male that went missing earlier that year. The two unidentified feet found in February 2016 washed up on the shore of Botanical Beach on the West coast of Vancouver Island (adjacent to the Strait of Juan de Fuca). In the U.S., one of these pairs belonged to a woman who jumped from a bridge. Of the two other U.S. feet identified, one foot belonged to a missing fisherman and the other of a depressed man who probably committed suicide. His identity was withheld on request of his family. After the fifth foot was discovered of the 20, the story had begun to receive increased international media attention. With major headlines from newspapers such as the Melbourne Herald Sun, The Guardian, and the Cape Times in South Africa, the story elicited much speculation about the cause of the mystery, originating from "morbid fascination" with this type of subject, as stated by one scientist who identifies remains of victims. On his late night talk show David Letterman questioned two Canadian audience members about the mystery. Another apparently human foot, discovered on June 18, 2008, on Tyee Spit near Campbell River on Vancouver Island, was a hoax. The hoax was a "skeletonized animal paw" which was put in a sock and shoe and then stuffed with dried seaweed. Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched an investigation. After the 11th foot was found on August 31, 2011, in Vancouver, several running shoes containing what police suspected was raw meat were found washed up on Oak Beach, British Columbia. List of discoveries Level of rarity Decomposition may separate the foot from the body because the ankle is relatively weak, while buoyancy caused by air either inside or trapped within a shoe would allow it to float away. According to Simon Fraser University entomologist Gail Anderson, extremities such as the hands, feet, and head often detach as a body decomposes in water but rarely float. However, finding feet and not the rest of the bodies has been deemed unusual. Finding two feet has been guessed at "million to one odds" and has thus been referred to as "an anomaly" by one police officer. The finding of the third foot made it the first time a police officer interviewed knew about that three such discoveries had been made so close to each other. In popular culture In his novel, Dregs (2011), the Norwegian award-winning author Jørn Lier Horst