Third severed right foot discovered (BC coast)

[brainpanhandler]

ok, now tell me, why did you post this jeff

is there a hint of something more?

Not really. I'm just a sucker for anomalous severed limb stories.

I can't help but wonder what the purpose of your question was Smiths. The tone I read your question with contains a suggestion that Jeff may have fatuously posted this story because you suspect he has a morbid fascination with the macabre. And if that's so then I wonder how you would judge that proclivity. For me, a central question that is constantly in the foreground of my experience with RI is, why do I find this or that so damn fascinating and what does that say about me that I do?

One of the very first things that comes to mind for me, aside from an opportunity for some gallows humor, is Jeffrey Beaumont's discovery in Blue Velvet of the severed ear in the vacant lot. I have to believe Jeff Wells also made that connection. As it stands, there is so little evidence to go on that the rest is left to our imaginations. And where did that curiosity lead Beaumont?

I did Google Missing Basketball Team to no avail, although there are a few odd stories of NBA players that have gone missing. Size 12 feet are not very common. One narrative that suggests itself is that the feet belong to some basketball players who were supposed to throw a game and the organized crime entity that lost a lot of money when they didn’t exacted revenge. The possible narratives that at least fit the facts are not endless, but with so few dots no picture that is not almost entirely fictional can really emerge.

Upon reading the OP story, you have to ask yourself, what are the odds? What are the freakin odds? And then your imagination grabs hold of the details, such as they are, and begins to construct narratives to fit the known facts. Maybe that is the ultimate origin of the nervous laughter and whistling past the graveyard evidenced in the punny posts, namely, that the real horror is welling up out of the darkest recesses of our own minds and a little endorphin cascade is just what the doctor ordered.

I also Googled Ritual Foot Amputation. After sifting through a few gory sites relating to self mutilation and self amputation I ran across Lynn Schirmer's presentation at The Ninth Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference, August, 2006:

And this is the last one. This piece is actually 9 feet by 15 feet long, and it's my most popular work. I've had it up in my studio now for 3 months and people come in and love it. I don't know why, maybe it's the size. I have another 15 feet on the roll, so I'm going to keep rolling it out and do another one or two groups and then I'm going to search for a venue to show it next year. It's called "Burden and Amputation".

Burden of course relates to having to live day in and day out with all this stuff going on all of the time inside. Amputation is about a technique they used on me quite often. Images of cut off limbs are all over my work. They had this technique of using electric shock and Novocain to make me feel as if my feet had been amputated, even though they were still there.

Link: http://members.aol.com/smartnews/ls06.htm
This of course will sober one up pretty quick. There is absolutely nothing about Schirmer’s experiences or work that is even remotely humorous.

Those feet were once attached to human beings that presumably wished to keep their appendages.

[American Dream]

For whatever it is worth, here is a brief article about a murder which shocked all of us who knew the victim. It occurred on or around the Summer Solstice of 2003:

http://olyblog.net/blog/demy-deasis/the ... vid-george



The Life and Death of David George
Submitted by Demy DeAsis on Mon, 12/11/2006

In Spring of 2002, I met David George at TESC [The Evergreen State College]. He was trying to resurrect a publication he started back in the 80's, The Evergreen Free Press. David appeared to have detailed knowledge about prominent individuals in the Olympia community who were involved in occult crimes. Some of his information dovetailed with what I knew, independent of his sources. We spoke extensively about the controversial Paul Ingram and Kiwanis Boy's Ranch cases, involving alleged ritual and child abuse. Yes, David was a bit paranoid at times - maybe due to his excessive drug use or maybe he knew too much, or, both. We were working on a book transcript written by a survivor of the government MKULTRA mind control program, and, whose father was part of the pedophile perp ring from Nebraska as mentioned in the book, The Franklin Coverup. David was editing my friend's transcript and I was to publish it. In the Summer of 2003, I returned from a family vacation to hear that David had been murdered by two young men, because he apparently owed money for drugs. This explanation never did set well with me, especially the ritualistic way he was dismembered. The book transcript was not found with his belongings.

[Jeff]

Those feet were once attached to human beings that presumably wished to keep their appendages.

Thanks, that was an excellent post.

