Salish Sea human foot discoveries

[1] Prior to the recent seeming rush of feet washing ashore, there have been earlier instances going back more than a century, such as a leg in a boot that was found on a Vancouver beach in 1887.

In British Columbia, 13 of the 15 feet have been identified; the latest was a left foot found on the shore of a rocky beach in West Vancouver, B.C., in September 2018.

Two more unidentified feet washed up on the shore of Botanical Beach on the West coast of Vancouver Island (adjacent to the Strait of Juan de Fuca) in February 2016.

With major headlines from newspapers such as the Melbourne Herald Sun, The Guardian, and the Cape Times in South Africa, the story elicited much speculation about the cause of the mystery, originating from "morbid fascination" with this type of subject, as stated by one scientist who identifies remains of victims.

[19] According to Simon Fraser University entomologist Gail Anderson, extremities such as the hands, feet, and head often detach as a body decomposes in water, but rarely float.

[66] The podcast "Tanis" mentions the phenomenon, even interviewing a character who has been DNA matched to a foot discovered on the beach, only for it to be revealed he still has both feet.

[67] The 2020 novel Crooked River by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child begins with severed feet found on a beach inspired by this event.

[69][70] In the third episode of Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives (TV series), one of the ghosts brings up the phenomenon as a case for the main cast.