From human feet to giant eyeballs here are 10 of the most unbelievable items that have
washed ashore.
10.
San Francisco Tombstones
It’s not unusual to find objects that have washed up on beaches, but residents of San
Francisco were in for a surprise in 2012 when some particularly somber items started appearing.
Local residents started finding tombstones in the sand of people that had died in the
1800’s.
First there was one from 1876, then one from 1890, and they kept on showing up.
While this may seem like a dark secret coming to light, the explanation for all of this
was far more simple.
The reason it had been happening was to do with construction works that had been done
to help protect the beaches.
The area had formerly been used as a graveyard, but the bodies had long been moved inland.
The stones, on the other hand, proved too costly to be moved and were, instead, re-purposed.
They were used as breakwaters, gutter liners and to construct a seawall, and it appears
as if it is some of these had broken loose and washed up on the beach.
9.
Severed Feet
Since 2007 beaches and islands on the coast of British Columbia in Canada and Washington
state in America have seen a particularly gruesome series of objects washing up on them-
human feet that, in most cases, are still in their shoes.
In total, 16 feet have been found.
Disturbingly only two of these were left feet, which were matched with right feet that also
washed up, meaning that the rest must have come from at least 14 different people.
It’s completely unknown how these feet arrived on these beaches.
Only four people have been identified as their owners, but there are plenty of suggestions
of how such a thing might happen.
The strange thing here is that only feet have been found, and no bodies.
Some people suspect foul play by gangsters, others think they have come from the victims
of a plane crash near the area in 2005, and some have suggested they may actually have
come from victims of the Asian tsunami in 2004.
All of them have been found within shoes that would provide enough buoyancy for them to
be carried by currents across the ocean, so it is completely feasible.
The true origin of the feet might be a bit closer to home, though.
One of those that were found have been linked to a man who is thought to have committed
suicide, and two of the feet have been identified as being from a woman who jumped from the
Pattullo Bridge in 2004.
It’s quite possible, therefore, that these feet have all come from people who suffered
similar fates in the surrounding area.
8.
Ambergris
As one of the grossest objects you could ever find on the beach, Ambergris is probably the
one from this list that you’d most hope to find, because it turns out that this stuff
is incredibly valuable.
This substance is made when sperm whales eject an intestinal slurry into the ocean.
From here it floats and bobs in the waves and, years later, washes up.
You’d be forgiven for thinking this was an uninteresting object amongst the rocks,
sand and shells that you normally find.
It can be found in many forms such as large blocks, balls, egg shapes, jagged pieces or
hard rolls, and has a unique smell that purportedly has notes of seaweed, farm animals and maybe
a fecal note.
Lumps that have been in the ocean for a long time, though, will have a sweeter, earthy
scent to them.
This smell, rarity, and the unique chemical properties that Ambergris has, is the reason
behind its high value.
It was, for a long time, a key ingredient for high-end perfume makers like Chanel and
Lanvin because of its ability to fix the scent to human skin.
While alternatives have been found in recent times, it is still a highly sought after substance---
a 1.1 Kilogram lump that was found in Wales in 2015 sold for £11,000 (around $13,400)
at auction later that year.
7.
WWII Bombs
Despite having come to an end more than 70 years ago, the consequences of the Second
World War can still be seen around the world when some of the many bombs that were unaccounted
for wash ashore.
They can come in all different shapes and sizes, are often mistaken for other things
by beach goers and most worryingly, are still active and able to explode.
No-one knows for sure how many there are out there waiting to be washed up, but to give
you an idea, there are an estimated 1.6 million metric tons of conventional and chemical ammunitions
lying on the seabed just in German waters alone.
This is made up of over one million items, including grenades, detonators, giant aerial
bombs, 15-kilo shells and many more.
This is just a fraction of what’s on the sea-beds of the world in total.
With the way ocean currents carry objects around, there is the potential for these items
to show up virtually anywhere.
It is not uncommon for objects like these to wash up on European beaches.
There are many examples of bombs showing up on French and British coastlines, but in 2015
there was even one that washed up further afield in Florida.
This revealed another worrying detail- that following WWII, the US government found itself
with a large number of unused weapons.
Rather than de-commissioning them they chose, instead, to dump them all in the Gulf of Mexico,
so next time you’re at the beach keep a watch out.
6.
Giant Eyeball in Florida
In 2012 a beach-comber came in for a surprise when he found something staring back at him
from the sand of Pompano beach in Florida.
After digging the strange lump out and cleaning it off, it turned out he was holding a blue-tinged
softball sized eyeball.
He had never seen anything quite like it, obviously, and, super excited he waved down
police officers to show it to them and eventually started contacting researchers across the
state to try and identify it.
