"Dude That's Actually My Leg" - The Hilariously Strange Tale Of A Prosthetic Leg Found On A Nantucket Beach

Oliver Barnett was walking along Cisco Beach over Labor Day weekend when he stumbled upon something strange: a prosthetic leg that appeared to have been washed up on the shore. 

What was an expensive prosthetic doing on the beach? Had its owner simply lost it somehow? Was there some morbid backstory that was about to unfold? As it turns out, the truth is stranger than fiction. And funnier too.

Barnett sent a photo of the prosthetic leg to the Current, stating he found it washed up at Cisco. We then shared the photo on our Instagram story, asking if anyone was missing the prosthetic. It didn't take long for the messages to start rolling in.

Beyond the expressions of surprise and laughter at the bizarre image, one message stood out. It was from island resident Joseph Bedell, who shared a screenshot of a group text message thread.

"Dude that's actually my leg what the hell," read one of the messages. It was from his brother and former Nantucket resident Norman Vandyke, who now lives in Florida.

Bedell continued to text with Vandyke and other family members, and pieced together the first part of this strange tale. Vandyke had received a new prosthetic leg, and left his old one behind on Nantucket. At some point earlier this spring, his mother found it and decided to get rid of it. She took it to the Take It Or Leave It, or the Madaket Mall, at the island landfill.

That should have been the end of the story for this wayward prosthetic leg, but it was only the beginning.

Enter island residents Whitney Von Kampen and Brian Ludvigson. Back in June they were getting ready to attend a birthday party for Nantucket charter boat captain Jay Starr, and wanted to get him something unique. Where else would they go besides the Madaket Mall? Von Kampen and Ludvigson stumbled upon the prosthetic leg and decided it would be the perfect gag gift for Starr to give him his "sea legs."

The present was delivered to Starr during his party at the Miacomet Golf Course in June (rumor has it several attendees were recorded chugging beers out of it, but we digress...).

So how did it end up on Cisco Beach in September? Starr isn't saying. But we have it on good authority that the merry prankster may have planted it there. The world may never know.

As for Vandyke, we asked him what he thought when he saw photos of his old leg washed up on the beach posted on social media.

"I laughed," he said. "Good story."