As weird as it sounds to say, the fact that shoes containing feet are washing ashore in the Vancouver area isn’t as creepy as it seems, nor is it a planned or some sort of paranormal occurrence. As the facts have led us to believe, the feet are coming from people drowning or falling in to  Vancouver waters, getting trapped between the ocean and the shore due to the islands off Vancouver’s coast, which then leads the more buoyant and durable parts of the decomposed specimen to find their way back to shore. Some people still find fault with these reasonings and look to other things.

While it would be inappropriate to rule out homicide altogether, since these gruesome discoveries can be attributed to natural causes, it is fair to rule out the feet being a signature of a serial killer or mass murderer. Other theories, such as one concerning a fatal plane crash off of Quadra Island in which two bodies were never recovered (Toronto Star), should be kept in mind when identifying victims, but doesn’t explain the many other feet. The theory that the feet originate from the tsunami that hit Japan or another disaster at sea are also unlikely as we have seen that water does not so much enter the Puget Sound but rather flows out to the ocean from the Juan de Fuca Strait.

These feet are coming from people who have purposefully or accidentally met their deaths at one of the various bodies of water in the Vancouver area. But some people may have concerns about the frequency of these foot sightings, sixteen in a matter of years. This may be attributed to human behavior rather than an increase in bodies. Using a term from the field of economics, but a concept found throughout life we may be able to explain it. The viscous cycle refers to a phenomenon in economics in which people expect poor things from the economy, such as rising prices, so they spend less, which then as a result makes the economy take a downward turn due to their actions based on expectations. As the media first reported these feet turning up on Canadian shores people were alerted to the possibility that shoes near water may be something more, so they then began looking in shoes and places they may not have first looked, which then leads them to more gruesome discoveries.