Yet another severed human foot

We are pleased today to be able to add yet another incident to our unique-in-the-blogosphere-compilation of accounts of severed human feet, this latest report coming from Vancouver this week:

Another possible human foot has washed up on B.C.'s coast, this time in Powell River, which would bring to eight the number of feet found on beaches in B.C.

"[Saturday] afternoon a local resident of Powell River located a running shoe with what appeared to be remains inside it, on the beach just south of Powell River," B.C.  RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Annie Linteau confirmed Sunday.

"We attended the area and have since turned over the footwear and the remains to the BC Coroners Service."

Linteau said the coroner will conduct a forensic analysis to determine whether the remains inside are human. If confirmed, the Powell River foot would be the eighth human foot discovered along B.C.'s coast since 2007.

And it would add to the continuing mystery about what is causing lone human feet to wash up on the province's shores.

I agree that this is interesting:

"All of the feet discovered so far have been in running shoes."

The scientist in me says that this reflects the buoyancy of running shoes. But a little voice keeps whispering "maybe they were running from something..."

Severed feet at the Battle of Visby

"The 2,000 bloody, mangled, and hacked bodies were immediately buried in a hastily-dug pit on a hot sumer day, July 27, 1361... During the last century these bodies were exhumed and examined.  Most had their left foot (the leading foot exposed under the shield) axed off..."

From page 101 of  The Kensington Rune Stone: Compelling New Evidence, by Richard Nielsen and Scott Wolter, 2006.  While fact-checking the statement above, I found an interesting account of the battle, including the photo above, described as follows:

War hammers were also in evidence where a square section of the hammer head showing in the shape of the section of the skull which had been stove in. See the picture... which points to three bodkin arrow points which had penetrated the skull and two holes where a hammer had been used and the skull split between them...

Which came first is unknown. A number of guesses can be made such as two quick hammer blows to fell the man and the arrows landing after, or a hail of arrows which he had turned his back on and then later two hammer blows to put him out of his misery...

The grouping of the arrow heads is particularly spectacular and it makes one wonder if they used the tactic of a hail of arrows as in the later battle of Crecy where it is said the English Longbow men kept 100,000 arrows in the air at one time.

Another severed foot washes ashore in Washington

The remains of a human foot still encased in a shoe was found washed ashore near Tacoma about a week ago, raising to 10 the tally of feet found on Pacific Northwest beaches since 2007.

On Dec. 5, a man walking along the shore spotted the foot and called police. The foot has not been identified yet, but police believe it belonged to a juvenile or small adult.

"Our best guess someone in their mid-to-late teens," Tacoma Police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. The shoe, a boys' size 6 "Ozark Trail" hiking boot, was sold in Walmart Stores in 2004 and 2005.

Further details at the Vancouver Sun.

Civil War veteran with his prosthetic foot

Via Historical Indulgences.

Severed foot found in the Netherlands

Terschelling - OOSTEREND -  Op het strand van Terschelling is zaterdag een voet gevonden. Dat gebeurde ter hoogte van Oosterend bij paal 16. De politie weet nog niet van wie het lichaamsdeel afkomstig is. Het Korps Landelijke Politiediensten gaat dna-onderzoek doen.De voet werd aangetroffen door een familie die een strandwandeling maakte. Zij zagen een sok liggen en ontdekten de inhoud. Er was weinig meer van over dan wat botten.Bron : Leeuwarder Cournat (source)

A hat-tip to Heumpje for locating this.  He reports that "another foot in a similar sneaker had been found on the beach of Hull, UK, a month earlier.  Turns out the feet belong to a Britton that has been missing since 2008.."

Severed foot regurgitated by shark

I guess if I'm going to maintain a severed feet category, I should include all such events.  This all began with a flurry of feet in running shoes washing ashore in the Pacific Northwest; that seems to have quieted down, but others occasionally pop up.  This week there is a report of a banker who caught a shark, which regurgitated a human foot and was found to have a human body in its stomach.  Warning: graphic photos.

Severed foot found in Tennessee

I've been blogging the "severed feet washing ashore" saga in the Pacific Northwest since its onset, so for completeness I should probably report on other similar incidents.  A hat tip therefore to reader Djinny for notifying me that a a jogger found a boot with a foot and part of a leg floating in the Tennessee River near Chattanooga.  A later report indicated that a body wearing military style clothing, but missing a leg and foot has subsequently been located in the river.

A hat tip to reader Joe for the heads-up.

Another human foot has washed ashore !!

Finally!!  It's been almost a year since the last one...

Those of you who are long-time TYWKIWDBI readers will know that we have been following this series of bizarre events for about two and a half years.  I would venture to say that TYWKIWDBI is the only blog with a subcategory of severed feet.

Here's a synopsis:

A human foot was found washed ashore on Whidbey Island in Washington state on Friday.  The bare foot was found at about 11:15 a.m. by a tourist on the east side of the island, near the town of Greenbank.

It is the ninth severed foot to be found on the B.C.-Washington coast since August 2007, with seven of those in B.C.

Notably (or not), this one wasn't wearing a tennis shoe.

Something's afoot.