The Pacific Northwest coast has been witness to something out of a horror story. More and more shoes have washed up on the shore, specifically the shore of the Salish Sea. Where the story takes a turn into horror is the fact that the shoes contained human remains.
The gruesome tale has made headlines all around the world, though the reality of these feet-filled shoes washing up along the Pacific Northwest coast is, bizarrely, not as horrific as it sounds.
Over a Dozen Shoes Have Been Found
More than 12 shoes containing human remains have been found, and understandably interest in this macabre phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest has existed for years.
In a very small area along the shores of the Salish Sea, spanning from Olympia, Washington to the Campbell River in British Columbia — an area including the Puget Sound and Strait of Georgia — fourteen shoes with human remains have been found so far.
Why This Area?
Given this phenomenon is localized to such a small area, many have questioned why so many shoes have washed up in this specific location. What is it about the Salish Sea that is attracting footwear filled with human remains?
The Salish Sea is a relatively large bay at almost 700 square miles. Still, fourteen shoes with feet still in them are a lot of human remains to be found in one specific area. It feels like more than a coincidence. Well, according to experts this occurrence isn’t too surprising if we consider the natural layout of the sea and the population of the coastline.
Many Factors at Play
Population and weather could be the main reasons for this spooky phenomenon. With 8.7 million people living in the area, statistically speaking the Salish Sea will contain the remains of many people who either drowned or plunged themselves into the freezing waters to take their own lives.
With regards to weather, strong winds in this northwestern area create currents that push any detritus in the water, including human remains, toward the shore. Rising water temperatures in the Pacific Northwest mean heavier items, again like these remains, move to the surface, and the process of them being dragged back to shore is accelerated.
Whose Shoes Are These?
This helps to explain the logistics of why the remains arrive on the shores, but there is still the very practical question of who these specific shoes belong to.
The latest shoes containing human remains that washed up are believed to belong to a man who has been missing from the area since 2016. The British Columbia Coroners Service has been working to identify the other remains but has only been able to connect eight of the fourteen shoes discovered with six individuals presumed dead.
Difficulty in Identifying the Remains
Local authorities have found it incredibly challenging to identify exactly who the shoes, and the feet inside of them, belong to.
The feet have been submerged in salt water for quite some time before washing up on dry land. This means any available DNA is frequently too damaged for testing. Furthermore, since many of the missing people who the feet may belong to are not criminals, there isn’t a handy record against which to cross-reference and check the minimal samples that have been collected to confirm an identification.
A Serial Killer Stalks the Pacific Northwest?
As more and more shoes have washed up on the shore over the past few years, some people have started to come up with a rather romanticized theory — there was a serial killer stalking the area whose calling card was to discard shoes still containing the feet of their victims into the Salish Sea.
Authorities have taken great pains to make it clear that they’ve dismissed this theory. It’s their belief that there is no foul play involved regarding the discovery of the shoes of the six people they’ve been able to identify so far.
Understanding Ocean Decomposition
As we start to unravel the Salish Sea mystery, it’s important to understand a bit more about how corpses decompose in salt water. To get an understanding of human decomposition in salt water, a 2016 study in the Salish Sea used a pig corpse to better establish decomposition timelines.
Previously available information suggested that a human body might remain intact beneath the surface of the ocean for weeks or even months. The 2016 study, however, proved that a submerged corpse might become a skeleton in just four days.
The Isn’t a Phenomenon Exclusive to the Salish Sea
The Salish Sea certainly has had an unusual number of shoes with human remains inside them wash up on its shores over the years. However, it’s important to note that this isn’t the only location where this has occurred.
Severed feet still inside shoes have also been found in Charleston, South Carolina, the Willamette River in Oregon,and even on the banks of the Mississippi River in Missouri. The effects of warm weather on submerged human remains have also been seen in New York City, where every spring authorities have to fish for corpses around Manhattan as the warmer weather pushes human remains toward land.
Why Are Only Feet Found?
On the face of it, finding a severed foot in a shoe and nothing more sounds incredibly bizarre. However, there’s really a logic as to why this happens relatively frequently if you break it down. Basically, corpses submerged in water naturally begin to separate at the joints.
Gail Anderson of the Center for Forensic Research at Simon Fraser University explains the Salish Sea foot phenomenon: “Feet easily disarticulate and when they are attached to a flotation device such as a running shoe, they are easily washed ashore.” Anderson notes that we aren’t witnessing feet washing ashore in flip-flops or high-heels — only buoyant footwear. Today’s running shoes are also much more buoyant than footwear of the past, which may explain why this is something that’s suddenly been noticed a lot over recent years.
A Change to Missing Persons Reporting
The situation observed at the Salish Sea and other locations has led to a change in tactics with regard to missing persons. Before, police investigating missing persons in the U.S. or Canada have not always asked for the shoe size of the missing person.
They’re adjusting this approach now. This means when people discover shoes washed up on the shores of the Salish Sea containing human remains in the future, investigators will be better able to narrow down who the severed body part might belong to.
The Washed Up Shoe Mystery Isn’t Really Much of a Mystery After All
The sight of a shoe with a severed human foot in it washing up on the shores of the Pacific Northwest will no doubt still be a bizarre one to anyone who witnesses it. But it isn’t really much of a mystery any longer as to how it got there.
Extensive research of saltwater decomposition and the effects of weather on the currents of the Salish Sea, coupled with an understanding of population dynamics, means the presence of these feet-filled shoes isn’t that surprising anymore. In fact, it would be a surprise if we didn’t see more of them wash up on the shores of the Salish Sea.
