Not my left foot!

Early one Sunday afternoon last February (2023) the weather was fine and dry and I found myself alone at home. My husband and grown-up sons were out, so I woke up ‘Alexa’ and asked her to play The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour album. I had the patio doors wide open and off I went into the garden. My large and overgrown buddleia was in need of a trim. I cut off the larger branches first; they were about 4ft [1.2m] long, so I cut them into smaller pieces to fit into our ‘green’ waste bin. While cutting the branches, I was standing with my head lowered watching the smaller bits fall onto the ground. I then had a strange feeling that someone was standing right next to me; I thought it was one of the boys who had returned home, taken off his shoes and had quietly come to stand by me while I was distracted and the music was loud. However, to my horror on the ground next to my own feet was a disembodied left foot, man-sized, in a grey woollen sock.

I screamed and ran back inside and locked the patio doors. The music was still playing full blast and my heart was pounding. I told Alexa to pause whilst I looked around my still empty house. I looked outside and no one was to be seen. I telephoned my sister Lily, who lives across the road, and I said, “You are not going to believe this”. She asked if I was OK and did I want her to come over? I said I was going to have a cup of tea and that I was starting to calm down. She then said “What if an arm appears?” I said I would be moving in with her if any other body parts appeared. It took a while to calm down but I couldn’t go outside for the rest of the day. By the way, we moved the buddleia once I had trimmed it – and it has since died.

Tracey Sillifant

Childwall, Liverpool