Hundreds Of 19th-Century Black Leather Shoes Have Mysteriously Washed Up On A Beach

Hundreds of old leather shoes have mysteriously washed up on a beach in the UK. Could a 19th-century Italian shipwreck be responsible for these lost soles?

The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Around 200 black leather shoes were discovered on December 18 by the non-profit group Beach Academy during a rockpool restoration project along the shores of Ogmore-By-Sea in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. Over the past week, that number has grown to 437, with shoes now appearing at Ogmore and three other nearby beaches.

“They resemble shoes from times past rather than modern styles, mainly adult males and children,” the organization posted on social media.

“We are slowly excavating them from rockpool zones where they have been embedded into sediment or trapped in rocks as part of our Rockpool restoration project. We have no idea how long they have actually been trapped there! Many stories, I’m sure,” they added.

It isn’t the first time this has happened, oddly enough. Commenting on the post, locals recalled finding similar shoes on these beaches in years past.

Despite swimming in the sea for decades, some of the shoes are still in remarkably good condition. Based on their design, it’s thought that the shoes may date to the 19th century, which ties in nicely to a tale of a local shipwreck.

“The strongest theory is that the shoes come from a shipwreck called the Frolic that hit Tusker Rock about 150 years ago it was carrying shoes and cargo from Italy. They were washed up the Ogmore River, and every now and then they appear, especially when there has been erosion of the river bank,” Beach Academy said in a statement sent to IFLScience.

Located in the Bristol Channel, around 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) offshore of Ogmore-by-Sea, the rocky island has claimed several ships in past decades. It’s strewn with rusted hulls and boat parts – as well as, presumably, a fair few boots.

Fortunately, this latest batch of boots found in South Wales is feetless – but the same can't be said for a curious case in North America. Between 2007 and 2019, around 21 human feet – usually still in their shoes – have washed up on the coasts of the Salish Sea in the US and Canada.

It turned out, the creepy phenomenon was the result of a change in the footwear industry and sneaker design that took off in 2007. The introduction of light foams and air pockets made feet more buoyant, while the shoes themselves protected them from hungry scavengers. 

When dead bodies entered the sea, most of the flesh would decompose or be eaten by scavengers, but the feet remained protected inside their buoyant shoes. This allowed them to detach from the rest of the body, be carried by currents, and eventually wash ashore.