A follow-up story today:

Body parts may have come from strait, expert says

February 16, 2008

VICTORIA -- Three severed human feet that have washed ashore in British Columbia's Gulf Islands in recent months likely came from somewhere inside the Strait of Georgia, a West Coast expert on ocean currents said yesterday.

"There is an exchange with the Strait of Georgia and the open ocean, through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but that exchange is generally an outflow," said Diane Masson, a research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Victoria. "It's unlikely these drifted into the strait [of Juan de Fuca]."

However, Dr. Masson said floating objects in the Strait of Georgia move in unpredictable patterns dictated by wind conditions and tidal currents, making it difficult to pinpoint which direction the severed feet may have travelled.

RCMP revealed this week they are investigating the Feb. 8 discovery of a sneaker-clad human foot on Valdes Island, the third such incident in the area in less than six months. All three severed extremities have been right feet and all three have been clad in running shoes.

RCMP said yesterday that they have been unable to confirm any link between the three incidents nor pinpoint any evidence of foul play.

"There's an investigation ongoing, but we've yet to determine if there's been foul play," RCMP spokeswoman Constable Annie Lintau said.

"Vancouver Island major crimes division is assisting us ... but at this point they're three separate files."

The first severed foot was discovered on Aug. 20 on Jedediah Island off the Vancouver Island coast near Parksville. Less than a week later, a couple out for a stroll stumbled upon a severed human foot that had washed ashore on Gabriola Island, about 60 kilometres to the south,

The first two feet were both in size 12 men's sneakers. Police have not released a description of the third foot, which has been turned over to the B.C. Coroner's Service for examination.

"We're going to select tissue that might be suitable for a DNA profile," B.C. deputy assistant coroner Jeff Dolan said. "There are other identification techniques we use as well ... basically, we'll be doing an autopsy on the foot."

Even with modern forensic science, it's extremely difficult to tell how long a body part has been floating at sea, he said.

Forensic anthropology and pathology tests are used to determine the age, race and gender, but the coroner's office can't release details of its findings due to the ongoing police investigation, Mr. Dolan said.

However, he confirmed that analysis of the first two severed feet has so far failed identify the individuals to whom they belonged. Efforts to recover usable DNA from the decomposed feet were successful, but there were no matches with DNA data banks or known missing persons, he said.

There are two possible reasons the feet remained intact and floated ashore while the bodies they belonged to apparently decomposed and disappeared, Mr. Dolan said.

"Buoyancy could be a factor. The shoe would also afford some level of protection, more than an otherwise exposed body part," he said.

About half of Valdes Island is aboriginal territory belonging to the Lysack First Nation based in nearby Chemainus.

The band's director of operations, Mechelle Crocker, said the island is uninhabited and there's no indication the remains are aboriginal.

"We're certain this has nothing to do with any of our reserve people," she said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... y/National

[Lord Balto]

Now, this is very interesting, indeed. It may seem trivial and sporadic, but think of this:

Three have been found.

How many remain unfound?

And, what was the event, and what did it signify?

There is something vaguely Fortean about this. The repetition of anomalous events at the same place over a period of time. And like most Fortean events, I predict it will never be solved.

[Searcher08]

To those who feel this is an occasion for crass, insensitive jokes, I ask, how would you feel if the shoe was on the other foot?

I think you are acting like a thread to thread meme saleperson, sticking your foot in the door, but really without a sound footing on this occasion and leaving me, frankly, to foot the bill. I think I have it nailed after stubbing my toe on this case. the three people were probably not well heeled...

etc etc etc

[brainpanhandler]

Searcher08,

It would have been quite a feat to restrain myself. Where exactly does one draw the line? People, me included, quite often laugh or joke on occasions when that does not really seem upon closer examination to be an appropriate response. Laughter serves many purposes.

I swear I'm not judging you. I am a sucker for puns and word play and a really excellent pun has to be pretty damn inappropriate for me to take a pass.

But there is no doubt that if those three feet were being reported as the feet of children, we would not be having this discussion.

[Project Willow]

Woah.

American Dream, thanks for posting that article, something to pay attention to.

