Mystery of the Missing Feet
| Special Note: We recognize the human tragedy central to this story. Our hope is that the "missing feet mystery" helps keep awareness high for the approximately 2,371 people currently missing in British Columbia. Their families need answers and your help. Please report any suspicious remains on beaches or any other information that could help police. |
Detached Feet Wash Up On Beaches
It could be the start of a great detective novel. Seven decaying feet, encased in running shoes, wash up on or near the B.C. coast in just over a year.It sounds sinister and certainly stokes imaginations. Everyone has a theory, from natural disasters to a serial killer, a crazy mortician or the ever-favourite "criminal dumping ground."
At the crux of this mystery, however, is the science of the sea. Why did all these sneakered feet wash up around the Strait of Georgia? Why in such a seemingly short time period? And why were the floating body parts all feet?
Submerged secrets
The answer to this mystery partly lies in ocean currents. These currents move cold, nutrient-rich waters and transport many marine species. In short, they're vital to the functioning of the sea. But in the case of the missing feet, these currents also carry the clues that might solve the mystery.
These currents also carry other worrisome problems. By unravelling the Mystery of the Missing Feet, you can help shine a light into the dark marine environment of the B.C. coast – a submerged world with many shameful secrets, like ever-present plastic debris that causes such devastation to the world's oceans and robs human males of testosterone. (Find out more!)
Please delve into the science behind British Columbia's ocean currents and the missing feet. But be warned: the sea is good at keeping a mystery.
Origin of the feet
Scientists Dr. Susan Allen (University of British Columbia), Dr. Eric Kunze (University of Victoria), and Dr. Richard Thomson (Institute of Ocean Sciences) think the feet are probably from bodies that sank in B.C. waters. This lays to rest a theory that the missing feet belong to victims from the 2004 tsunami in Asia – according to these oceanographers, it’s highly unlikely the feet could have travelled that far across the Pacific
As the surface currents in the Strait of Georgia flow out of it rather than in, the feet likely aren’t being washed in from somewhere else. Possibilities around the Strait of Georgia include the Gulf Islands and San Juan Islands, Burrard Inlet, Squamish River, and northern Washington State. The feet found close to the Fraser might have originated further north and been swept downstream. Or perhaps they originated from Vancouver and washed up the mouth of the river by winds and currents.
Rubber ducks and rubber sneakers
Well-known U.S. oceanographer Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer – famous for tossing rubber ducks into the ocean and tracking them – concurs with his Canadian colleagues. Dr. Ebbesmeyer also believes these sneakered feet belong to people who entered the sea around the Strait of Georgia.
Dr. Ebbesmeyer, a leading Seattle-based expert in currents, says most human body parts, and debris in the oceans, wash up reasonably close to their entry point into the marine ecosystem. So if these sneakered feet were found in the Strait of Georgia, they likely originated there as well. Why did one sneakered foot hit land in Juan de Fuca Strait? Dr. Ebbesmeyer says the force of the Fraser River and Puget Sound rivers creates surface currents that runs from Georgia Strait all the way out to the Pacific Ocean – that's likely why this one sneakered foot was found in Juan de Fuca Strait; it was on its way out to sea on these currents.
Although Dr. Ebbesmeyer can predict such movements, he says it's difficult to pinpoint an exact point of entry of the Georgia Strait missing feet.
In currents research and modelling, science works forward but not backward. For instance, Dr. Ebbesmeyer was once asked to determine the location of someone who jumped off a bridge, based on currents and time spent in the water. He was able to do that. But the modelling doesn't work the other way. He can't pinpoint where a human body entered the water based on where they ended up. "There are really no oceanographic models that work backwards," he says.
Not all humans float either, Dr. Ebbesmeyer points out. About half of humans sink straight away, based on bone density and other factors. (Interestingly, this has nothing to do with a person's weight.) The people who float eventually disarticulate into parts that can float for months.
And that brings us to the mystery of why only feet washed up on shores.
| Location of sneakered feet |
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Sneaker timeline
1) Aug. 20 2007 – right foot, male, Jedediah Island (Campus brand)2) Aug. 26, 2008 – right foot, male, Gabriola Island (Reebok)
3) Feb 2 2008 – right foot, male, Valdes Island (Nike)
4) May 22 2008: right foot, female, Kirkland Island, Richmond (New Balance)
5) Jun 16 2008: left foot, male, Savage Rd, Ladner (only left foot) (Nike) (same man as Valdes foot)
6) Aug. 4 2008 – right foot, male, Pillar Point Beach, Washington (hiking shoe)
7) Nov. 12 2008 – left foot, female, Finn Slough in the south arm of the Fraser, near the end of Garden City Road, Richmond (New Balance)
>> More clues