Friday 14 June 2013

The British Columbia Feet Mystery

August 20, 2007,  a girl was relaxing and enjoying on the beach of Jedediah Island, British Columbia, Canada. She saw a size 12 Adidas shoe brought ashore by the Salish sea. She picked up the shoe and opened the sock. The girl was shocked to find a decaying foot inside the shoe.


Six days later another foot was discovered on the coast of Gabriola island, BC, followed by another on February 8, 2008. These events gained media attention and townsfolk and the police started guesses about the origin of this mystery.


The most popular theories were:that the feet belonged to victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami, or illegal stowaways, and my personal favorite theory - a new serial killer has arrived.


11 feet were reported to be found by February 2012 and strangely all of them were wrapped in sports shoes, once the story hit headlines someone actually put a paw in a running shoe and put it on a beach as a hoax.


The feet were confirmed to belong to 5 men, 1 woman and 3 people whose sex could not be determined. Though the foot was well preserved, it is a part of the body that offers very few clues


Explanation


Here's the explanation but let me warn you those who were expecting a serial killer are in for a disappointment. 

Once a dead body sinks it starts to decompose, limbs begin to separate and marine life starts to feed on it. Fish aren't able to chew through polymer which sports shoes are made of.

The next question is how did these bodies get here. According to records about 500 people commit suicide a year in BC. It is believed that these are the remains of people who killed themselves by jumping into a river with heavy currents. In a couple of cases this could be proved, but how the remaining died is still a mystery.


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