About the amputations in the labs, there was so much overlap with individuals between ritual and tax-funded lab sessions, the psychosis of perps is not necessarily distinguishable at times. I should quote Gilligan here (James MD., not the other), but there is almost always a message in these heinous acts, even with lone assailants. In the labs it was pure terror, plus not being able to get away, (can't use feet).

So I think that the scenario posited about an organized crime ritual killing plus "message" fits. You are on the right track Brainpanhandler, looking into forms of ritual killings. Either someone has been terribly sloppy or there definitely is a message being delivered here.

[lunarose]

possible 'mundane' causes:

fishermen, surfers, parasailers, etc. who went awry far away, the feet were carried away by currents.

problems with drug running.

'boat-people' were trying to get to the u.s., something went wrong and the coyotes bailed, leaving people to drown.

unethical mortuary practices (who was that guy down south who couldn't be bothered to bury or cremate the hundreds of bodies on his property?)

as the last 3 causes involve criminal activity, no one is going to hop up and claim responsibility.

at least they're covering it. i got the sf chron in paper form for years, and on age E4572 you'd get the 2 para article about some gruesome female body found burned or drowned or in the bushes. it would happen every month or more often, but no one ever bothered to connect the dots and bring it up closer to the front. now i get it online and you don't get access to those type of articles.

[Jeff]

CBC News video report here

[brainpanhandler]

I would think it would not be that difficult to determine if a foot was cut off or not, even if it had been floating around in the ocean for a while. Surely the body decomposition expert in the CBC report, Gail Anderson, could at least determine if victim was alive or dead when the feet were detached or aproximately how long the feet were in the water. And surely there would be some evidence of amputation left if there was foul play and so if not it could be ruled out. If the feet were not cut off then why wouldn't the Canadian authorities just say so? The fact that they are not telling is how the feet became detached tends to make me believe that they were cut off.

[judasdisney]

There is something vaguely Fortean about this. The repetition of anomalous events at the same place over a period of time. And like most Fortean events, I predict it will never be solved.

Mystery of severed leg found in garden

MYSTERY surrounds the discovery of a severed animal leg – complete with hoof – on a Harborough lawn.

Tom and Christmas Moore (both 28 years old), of Deene Close, say they were shocked to discover the 30cm-long appendage on their front lawn last Wednesday.

Mr Moore, a project co-ordinator at De Montfort University, said: “My wife called me at work and told me that when she had answered the door to the postman she had looked at the front lawn and seen an animal’s leg. Surprised and a little bit startled she closed the door and called me about it. My response was not to worry and that I would clear it up when I came home.

“When I returned home I was quickly ushered through to the garden to see the mystery leg. Expecting to see a poor little sparrow’s limb, severed at the paws of an evil cat or even a mouse's rotten appendage I was shocked to say the least to see that this mystery limb had a hoof. I couldn’t believe it.

“It seemed fairly fresh as there weren’t any maggots. It looked as though it had been ripped off.”

Mr Moore contacted the police to report the find before throwing the leg in the bin but says the issue of where it came from or how it got there remains a mystery.

Mr Moore said he believes the leg may belong to a goat or a deer and added: “The police said it was strange and that they’d contact me if anyone else reported something similar but I’ve heard nothing back so far.”

Last Updated: 13 February 2008 12:13 PM

[Searcher08]

Could this be connected with a re-staging of the 80's musical "Footloose" ???

[annie aronburg]

I'm one of those gals who believes there are no errors in the New York Times.

When I was younger I used to say that I couldn't have any faith in the papers because when they reported on subject that fell in my narrow range of expertise they were always WRONG.

When they run an article on a dead rock star and post a photo of one of his living bandmates, I never think it's an accident, it's a warning.

I know we've been following this story with interest, and now the Times is too. I have to wonder what their photo editor was thinking.....

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/world/americas/04feet.html?_r=1&oref=slogin]Gabriola Island Journal
In an Answerless Canadian Inquiry, 3 Bodyless Feet [/url]





I would have picked a photo without a dead seal in it, but that's just me.....

[elfismiles]

I would have picked a photo without a dead seal in it, but that's just me.....

Glad I'm not the ONLY one who noticed that in the photo at the NYT.

[Penguin]

I guess their stock photo portfolio didnt have one of a beach with a loose foot. A dead seal, a loose foot, pretty close!