Doctor has revealed an explanation behind a grisly phenomenon that may have caused dozens of shoes containing severed feet to wash up along a coastline.
Sneakers have repeatedly washed a shore at a stretch of North American west coast over the years with human feet found intact inside.
The following written content from Talia Shadwell
Since August 2007, 21 feet have washed up on Salish Sea coastline beaches spanning United States and Canada beaches – all completely severed from the bodies they were once attached to.
Records showed a boot with a leg still attached was recorded washing up along the coast as far back as 1887.
The discoveries lead to wild theories and even hoaxes over the years as feet repeatedly washed up along the shoreline, with the finds spanning British Columbia, Canada, and Washington.
But an NHS doctor has explained the official theory behind what had been a macabre mystery.
Dr Karan Raj told his TikTok followers the feet were often discovered severed separately from corpses because of the way bodies break down in sea water – and due to modern shoe design.
He said: “It is because of the trainers they were seen inside.
“When a human corpse falls to the ocean floor, it’s quickly set upon by scavengers. He continued: “These scavengers are lazy feeders and prefer to eat the softer parts of our bodies first. “Some of the softest parts of us are the soft tissues and ligaments around our ankles.
Dr Raj explained how sea predators contribute to the phenomenon. He said: “When scavengers chow down on this the foot will detach easily from the body.”
He also explained that modern trainer materials were a factor in the phenomenon. He said: “Over the last few decades, shoes have become more buoyant.
“As a result, we could be seeing more severed feet on our shores.” His viral TikTok comes after a coroner investigating the mystery of the severed feet ruled out foul play in December 2017.
Tragically, all the feet came from people who were killed either in accidents or by suicide, the Coroner’s Service in British Columbia ruled.
The coroner explained that the feet became separated from the bodies as part of the normal decomposition process in water.
The ruling found it was likely the sneaker materials kept the feet buoyant enough to eventually wash ashore.
The fabric was thought to have given the feet enough protection from decomposition to be found relatively intact years later while the bodies broke down separately.
The most recent discovery along the coastline was a foot found in January 2019, at Jetty Island in Everett, Washington. Read more from Mirror
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