HOW MANY FEET IN A SALISH SEA?
- Jul 13
- 2 min read
You can’t spend time anywhere near the Salish Sea without hearing about the mystery feet. Averaging about one a year, sneakers with intact, disembodied human feet inside have been washing up on local shores for decades now. After half a dozen such feet had accumulated, folks really started paying attention and the matter got broader media attention.
In the absence of a satisfactory explanation, many speculations sprang up. Some hypothesized these were the remnants of tsunami-related fatalities while others suspected a botched human trafficking conspiracy or an unknown serial killer. Obviously, aliens were on the menu, too. I suspect it was the drones or Taiwanese weather balloons. Of course there were hoaxes, too. In one case someone planted a shoe with an animal’s paw inside. Humans are gonna human. All this eventually resulted in an episode of the Netflix show Files of the Unexplained, featuring the phenomenon. Episode eight is titled "Floating Feet of Salish Sea".
But at this point it doesn’t seem so unexplained. Authorities have been convinced for some time the phenomenon does not involve foul play. Among a regional population of around eight million along the coast here, both accidents and suicides are going to happen and result in bodies making their way into the sea; these cold and highly oxygenated waters also mean organic matter decomposes rapidly and abundant scavengers such as fish, crabs, shrimp, snails, and worms do what they do, resulting in feet to detaching from legs; modern sneakers, commonly composed of soles made of bouyant foam and with air pockets for cushioning, easily float to the surface with detached feet securely tied inside; the Salish Sea’s complex geography, with many islands, inlets, and rivers, easily trapping floating debris of this sort. In effect, this is a natural phenomenon. Why this wasn’t reported in the previous century is likely a combination of there being a much smaller population, making the occurrence much more rare, and shoes of the above description only really becoming ubiquitous in the last few decades. Now, on the other hand, if twenty feet strapped into Birkenstocks pop up we can be sure it was aliens.
SOURCES
CBC, 2007 - Discovery of unattached human feet baffles B.C. police
Toronto Star, 2008 - Two mystery feet from same person, BC police say
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2010 - Human foot washes ashore on Whidbey Island
Victoria Buzz, 2017 - Police investigate human foot found on a Jordan River beach Thursday http://victoriabuzz.com/2017/12/police-investigate-human-foot-found-jordan-river-beach-thursday
All That’s Interesting, 2023 - The Salish Sea Feet Mystery And Its Eerie Explanation
City News, 2023 - Human foot washed up in Victoria ‘unsurprising,’ experts say
Netflix, 2024 - Files of the Unexplained
