Experts Solve the Mystery Behind 24 Severed Feet Washing up on Shores, the First Was Found by a 12-Year-Old Girl

The bizarre discovery of 24 severed feet washing up on the shores of the Salish Sea over 18 years has finally been explained by forensic experts, stated The Sun News. The mysterious series of discoveries began in 2007 when a 12-year-old girl stumbled upon what she thought was a discarded size 12 Adidas shoe on Jedediah Island, only to find a human foot inside.

The grim discoveries kept surfacing along the coasts of British Columbia, Canada, and Washington State, giving rise to wild theories that included extraterrestrial activity to a foot-fetishizing serial killer. Michelle Geris and her husband George Baugh made the second discovery on Gabriola Island just six days after the first foot was found.

"We decided to take this beautiful little trail that was going between some houses when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shoe near the trunk of a tree," Michelle recalled, as per The Sun. George said it was "a big shoe, around size 11" and they could tell something was inside because of its "greasy white color." The mystery deepened when investigators realized both feet were right feet from different bodies. More discoveries followed: a third right foot appeared on Valdes Island in February 2008, and the fourth—notably the first female foot—was found on Kirkland Island.

Chris Brown with the Canadian Broadcasting Company put a frame of perspective on the darker side of Vancouver: "There’s a terrible drug trade, criminal gangs and there have been mass murders. So, that’s what fuelled the speculation about gangster involvement with the feet," according to Lad Bible. A leading forensic entomologist at Simon Fraser University, Dr. Gail Anderson, explained the scientific break in the case. Using pigs as human analogs, she conducted underwater experiments that revealed how quickly bodies decompose in the ocean. "We were all shocked by how fast we could get complete skeletonization," Dr. Anderson explained. "The body was completely engulfed and gone in three days," according to Lad Bible.

These experiments demonstrated that the bodies are quickly scavenged by sea animals such as shrimp and crabs that prefer to feed on the ankle region where the foot is attached to the leg with tendons. When those tissues are consumed, the foot would naturally disarticulate from the body. The modern synthetic materials composing running shoes then mummify the detached foot and generate a buoyant container carrying it onto the beach. Another piece of the puzzle came from oceanographer, Curt Ebbesmeyer, who noted that Canada's rivers, unlike in the U.S., do not have dams, which can allow bodies to wash out into bigger water bodies rather than being caught and recovered by authorities, stated The Sun.

Examinations revealed that none had been mechanically severed, dispelling theories of foul play. "Once these details were clarified, the story changed and the focus was on the people who had died," BBC journalist Celia Hatton reported. "We understand that almost all were victims of drowning or had chosen to take their own lives." This scientific explanation finally lays to rest years of speculation about one of the region's most baffling mysteries and turns what seemed like a pretty sinister string of discoveries into a sad but natural phenomenon, according to Lad Bible.