Severed feet keep washing up on Pacific Northwest shores

One foot was also discovered earlier this week in Vancouver Island

At least sixteen severed human feet inside shoes have washed up on the shores of the Pacific Northwest since 2007, a mystery experts have not yet been able to solve.

The human feet, all attached to running shoes or hiking boots, have been found in British Columbia, Canada and Washington state. One foot was also discovered earlier this week, the Washington Post reported.



According to CBC, the shoe was spotted by the husband of Charlotte Stevens of British Columbia while she was taking a walk with her family on Vancouver Island.

However, a closer inspection revealed something more.

“He picked it up and brought it out on to the beach,” Stevens told the CBC, “and we had a look at it for about five minutes and we thought, it almost looks like there is an actual foot bone in it.”

The BC Coroners Service later confirmed that the shoe came with a disjointed foot like the others previously discovered. How long the shoe had been in the water remains unknown, but the regional coroner, Matt Brown, said the exact model of shoe had gone on the market after March 2013, indicating that it belonged to someone who went missing between then and December.



While scientists suggest that hands and feet are often the first to fall off when a body is caught in the water for very long, some speculate feet come from people who may have been in natural disasters or who fell victim to serial killers or human traffickers.

Police are working to connect the feet with people who have gone missing, using the make and model of the shoes.

This article originally appeared on The Washington Post.