The BC Feet Mystery

The so-called "BC feet mystery" began around 2007, when a man's foot was discovered still wearing a sock and sneaker. The rest of the body was nowhere to be found. Other discoveries were made around the Salish Sea in Canada and Washington State amounting to a few more than a dozen with the bulk coming from Canada. Obviously, the discovery was more than a bit disturbing and people quickly came up with morbid explanations.

The two most popular explanations for the feet that have turned up in British Columbia and Washington are murders and the 2004 tsunami. The feet have obviously come from bodies that decomposed, coming loose naturally at the ankle or the knee. It has been suggested that the feet turn up and not the bodies because the sneakers help make them buoyant. It would take a heck of a lot for a foot to travel all the way across the ocean, though. It is presumably not impossible, given that trash has a way of making its way around the world on currents, but it is unlikely.

Investigators took to trying to identify the feet as they appeared. Four of the feet were matched into two pairs. That eliminates the idea that a serial killer is leaving a single foot of each of his or her victims to taunt locals and authorities. The more likely answer is equally as sad. In 2011, one of the pairs was linked to a woman who was known to have jumped off the Pattullo Bridge in Westminster. Her feet obviously floated along the river and reached the shore. Another of the identified feet belonged to a man who was known to be depressed. Does this mean that is what happened with all of the feet? No, but it is a start.

Nearby, there is a river -- the Fraser River -- that goes out to the Salish Sea. Over that river are numerous bridges and many suicides occur in the area every year. Some experts believe that this is the most likely source of the mysterious feet.

Can Living at a Higher Altitude Lead to Suicide?

Suicide is an unfortunate result of being extremely depressed or apathetic for one reason or another. Known reasons for suicidal behaviors are some medications, depression, extreme loss, certain mental illnesses, etc. Other times, a strange trend is seen in suicides.  One of these strange trends is the apparent correlation between high altitude and higher than normal suicide rates.


In 2012, a psychiatry professor from the U School of Medicine and his team found that suicide rates appeared to be higher in states with higher altitudes. They found that the risk of suicide was roughly one-third higher than normal at an altitude of 6,500 feet. The study focused on data available from NASA, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the Centers for Disease Control.

We know that the western states tend to have higher altitudes than eastern states. In 2006, all 10 of the states in the top 10 for suicides were western states. This was what led to the research. They wanted to see what the common denominator was and it was altitude. The conclusion was that the higher risk may have something to do with mild hypoxia and may just make already depressed people more depressed. Similar data is appearing at high altitudes in other countries, such as South Korea.

Book Bound in Human Skin: "Narrative of the Life of James Allen"

The Boston Athenaeum, among its many interesting volumes, holds an autobiography that is bizarre and intriguing on a number of levels. The book, known to most simply as "Narrative of the Life of James Allen," is the deathbed confession of a young criminal who was torn between a life of crime without god and a death with forgiveness from god. At least, that was how the warden put it in his notes in the book. Regardless of the man's struggle, he made a macabre decision to have this confession/biography bound in his own skin after his death. A man named Peter Low did the arguably disgusting deed.

Thanks to the story behind the story, "Narrative of the Life of James Allen" is widely available. It is also in the public domain, so readers can download it free online. Even without the dead skin of the author adorning its pages, it is a worthy read. Young James Allen, who went by a number of aliases, gives the reader a glimpse into the life of an early 19th century highwayman. He only lived from 1809 until 1837, but James Allen had more than just a confession to offer. He confessed the failings of his parents, his guardians and his employees as well. The book turned into a guidebook on how to turn a young man into a criminal.

The skin of "Narrative of the Life of James Allen" is treated so it looks like deerskin. However, that is little consolation to viewers who know it is the skin of the man whose life story is told within its pages. The cover is adorned with a rectangle of black leather on which "HIC LIBER WALTONIS CUTE COMPACTUS EST" is stamped in gold.

It might add to the story to say that James Allen was executed in Massachusetts State Prison. However, he died of what the warden called consumption. Today, we would call it pulmonary tuberculosis.

The Gruesome Show of John Charles Fare

The story of John Charles Fare is most likely purely urban legend or an exaggeration of factual events. Whatever the case may be, the story is highly unlikely, entertaining and tragic. Like most fictional illusionists, John Charles Fare had an aura of mystery, whether he was real or not.

In 1968, N.B. Sheen published the first known account of John Charles Fare in a poetry journal. Roughly four years later, Tim Craig published the same story, but elaborated greatly on the plot. According to Craig, Fare was a Canadian by birth, but he moved to London to go to university. That obviously did not work out, as he moved quickly to Copenhagen. Apparently, he flashed his privates there and landed in a mental institution for a time. When he got out, he glued some things to Golni Czervath's car. The two became friends and the show of John Charles Fare was reportedly born.

The act the two devised involved a surgical table that is beyond even technology decades later. It had robotic parts that would operate on Mr. Fare. The story had it that John Fare's first act was to allow the table to perform a lobotomy on him. How he managed his later performances after that surgery is anyone's guess. In subsequent shows, the table reportedly removed some of his toes, an eye, some fingers, some flesh, his testicles and his right hand. The last performance was a beheading, allowed by Fare.

