Januari 13, 2017
from human feet to giant eyeballs here are10 of the most unbelievable items that have washed ashore. 10. san francisco tombstones it’s not unusual to find objects that havewashed up on beaches, but residents of san francisco were in for a surprise in 2012 whensome particularly somber items started appearing. local residents started finding tombstonesin the sand of people that had died in the 1800’s. first there was one from 1876, then one from1890, and they kept on showing up.
while this may seem like a dark secret comingto light, the explanation for all of this was far more simple. the reason it had been happening was to dowith 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 toocostly to be moved and were, instead, re-purposed. they were used as breakwaters, gutter linersand to construct a seawall, and it appears as if it is some of these had broken looseand washed up on the beach. 9.
severed feet since 2007 beaches and islands on the coastof british columbia in canada and washington state in america have seen a particularlygruesome series of objects washing up on them- human feet that, in most cases, are stillin 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 havecome from at least 14 different people. it’s completely unknown how these feet arrivedon these beaches. only four people have been identified as theirowners, but there are plenty of suggestions
of how such a thing might happen. the strange thing here is that only feet havebeen 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, andsome have suggested they may actually have come from victims of the asian tsunami in2004. all of them have been found within shoes thatwould provide enough buoyancy for them to be carried by currents across the ocean, soit is completely feasible. the true origin of the feet might be a bitcloser to home, though. one of those that were found have been linkedto a man who is thought to have committed
suicide, and two of the feet have been identifiedas being from a woman who jumped from the pattullo bridge in 2004. it’s quite possible, therefore, that thesefeet have all come from people who suffered similar fates in the surrounding area. 8. ambergris as one of the grossest objects you could everfind on the beach, ambergris is probably the one from this list that you’d most hopeto find, because it turns out that this stuff is incredibly valuable.
this substance is made when sperm whales ejectan intestinal slurry into the ocean. from here it floats and bobs in the wavesand, years later, washes up. you’d be forgiven for thinking this wasan uninteresting object amongst the rocks, sand and shells that you normally find. it can be found in many forms such as largeblocks, balls, egg shapes, jagged pieces or hard rolls, and has a unique smell that purportedlyhas notes of seaweed, farm animals and maybe a fecal note. lumps that have been in the ocean for a longtime, though, will have a sweeter, earthy scent to them.
this smell, rarity, and the unique chemicalproperties that ambergris has, is the reason behind its high value. it was, for a long time, a key ingredientfor high-end perfume makers like chanel and lanvin because of its ability to fix the scentto human skin. while alternatives have been found in recenttimes, it is still a highly sought after substance--- a 1.1 kilogram lump that was found in walesin 2015 sold for â£11,000 (around $13,400) at auction later that year. 7. wwii bombs
despite having come to an end more than 70years ago, the consequences of the second world war can still be seen around the worldwhen some of the many bombs that were unaccounted for wash ashore. they can come in all different shapes andsizes, are often mistaken for other things by beach goers and most worryingly, are stillactive and able to explode. no-one knows for sure how many there are outthere waiting to be washed up, but to give you an idea, there are an estimated 1.6 millionmetric tons of conventional and chemical ammunitions lying on the seabed just in german watersalone. 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 thesea-beds of the world in total. with the way ocean currents carry objectsaround, there is the potential for these items to show up virtually anywhere. it is not uncommon for objects like theseto wash up on european beaches. there are many examples of bombs showing upon french and british coastlines, but in 2015 there was even one that washed up furtherafield in florida. this revealed another worrying detail- thatfollowing 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 awatch out. 6. giant eyeball in florida in 2012 a beach-comber came in for a surprisewhen he found something staring back at him from the sand of pompano beach in florida. after digging the strange lump out and cleaningit 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 eventuallystarted contacting researchers across the state to try and identify it. everyone was stumped, and couldn’t agreewhich monster of the deep it had come from. after deliberating between being from a squidor a fish, it was determined a few days later that this eye had, in fact, come from a giantswordfish. 5. the st. augustine monster possibly the most famous mystery to have washedup 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 thoughtit was a whale and reported it to the local institute of science. the scientists weren’t so sure it was awhale, though, as it appeared to them to have several arms or tentacles. deeming it to actually be the remains of agiant octopus, photos and a specimen were sent to the smithsonian museum in 1897. this monster is an example of what is knownas a globster- the name given to unidentified biomasses that have undergone huge levelsof decay by the time they are washed up and are, therefore, virtually unidentifiable.
conspiracy theorists, of course, have a fieldday with these sightings, and ever since the discovery of the st augustine monster therehave been numerous theories as to the identity of the creature. the mystery was finally solved, though, in2004 when dna analysis of the biomass that was stored at the smithsonian proved thatit 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 incalifornia. between 1906 and 1967 the nearby waters wereused to dump glass, appliances and vehicles-- a policy that has left a long lasting markon three of the local beaches. as the biodegradable waste broke down, theremaining items began washing ashore, most notably large amounts of glass. rather than being sharp shards, the oceanprocesses have smoothed all of the pieces to form glass pebbles, which have become abeautiful tourist attraction. after opening to the public in 2002, the beachesare visited by thousands of people every day during the summer, all of who want their chanceto see the most colorful beaches in the world.
the glass won’t be here forever. the pebbles are slowly disappearing as theyare washed back out to sea. local politicians have refused efforts toreplenish 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 transportedaround the world on cargo vessels. occasionally some containers fall into theocean, and all their contents eventually all end up washed ashore.
that’s exactly what happened to a containership carrying doritos chips that was caught in a storm in 2006. when it fell off the cargo ship, the containersplit and thousands of bags of chips were strewn across a half mile stretch, and resultedin bag-loads of images that you would almost believe were stills from the latest marketingcampaign. 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 sealedin foil bags, were perfectly preserved and absolutely safe to eat, leading to dozensof 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 , newyork in 2008. the mysterious creature has been the subjectof intense speculation since photos started circulating, with people suggesting it maybe 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, seaturtles don’t have fur or teeth, and rodents have very different mouth structures. as the creature had obviously been in theocean 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 toa degree of consensus that this was, in fact, the carcass of a raccoon- possibly one thathad been diseased before it died. i don’t know….
1. legos this time the lucky one to receive an unexpectedcrate was cornwall in england, when a crate of legos fell overboard from the tokio expresscontainer ship during a storm in 1997. instead of remaining at the bottom of thesea, they are still washing up on cornish beaches today - offering an insight into themysterious 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 tanksand life preservers. the combination of the huge quantity of thesetiny plastic pieces and the strong currents
in the area mean that beachcombers still findthem on an almost daily basis. in some cases they have even been found upto 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 assumedto be floating around. it has now been 20 years since they fell intothe sea, and maybe you should keep an eye out next time you’re on a beach-- you maynot be too far away from finding your own black octopus or green dragon that have travelledthe oceans of the earth.
thanks for watching! have you ever found anything cool on the beach? let us know in the comments below! remember to subscribe and see you next time! bye!
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