Everyone was stumped, and couldn’t agree which monster of the deep it had come from.
After deliberating between being from a squid or a fish, it was determined a few days later
that this eye had, in fact, come from a giant swordfish.
5.
The St. Augustine Monster
Possibly the most famous mystery to have washed up from the ocean was the St. Augustine monster
that appeared on Anastasia Island near St. Augustine in Florida in 1896.
It was found by two young boys who thought it was a whale and reported it to the local
Institute of Science.
The scientists weren’t so sure it was a whale, though, as it appeared to them to have
several arms or tentacles.
Deeming it to actually be the remains of a giant octopus, photos and a specimen were
sent to the Smithsonian museum in 1897.
This monster is an example of what is known as a globster- the name given to unidentified
biomasses that have undergone huge levels of decay by the time they are washed up and
are, therefore, virtually unidentifiable.
Conspiracy theorists, of course, have a field day with these sightings, and ever since the
discovery of the St Augustine Monster there have been numerous theories as to the identity
of the creature.
The mystery was finally solved, though, in 2004 when DNA analysis of the biomass that
was stored at the Smithsonian proved that it was, in fact, a whale- just like the boys
who found it in the first place had thought.
4.
Fort Braggs Beach of Glass
Some of the strangest, and most beautiful, beaches you will ever visit can be found in
MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg in California.
Between 1906 and 1967 the nearby waters were used to dump glass, appliances and vehicles--
a policy that has left a long lasting mark on three of the local beaches.
As the biodegradable waste broke down, the remaining items began washing ashore, most
notably large amounts of glass.
Rather than being sharp shards, the ocean processes have smoothed all of the pieces
to form glass pebbles, which have become a beautiful tourist attraction.
After opening to the public in 2002, the beaches are visited by thousands of people every day
during the summer, all of who want their chance to see the most colorful beaches in the world.
The glass won’t be here forever.
The pebbles are slowly disappearing as they are washed back out to sea.
Local politicians have refused efforts to replenish the glass due to environmental concerns,
so if this is somewhere you want to visit, you had better go soon.
3.
Doritos
Large volumes of products are transported around the world on cargo vessels.
Occasionally some containers fall into the ocean, and all their contents eventually all
end up washed ashore.
That’s exactly what happened to a container ship carrying Doritos chips that was caught
in a storm in 2006.
When it fell off the cargo ship, the container split and thousands of bags of chips were
strewn across a half mile stretch, and resulted in bag-loads of images that you would almost
believe were stills from the latest marketing campaign.
Despite causing such an environmental mess, there was an added incentive for locals to
help with the cleanup.
To their delight the chips, that were sealed in foil bags, were perfectly preserved and
absolutely safe to eat, leading to dozens of people combing the beach to get a free
snack.
2.
The Montauk Monster
In another case of a globster washing up ashore, the Montauk Monster was found near a popular
surfing spot on a beach near Montauk , New York in 2008.
The mysterious creature has been the subject of intense speculation since photos started
circulating, with people suggesting it may be the remains of a raccoon, rodent, sea turtle,
dog, or a sheep.
With each suggestion, though, comes a problem.
Sheep, for example, don’t have sharp teeth.
Raccoons don’t have such long legs, sea turtles don’t have fur or teeth, and rodents
have very different mouth structures.
As the creature had obviously been in the ocean for a long time, it had swollen up.
It’s skin and hair had started to fall away, and decomposed in a way that made it very
difficult to identify it for sure.
Eventually the scientific community came to a degree of consensus that this was, in fact,
the carcass of a raccoon- possibly one that had been diseased before it died.
I don’t know….
1.
Legos
This time the lucky one to receive an unexpected crate was Cornwall in England, when a crate
of Legos fell overboard from the Tokio Express container ship during a storm in 1997.
Instead of remaining at the bottom of the sea, they are still washing up on Cornish
beaches today - offering an insight into the mysterious world of oceans and tides.
Inside were almost 4.8 million pieces of Lego, many of which were nautically themed including
flippers, spear guns, seagrass, scuba tanks and life preservers.
The combination of the huge quantity of these tiny plastic pieces and the strong currents
in the area mean that beachcombers still find them on an almost daily basis.
In some cases they have even been found up to 300 miles away from where the container
fell.
Some pieces found on an Australian beach, on the other side of the world, are even thought
to have come from the spill.
Over 3 million lost pieces are still assumed to be floating around.
It has now been 20 years since they fell into the sea, and maybe you should keep an eye
out next time you’re on a beach-- you may not be too far away from finding your own
black octopus or green dragon that have travelled the oceans of the earth.
Thanks for watching!
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