There are no pictures of John Fare, no paperwork, no records. The only evidence is the testimony of two writers, one of whom claimed that Fare was still performing up until 1972. If he were real, one could say that he was less an illusionist than a victim. The story has it that he was in a mental institution and then partnered with a man to allow a table to torture him. His partner would probably be arrested were such a thing to be discovered today.

The Sad and Bizarre Story of David Reimer

Quite often on That is Bizarre!, the stories are funny. Sometimes they are even tragic, but it is rare for a horrible, personal tragedy to be pointed out as bizarre here. I would like to think that is because, despite the inherent flaws of humanity, it is rare for bizarre treatment to be carried out on an individual. I could be wrong. It could be quite common. In fact, one could argue that it is, depending on what you think is bizarre. Whatever the case may be, it is certain that what happened to David Reimer was bizarre. It was a case of taking a tragedy and making it significantly worse by allegedly trying to "help."

David Reimer and his twin brother Brian were born on August 22, 1965. They were both healthy boys. When they were eight months old, their parents noticed that they were having trouble urinating properly. It was decided by doctors that the twins needed circumcisions. David went first, and the surgery went horribly wrong. His penis was destroyed. Doctors held off on Brian's circumcision, and he wound up not requiring it.

Worried that their son would be confused, Janet and Jon Reimer went to John Money, a doctor specializing in gender identity. It can easily be said that John Money did more to ruin David's life than even the doctor(s) who botched his surgery. Money and his colleagues thought that Reimer should have gender reassignment. He did not have surgery, but over time, he underwent estrogen therapy, was treated like a girl, dressed like a girl and underwent an arguably abusive form of therapy with John Money.

Reimer's parents renamed him Brenda and dressed him in dresses, even in the cold Canadian weather. He was increasingly confused, scared and angry as he got older, but his parents and doctors turned a blind eye to his suffering. His parents may have feared they had no other choice, but his doctors were certainly neglectful. Some workers later tried to blame the parents for not reporting David's progress correctly, but his issues most certainly came forward during what John was doing to him and John reported that David was turning into Brenda quite nicely. He was wrong.

John Money used Brian to aid in his "treatment" of David. He had the twins come in and take up sexual positions to reinforce gender roles with David. He had David spread his legs and Brian lay between them. He also had David bend over and had Brian press his groin against David's rear end. On at least one occasion, Money took pictures. They were also made to be naked during some of these treatments. Later, David became increasingly depressed and threatened suicide as a teen. Brian developed schizophrenia.

Money suggested that the Reimers have a sex change done on David. David stopped going, whether because he refused or his parents realized what they were doing is unclear. Reimer eventually reversed the damage done by estrogen and had two operations to give him a penis. He got married, as well. Sadly, Brian died of an antidepressant overdose in 2002. In 2004, David's wife said she wanted to separate. Days later, David killed himself with a shotgun blast to the head.

Hysteria and the Villejuif Leaflet

The Villejuif Leaflet, which was sent out far and wide in Europe, was a list. On the list was a bunch of substances one commonly finds in food. These substances were listed as carcinogens. In defense of whoever made the list, many of them were potentially harmful. However, citric acid was on the list, and it is decidedly safe.

The Villejuif Leaflet was named thus because it was reportedly sent out by a hospital in Villejuif, France, but this turned out to be false. Nonetheless, the leaflet's origins were most certainly in France, though the precise location and distributor have never been discovered. It first appeared in 1976 as one page that was put together on a typewriter.

What is bizarre about the Villejuif Leaflet is not that it contained misinformation. This is common. What is bizarre is that it made enough rounds to reach roughly 7 million people, many of whom became very scared. It caused mass hysteria that lasted for years.

Bizarre Experiments: The Broken Toy Experiment

Often cited as a cruel psychological experiment, the Broken Toy Experiment was designed to produce guilt in children who had done nothing wrong. The children were left to stew in their negative emotions so researchers could study their reactions. This was meant to show them meaningful things about moral awareness and feelings. Yes, it might have, but it reeks of being unnecessary, given that parents of children of any age can tell how, when, where and why guilt manifests in children.

In this test, the children were given a "special" toy to play with. They were told to be careful with the toy. It was also rigged to fall apart when they touched it. The adults said nothing of the fact that the toy was a trap and just watched the kids for a full minute before finally leaving and coming back with the same toy, but not broken. To be fair, the children were then told that it was not their fault and they did not seem traumatized. Nonetheless, one has to wonder who they got to sit there all stoically while the kids squirmed. Darth Vader perhaps?

In the end, this is not the kind of experiment that will go down in history as evil. It was just a bit mean, and some of the kids probably do not even remember it. Then again, there is no long-term damage if you steal candy from a toddler and make it cry, but that does not mean psychologists should do it just to take notes on how the kid reacts in order to ostensibly collect meaningful data on the tears of children.