You put your left foot in

[pbray]

Left foot washes up on beach near Vancouver. Note that this is the fifth foot found in this area since last August, but all of the previous finds have been right feet.

It's the very bizarreness of the story that captures the imagination. An entire body washing up along shore is one thing, but just feet?

Edited on 6/18 to add: and they've just found a sixth foot. A right one.

Edited on 6/19 to add: the sixth foot was a hoax--skeletonized animal paw wrapped in seaweed and stuffed in shoe. The recent news coverage has apparently brought out the crazies.

Comments

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Presumably all shoes that tied (i.e. sneakers) since they hadn't fallen off, and the rubber's flotation effects may be why these parts floated ashore while others sank (or were consumed).

Reminds me of the sneakers that kept washing up all over the Pacific, which were eventually traced to a container that had fallen off a ship during a storm. So these remains could indeed have come from almost anywhere...

or it could be the work of a local sea monster. I'm keeping an open mind.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

Don't body parts float anyway, same as bodies? I admit I haven't researched the topic extensively, and I'm just too gosh-darned far from the ocean for empirical testing.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's one of those yes and no things. Depends on how they died-- drowning victims whose lungs are full of water tend to sink, while someone killed on land whose lungs are filled with air will generally float if their corpse is later placed in the water. Clothing and body type can also effect whether the body floats or sinks.

The biological process of decomposition can cause a decaying body to rise to the surface. But if the body is not intact for whatever reason, then the individual pieces would have their own buoyancy values to be considered.

And yes, I spend way too much time thinking about these things, why do you ask?

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

The scary part is, I didn't ask. I read the explanation and immediately went to trying to estimate the buoyancy of a foot. You mean not *everyone* spends hours considering the behaviour of dismembered corpses? :)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Well the people I hang out with do, and really, does anyone else's opinion matter?