Back On Our Feet Again

For those of you who have been following this blog, a quote from Twin Peaks seems most appropriate: "It is happening ... again."

On Nov. 11th, a new disembodied human foot turned up again near the mouth of the Fraser River in Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver which Heather and I often visit), the same general area as three of the previous feet.

The latest discovery appears, on its surface, to be a match for left foot found on May 22nd; like that one, this is from a female and is encased in a New Balance running shoe.

As we've said before, no foul play is suspected in these creepy-weird findings; police say they believe that the feet are part of a natural process called disarticulation, which is when a human body starts to separate at the joints after prolonged periods underwater. The victims are believed to be people who have died in small plane crashes or committed suicide in the BC area over the past few years, at least for now. DNA tests will determine if this new right foot matches the left one found on May 22.

This brings the total to seven feet that have washed ashore in various places over the last 18 months; here's a map of  the gruesome finds . If you're wondering why heads and torsos, hands, et al haven't washed up, well, there's a logical -- though grisly -- answer for this: heads and torsos are more lightly clothed and were probably eaten by large aquatic creatures like whales or sharks.

The worst part of this -- assuming the disarticulation theory is correct and there's not some bizarre serial killer out there* -- is that so far the RCMP have not confirmed the identities of any of the victims, meaning the families of missing people must continue to agonise over their ill-fated loved ones.

*none of the found feet look like they were forcibly removed -- just want to make that clear.

Of Mercury and Far-Flung Feet

Let's start with the good news, shall we?

Skafest started this weekend, and both the temperatures and the sunlight have been gorgeous. Highs are expected to be around 70°F (20-22°C) all week, with nightly lows in in the low 50s(F)/teens (C). Sunny + cool breeze = Chas loves this weather!!

So on to the macabre news ...

There's been more info out about the mysterious (and now, thanks entirely to this blog, reported worldwide) case of the sneakers filled with disembodied human feet which have washed up on the shores of various islands and rivers in our general region.

Here's a good rundown of the latest revelations, but in a nutshell:

• Of the five feet found so far, four were right feet. One of the right feet belonged to a female.


• The one left foot has been matched to one of the right feet. The identity of the victim is not yet known.


• It's important to reiterate that despite the reckless use of the term "severed" in news reports, all the feet found disarticulated from the body "naturally" rather than being separated by force. There's no evidence of foul play, these feet are probably remains of small-plane or boat sinkings.

Looking at the photos and video of the (now-cleaned) running shoes, I'm struck by how well-preserved these shoes are after at least a year in the water. I'm thinking now that when I die, I want my body encased in tennis-shoe-like material (particularly if I were to be buried at sea!).

Foot in Mouth

As you know, we've been covering this disembodied foot story, but today I must correct the item below; initial reports were wrong, the "foot" is an animal paw and the story may be a cruel hoax.

So we're still at five disembodied human feet, all in sneakers, one left and four rights, found on islands and waterways around British Columbia.

More news as it happens, once cleared by the Ministry of Creepy Weirdness. :)

And Now The News

Happy happy, joy joy, the best American newscast out there, Keith Olbermann's Countdown, is now available as a commercial-free video podcast. Alongside the PBS Newshour, this is as good as passionate American journalism gets. If you're missing Tim Russert because he was someone who clearly loved what he was doing (which was educating the public), you'll be a fan of Keith quicker than you can say "Barry Bonds is on steroids."

Keith isn't afraid to tell you what he thinks, but that's quite a bit different than him telling you what to think. A distinction some propaganda networks could stand to learn.

But if you prefer straight-up newscasters who don't inject opinions into their news, here's another option: The CBC and the BBC. Both produce nightly newscasts that are outstandingly well-balanced and objective, and although they are both produced outside the United States they of course reflect much of what's really important coming out of the US (and discard most of the really unimportant stuff, which more US newscasts could really stand to do). The BBC newscast is available to most Americans with cable television: at the present time the CBC's outstanding show The National is only available in the US to satellite and internet viewers. Curse you Al Gore!

