia Coroner Service
Three years before the first foot showed up, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean claimed the lives of over 227,000 people. Hundreds of victims are still unaccounted for. Dunning also hypothesized that the feet could have belonged to bodies that drifted into the Pacific.
Coincidence
However, the feet did not suddenly start appearing in 2007. Feet have been washing up in the area since 1887. One incident, for example, occurred in 1914, when someone found an entire leg. These two discoveries were believed to be from men who had drowned nearby. These early discoveries seem to rule out a serial killer.
Authorities determined that the feet found from 2007 on belonged to missing persons. Some of thom committed suicide, some died in accidents, and some deaths involved foul play. One pair of feet belonged to a woman who jumped to her death from a nearby bridge. Another came from a drowned fisherman.
When these people’s bodies ended up in the sea, they decomposed, and the feet separated from the body first. Gail Anderson, a forensic expert, explained that crustaceans and other critters would start to feast on the ankles first because the skin and bones are not as tough there. The feet would then detach and float to the surface. The buoyancy of modern sneakers would allow the foot to float and eventually wash ashore.
Other experts suggest that the 2000s saw a change in the way shoes were made. Modern shoes are more buoyant and float easily; people who died in the past and had their feet detached might have had heavier shoes. Those feet would have sunk into the depths.
A blue and black shoe found with a foot inside. Photo: Mercury News
Unique geography
The region’s geography is also important. The Salish Sea is a vast network of waterways, islands, wetlands, and rivers. It is not entirely enclosed, with narrow connections to the Pacific Ocean. As a result, the currents are dynamic and complex, leading to objects becoming trapped and circulating for extended periods. In an interview with Vox, Parker MacCready, a professor of oceanography, stated that the west-to-east winds almost always blow objects to shore.
