An investigation is underway at Yellowstone National Park after an employee discovered a foot in a shoe floating in the Abyss Pool (above) on Tuesday
Yellowstone National Park officials are investigating after
an employee spotted part of a foot, in a shoe, floating in a hot spring in the southern part of the park, officials said Thursday.
Tuesday's discovery at Abyss Pool in Wyoming
led to the temporary closure of the West Thumb Geyser Basin and its parking lot. The area has since reopened.
The park did not have any other information about the investigation to make public on Thursday, park spokesperson Morgan Warthin said.
Abyss Pool,
located west of the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake, is 53 feet deep and the temperature is about 140F, park officials said. It is on the south side of the southern loop through the park.In such hot springs, superheated water cools as it reaches the surface, sinks and is replaced by hotter water from below.
The circulation prevents the water from reaching the temperature needed to set off an eruption like happens with geysers in the park, according to the park's website.
The park is mostly in Wyoming, but spreads into portions of Idaho and Montana.
It's unclear how long the foot has been place in the hot spring - but the strange discovery comes two months after the park closed in June after rivers across northern Wyoming and southern Montana surged over their banks following heavy rainfall.The rainfall exceeded five inches in parts of the park, and accelerated the spring snowmelt - which then brought another five inches of liquid.Park officials
characterized the severe flooding tearing through the region as a once in a 'thousand-year event,' that could alter the course of the Yellowstone river and surrounding landscapes forever.
About 10,000 tourists were evacuated - including a dozen trapped campers who were rescued by helicopter - emptying the park completely of all visitors.
Photos and video the park uploaded by park official showed mud-mixed water surging through sections of road that had been knocked out due to the flooding, and subsequent mudslides and rockslides.
Houses in surrounding communities were flooded or washed away by streams that turned into raging rivers, roads have been carved away, and bridges have collapsed into the torrent.
The park partially reopened in mid-June as visitors flocked back to the park. About 2,000 to 3,000 vehicles entered the park within the first few hours it opened, according to officials.
Comment: A few days later GlobalNews.ca later reported that the shoe was actually seen and photographed a week earlier by a visitor:
News of that discovery led a man from Maryland to contact the National Park Service to report that he and his family had spotted a shoe, floating sole up, in the hot spring on the morning of Aug. 11.
Chris Quinn of Pasadena, Md., told the AP that he sent a photo of the shoe to the park service.
"Currently, the park believes there was no foul play," park officials said in an online statement.
Park officials haven't released any further information that would allow us to conclude one way or another as to whether it was related to the flood, foul play, or an accident at the park itself. No other body parts, items of clothing, or debris are mentioned, however, as noted below, the rest of the clothing and body parts could have already dissolved (or sank) in the hot and acidic, corrosive, water.
Some of the more obvious questions remain, such as: is the park doing genetic testing to identify who it belonged to? Does it match anyone who was reported missing?
This lack of additional information could be because the investigation is still ongoing, because they don't yet have the answers themselves, or because they're attempting to conceal any truths that they have discovered. They claim that they believe there was no foul play involved, but they don't qualify the statement with what evidence has led them to believe that.
Accidents and deaths at National Parks are not uncommon, and there was a similar incident to the story above
reported back in 2016, and it's notable that they also found the more difficult to dissolve items - his flipflops and wallet - however they also found the rest of the victim's body, but it's likely that his sister reported his disappearance immediately:
An Oregon Man Reportedly Died In One Of The Worst Ways Possible At Yellowstone
Death is not a strange occurrence at Yellowstone National Park or many other parks across the United States. It's so frequent, there is a book out there called Death At Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park in order to warn visitors about the real dangers of the park and what can happen if you don't follow the rules.
It would've been helpful for the siblings in this horrifying news story and possibly saved a life in the process. According to KULR, the pair ignored warning signs and left the visitor path:
The accident happened in Norris Geyser basin on the afternoon of June 7. Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress says it is a very dangerous area with boiling acidic waters.
Veress explained, "There's a closure in place to keep people from doing that for their own safety and also to protect the resources because they are very fragile. But, most importantly for the safety of people because it's a very unforgiving environment."
But, according to the official incident report released by the National Park Service, 23-year old Colin Nathaniel Scott of Portland, Oregon, and his sister Sable Scott left the boardwalk near Pork Chop Geyser, then walked several hundred feet up a hill.
Veress said, "... they were specifically moving in that area for a place that they could potentially get into and soak. I think they call it Hot Potting."
KULR reports that Sable Scott filmed the journey from Porkchop Geyser to the Norris Geyser basin, unreleased by authorities for obvious reasons, and claimed that her brother reached down into the pool to check the temperature before accidentally falling into the water:
Search and rescue rangers who arrived later did find the victim's body in the pool, along with his wallet, and flip flops. But, a lightning storm stopped the recovery efforts. The next day, workers could not find any remains. Veress says the water was churning, and acidic.
He remarked, "In a very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving"
Yellowstone is an active volcano and is considered a super volcano given previous eruptions and predictions for the future. This isn't good news for the planet, but it is clearly very bad news for anybody that feels like taking a dip in the waters at the park. You don't expect to literally become a stew when you fall into a pool of water, but that's what seems to have happened here.
No charges were filed in relation to the incident, but it should stand as a definite warning to anybody visiting the park. Don't leave the path and don't go for a swim.
Without further information, it remains to be seen just what exactly happened, but one other possibility is what researcher David Paulides considers to be a Missing 411 event. Features common in these cases include the inexplicable nature of the incident, a storm that occurs at a similar time, as well random items found afterwards; shoes seem to
feature relatively often:
"Missing 411: The Hunted": David Paulides discusses bizarre disappearances of hunters
Comment: A few days later GlobalNews.ca later reported that the shoe was actually seen and photographed a week earlier by a visitor: Park officials haven't released any further information that would allow us to conclude one way or another as to whether it was related to the flood, foul play, or an accident at the park itself. No other body parts, items of clothing, or debris are mentioned, however, as noted below, the rest of the clothing and body parts could have already dissolved (or sank) in the hot and acidic, corrosive, water.
Some of the more obvious questions remain, such as: is the park doing genetic testing to identify who it belonged to? Does it match anyone who was reported missing?
This lack of additional information could be because the investigation is still ongoing, because they don't yet have the answers themselves, or because they're attempting to conceal any truths that they have discovered. They claim that they believe there was no foul play involved, but they don't qualify the statement with what evidence has led them to believe that.
Accidents and deaths at National Parks are not uncommon, and there was a similar incident to the story above reported back in 2016, and it's notable that they also found the more difficult to dissolve items - his flipflops and wallet - however they also found the rest of the victim's body, but it's likely that his sister reported his disappearance immediately: Without further information, it remains to be seen just what exactly happened, but one other possibility is what researcher David Paulides considers to be a Missing 411 event. Features common in these cases include the inexplicable nature of the incident, a storm that occurs at a similar time, as well random items found afterwards; shoes seem to feature relatively often: "Missing 411: The Hunted": David Paulides discusses bizarre disappearances of hunters