I encourage all my US friends to try this simple experiment: there's a one-minute "news summary" video on the CBC's web page (linked above). Take a moment and watch one right now. Try to watch one every day or two for a week or two. As you watch, bear in mind that this is a country that is a major player on the world stage. Now compare what stories or covered (and what stories aren't covered) compared to your preferred US news network. I think you'll notice a positive difference.

For those who would really like to take the plunge, I recommend The National. It's a fabulous hour-long national newscast (remember when most national newscasts were an hour long?), featuring both Canada's top stories and political analysis (and sometimes -- if you're really lucky -- social commentary from the World's Ugliest Man, Rex Murphy).

US residents who watch these "foreign" broadcasts benefit in two important ways: first, they are better informed not just on US stories but on international news thanks to the superior reporting (and lack of "infotainment"), and secondly you are reminded at what a huge impact the US has on every part of the world. It's good to remember, as you head into that voting booth in a few months, that you're voting not just for yourself, but for the billions of people who cannot vote in the US election and yet will be profoundly impacted by what the new president and congress do -- or don't do.

One last “news” note: for those following the ongoing saga of the disembodied feet washing ashore in various British Columbia locales, we're up to five ... and this one is a left foot (all the others have been right feet). The mystery continues!

In Other News ...

A new episode of Chas' Crusty Old Wave should appear in your iTunes shortly. If not, head over to Crusty Old Wave Central and pick it up the Amish way.

An update to our ongoing story about right feet washing up mysteriously in BC: the latest foot belonged to a woman wearing a running shoe. The mystery deepens.

We don't have Memorial Day up here (we have Remembrance Day in November), so instead this weekend was dedicated (at least here in Victoria) to the Swiftsure Yacht Race instead. I didn't go see it but there's been plenty of local TV coverage. Here's a video before the race began.

We are heading to Chicago later this week to see friends and family. We are very excited for many reasons, not least of which is that we get to go on the Victoria Clipper, an "express" ferry service to Seattle. Yes, there will be a gallery.

We Are Living in a David Lynch Film

Normally, we use this space to report on all the wonderful things we have/find/discover in our new home town and our adventures in and around this province. Most of the time, the news is good, though like any place there is occasionally some bad news here -- a murder or traffic accident, something of that nature. Though Victoria is almost unrelentingly beautiful this time of year, that doesn't mean there isn't a dark underbelly.

That said, even the worst news events are usually small in scale compared to where we lived before, and even small in comparison to the other major cities of Canada; Victoria is still a reasonably familial community compared to the big sprawling cities in the middle and eastern part of the country. Thus, news stories that one might reasonably tag as creepy and disturbing are very thin on the ground here.

But we do have one.

Starting 10 months ago, with the latest just yesterday, four disembodied, sneakered right feet have washed up onto the shores of islands and rivers in or near the Georgia Strait here in western BC. three of them were found just an hour and a half north of here, on the islands just south of Nanaimo (the fourth and most recent was found in an inlet from the Strait near Burnaby, a half-hour or so south of Vancouver).



This is what is known: all four were wearing running shoes, and all four were right feet. Some reports say at least two of the feet were male and size 12s; other say one of the feet matches that description. Other than that, and the locations where the feet were found, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) aren't saying much.

We've known about this since the third foot washed up in February (the first two appeared last August), but haven't mentioned it before because we assumed the police would crack the case fairly quickly; in our six months here we've noticed that most major crimes get resolved (or at least a suspect in custody) very fast. But this time they're stumped, so to speak (sorry).

The good news is that the chance that this is the work of foul play (for example a serial killer) has lessened. The RCMP, probably in a bit of rumour control, have declared that none of the feet look to have been severed. This means that they are likely the result of bodies decomposing underwater. Feet inside shoes can hold together, even when the rest of the body decomposes and turns into a soapy substance through the process of adiposcere (coincidentally enough, this was also a component of a recent Doctor Who story).

There's a man on one of the gulf islands who think that two of the feet belong to his brothers, who died in a plane crash in 2005 with the bodies unrecovered. DNA testing will eventually bear this theory out, but in the meantime, I'm not watching Blue Velvet till they're sure.