Foot found in cooker

A US shopper got more than he bargained for when a cooker he bought at a public auction contained a mummified human foot.

Shannon Whisnant discovered the foot when he bought the cooker in Maiden, North Carolina this week.

Police told The Hickory Record the previous owner, John Wood, had his leg amputated below the shin in 2004 after a plane crash.

Wood said he had kept it for "religious reasons" but had forgotten he had put it in the cooker which was in storage at a commercial warehouse.

The cooker was auctioned because Wood had not paid the warehouse's fees.

Rick Lawing, the owner of Maiden Plaza Mini Storage, told the paper: "It was eerie. We've never sold a human foot before. It was quite interesting."