15 feet towards nowhere

A 15th foot has been found floating in the Pacific waters near the Canada/US border.  We include a link cuz we've been following this since the beginning but really, we have nothing to say on the subject we haven't already said, no grisly puns to trot out (hehe).

Article: http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/952427-129/port-of-seattle-finds-severed-human

Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Sea_human_foot_discoveries

Note that the foot was in a jogging shoe.  I think this means that the jogging shoes are more floaty than other types of shoes, hence the reason we're finding them.  Which makes we wonder how many feet have sunk to the bottom in say, a pair of penny loafers?

That or there's a killer on the road, hunting joggers.

The foot mystery continues

A 10th foot has washed ashore off the West Coast, this time near Tacoma, Washington.  Don't know if we can speculate any further on this as the police haven't turned up evidence of foul play in any of the cases....

Any theories?  See our tags (Canada and feet) for the posts we've already made on the subject.

Recent news articles via Google.

Who stole the sole?

Another human foot has washed up on shore on the Washington/Canada border, adding fuel to the speculative fire as to exactly what the hell is going on up there.

It's a right foot, either a woman or juvenile and, unlike other feet, was not found floating in a shoe. This is the eighth foot since 2007 and officials estimate that it had been in the water less than 2 months. This kills the theory that all these feet are coming from the same accident, but it doesn't preclude that these are all unrelated incidents....Officials are in the process of gathering forensic info from neighboring jurisdictions.

Whidbey Island, where the foot was found, does have an interesting story to tell about dismemebered bodies:

"In 1850, Colonel Isaac N. Ebey became the first permanent settler on Whidbey Island, claiming a square mile (2.6 km²) of prairie with a southern shoreline on Admiralty Inlet. Even though he was farming potatoes and wheat on his land, he was also the postmaster for Port Townsend, Washington and rowed a boat daily across the inlet in order to work at the post office there. On August 11, 1857, Colonel Ebey was murdered and beheaded by Haida Indians who traveled from the Queen Charlotte Islands. Ebey was 39 years old. Ebey was slain in retaliation for the killing of a Haida chief at Port Gamble."

The fort named in his memory was installed just north of a place called "Coupeville". "Coupe" meaning "Cut" in French. (Named after Captain Thomas Coupe). Or it may be a variant of Coop:

1. English: metonymic occupational name for a cooper, from Middle English coupe ‘tub’, ‘container’ (see Cooper). In some cases the surname may have been derived from a pub or house sign.

2. Dutch: from koop ‘purchase’, ‘bargain’, hence a nickname for a haggler or a metonymic occupational name for a merchant.

Not that any of these things has to do with another. But the question remains. What's with all the feet? Why here and not elsewhere?

Washington: First in War, Peace -- and Accounting

This article by Joel Achenbach in the Oct. 12 edition of The Washington Post is an interesting read and fits nicely with our ongoing look at the rise of capitalism, the tessellation of the plane and Enlightenment revolutionary doctrines. The most pertinent passage is quoted below:

As thoroughly researched as the life of Washington has been, his career as a warrior and statesman has largely overshadowed his entrepreneurial history. He was the CEO, in effect, of a farming, manufacturing and real estate operation that by the end of his life encompassed more than 50,000 acres of field and forest. Farms, fisheries, weavers, smithies, a grist mill, a distillery -- these were just part of the Washington empire.

Washington came of age as a backcountry surveyor of relatively modest means. His business sensibilities, innovative thinking and willingness to take chances are all part and parcel of his evolution as a revolutionary.

By the end of his life, Washington was one of the richest men in the nation he had helped create. But he knew the frustrations of doing business in a land that lacked banks, roads and industry, where there was little capital, and where he had to depend on transatlantic commerce using information moving at the speed of a sailing ship. Washington was so cash-strapped in 1789 that he had to borrow money from a neighbor in order to travel to his presidential inauguration.

The Curious Case of the Barefoot Burglar

Here's an odd little tale about a clever juvenile delinquent with a Facebook fan club.

Another foot washes ashore....this time in Washington

Just follow the link above until someone more clever comes along to shed light on this baffling mystery. LoS has posted on this a few times before. When we first wrote about it in May there were only four feet. Now there are six, not including one hoax one one foot found on the Swedish coast. There is also apparently a footless body in Washington state.

Two of the Canadian feet come from the same body and another has been identified as that of a "depressed" man who disappeared some time ago. All but one of the feet are from men. All were found in athletic shoes. None are said to have been "severed" and bodies coming apart in water is said to be quite normal.

If it's normal that feet come apart from their bodies then why are so many being found now, in more or less the same place, all them in athletic shoes? Doesn't anyone die near the water wearing espadrilles or fisherman's Wellingtons? Doesn't anyone die in the water in Florida?

Interesting fact from the article:

"Her [Simon Fraser University forensic scientist Gail Anderson] experiments last year showed that it takes scavenging crabs, seals, sharks and fish about 28 days to fully devour a decomposing pig carcass, which is similar to a human carcass in its bacteria and rates of decomposition."

Also, from the Peninsula Daily News:

"One early theory that Canadian authorities broached early in the investigation of the five severed feet has been debunked.

The RCMP in British Columbia said that none of the feet belongs to the five men who died in a plane crash in the Strait of Georgia in February 2005."

Post Script Aug. 6: This article has some good observations, including:

"Although the similar footwear may seem like a strange coincidence, it actually explains why these feet have been found.

"Most body parts would sink," Shields said. "Because the feet have running shoes on them and running shoes consist of a spongy sole that contains air, it makes the foot float."

The other parts of the body, and other feet wearing different kinds of shoes, would sink and never be found, he added."