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current events firegeezer on 26 May 2008 08:14 am

My Right Foot

FOR THE 4TH TIME IN THE PAST 9 MONTHS, a severed right foot has washed ashore near Vancouver, British Columbia.

This most recent discovery was found Thursday by a passer-by on Kirkland Island in the Fraser River.

4thFoot a
Kirkland Island (Canada.com)

In February of this year, Firegeezer reported HERE:

Last August a severed right foot, shod in a sneaker-style shoe, washed ashore on a nearby island.  But it’s not unusual for the occasional body part to wash ashore on an ocean coast.

Then a week later, a second foot was found on a trail in a neighboring island.  This one, too, was “wearing” a sneaker.  Quite a coincidence, but still nothing to get excited about.  Although the police did open investigations on both cases to see if they matched any missing persons reports.

Just over a week ago, on Feb. 8, a third foot was found on the shore.  Yep, it had a sneaker on it.

Now the RCMP is taking a stronger interest in the case.  All of them were right feet.  All of them were shod in sneakers.  And …. all of them are size 12.

This recently-found foot is also shod with a sock and a sneaker shoe, but the police are keeping mum on what the foot size is on this one.  Police constable Annie Linteau said, “It’s certainly very unusual (and) a mystery that we intend on solving.”

And once again we are treated to some unique opinion from retired professor of oceanography Curtis Ebbesmeyer who is an “expert on floating objects.”  After the first three feet were found, the RCMP and the B. C. coroner contacted Ebbesmeyer for advice.

Prof. Ebbesmeyer had a chance to study the issue when 61,000 pairs of Nike sneakers fell into the sea from a container ship in Alaskan waters in 1990.

The shoes drifted to parts of the Canadian coast including the Queen Charlotte Islands, off B.C.’s north coast and as far south as Washington and Oregon.

Running shoes float upside down protecting the remains inside from birds but leaving them open to the attention of fish and other water animals, he said.

Friday he further enlightened us when he said left shoes and right shoes often tend to wash up at different times at different places because they float differently.

He added that there are beaches that collect mostly rights and others that collect mostly lefts because the winds or currents sort out left and right foot wear.  (I am NOT making this up! …. FG)

As Sherlock Holmes would say to Dr. Watson, “The game is certainly afoot.”

The Calgary Herald has more on this recent discovery and an update on the previous finds HERE.
For a Google map that shows where all four feet have been found, click HERE.

One Response to “My Right Foot”

  1. on 17 Jun 2008 at 10:30 am 1.Christian Lewalter said …

    5th foot found: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7458468.stm

    Christian

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