Scientists explain why human feet have been washing ashore in the US and Canada

Scientists have worked out why human feet have rather worryingly been washing up on beaches in America and Canada.

Between 2007 and 2019, a total of 21 human feet, usually still in their shoes, were washed ashore from the Salish Sea which were found by people on the beach, much to their shock as you can imagine.

The first two, which were both size 12 right feet, were found within the space of a week by a young girl and a couple, reports IFL Science.

After that, more and more feet kept appearing, usually in sneakers, and people all around the world started to hear about it.

There were loads of theories as to what could be happening, such as a serial killer being on the loose or the mafia disposing of bodies in the sea, but the late Coroner Barb McLintock dismissed these in the National Post when more feet appeared in 2016.

"We pretty well think we know what happened in every case," she said. "There's none that have any suggestion of homicide. In every case there is an alternate, very reasonable explanation."

Scientists have worked out why human feet keep washing up on shore in America and Canada / RuneLights, iStock

When a body is out at sea and sinks to the ocean floor, it is set upon by scavengers, such as crustaceans, who are lazy feeders and will go for softer parts of the body rather than the tougher bits.

Soft parts of the human body include ankles and when this is eaten, the foot will detach quickly before it has decomposed - so the bodies would have sunk but the feet were detached by fish.

Lovely, right?

But the reason why it wasn't really noticed until 2007 was because of the footwear itself - sneakers kept washing up because they've more recently been made of lighter foam with air pockets in the soles, meaning they float a lot better.

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