As explained on the “Sources” page the feet have their origins in the Vancouver waterways, but why did these feet appear at all? The simplest answer is people die in water and after death they are picked and pulled apart during the process of decomposition.

Of the many feet discovered, very few have been able to be matched to an identity. What I will focus on is two of the people positively identified, whose names were redacted due to their potential cause of death. The two individuals in question both suffered from mental disorders, one had stopped taking his medication for schizophrenia just before his disappearance (The Daily Beast). Vancouver alone is home to “eight significant bridges” (BCPassport) spanning three significant bodies of water the Fraser River, False Creek and the Burrard Inlet (BCPassport), there are plenty of landmarks and bodies of water to end ones life, accidentally or purposefully, where you may end up being pulled out in to the sea later to come ashore in bits and pieces.

Why people are coming across shoes with feet in them rather than a whole body or even other limbs or partially decomposed pieces can also be explained. The decomposition of a body in water is quite an erosive experience, and is especially complicated when you bring in to account clothing and coverage. William Haglund in his textbook “Advances in Forensic Taphonomy” (Pacific Standard) explained that “As a body floats and is subjected to the push and pull of it’s environment, it basically falls apart in a fairly consistent pattern; the bones of the hands and feet are the first to go” (Pacific Standard). With something buoyant such as a shoe attached to the foot, when the body breaks down the foot becomes separated from the leg and is then carried back to shore over time while the rest of the body likely sinks and succumbs to nature.