Not zombies, after all.

The mystery explained:

When I first posted photos of the headless dog walkers on the Semiahmoo beach, back in 2010, I suggested that they might be zombies. After all, what else would be walking around missing essential body parts?

But no; they're something much more prosaic. Scrap metal, remains of an old pier and shingle mill operation.

Here they are in 2010, as I first saw them.

Three walkers, headless and torso-less.

And a couple of weeks ago:

The left and center walkers of the previous photo. Still walking, after all this time.

And there's a whole mob of them!

Invasion of the body snatched?

Let's go look at them from speaking distance. They're safe, if only because they're so sluggish.

Runner, on tiptoes. Probably a dancer, too. Unusual, in that she has a torso. Just the head and arms are missing.

Cute little poodle. 

Is this doggie wearing sunglasses?

Under all those barnacles and mussels is a skeleton of rusting metal, firmly anchored deep in the sand. I couldn't move even the smallest of them. Here are a few spare parts:

Sharp edges. I wouldn't want to wade here if it were too deep to see what I was stumbling over.

Framework of some sort. Can't be moved, either.

Piece of something or other.

I'll tell the story behind all these, tomorrow.

What has six legs and no head?

It was the end of an afternoon on the Semiahmoo beach. The tide was still going out, but we were cold and hungry and heading home. Squinting against the slanting light, watching for herons, I noticed three somethings; I couldn't make out what at that distance. Something silhouetted against the brightness, bigger than gulls, fatter than herons ... what was it?

It was too far to go see, too late. The camera serves as eyes, in cases like this. With the lens at its maximum, a hand more or less shading it, I got this photo.

Something missing.

I see, plain as day, walking along the water's edge, three people. Half-people, more accurately. Two women, one taller man, probably. Hard to tell for sure without a torso and head.

Zombies, out for a constitutional? What else walks around missing essential body parts?