I read in the newspaper that shoes would be thrown over the power lines
to serve as a reminder/warning of a murder that occurred nearby. This
seems proven to me: as I was traveling past a home in which a
drug-related murder had occurred about three months prior … a pair of
shoes were hanging from the power lines in front of the home.
Image by Eli Braud.
Text source.
12 comments:
It also means that it is marked as a territory of a certain gang.
that's mentioned in that article in the link below. How odd.
I never really thought it was anything more than a kid walking home from school tossing their old sneakers up for the sake of it.
I've heard many supposed reasons for them up there, including that they mark a spot where you can buy drugs. Never heard the murder one before though.
Kinda reminds me of that Stephen King story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats"; secret messages hidden in children's sidewalk graffiti. The idea of something dark and sinister behind something mundane.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/sneakers.asp
With my personal knowledge of homicides in my town, I don't see the shoes correlating.
Interesting.
I just saw some today thrown over an overpass I take on my bike rides. I used to live in a bad area of town that had them everywhere. In that case, it could have meant murder, drugs, or gangs, all three were present. It could become a great urban legend.
Goneferal....myth busted ; )
There is a creek behind the elementary school I went to as a kid. Still today you can go there and find multiple pairs hanging from lines that run parallel to a train trestle that runs about 50 ft over the creek. It's about a football field to safety if you need to make it back to the bank if a train comes along. The shoes are meant to signify leaving the small town and not coming back....to live. Mine hung there through one winter.
When I was in the Army, people would throw their boots on the power lines when they got out. I threw a pair up when I got out.
I've heard all the ideas/superstitions/guesses as to why people put them up there. I think they're all right.
Also, my older brother and I used to joke that one day we'd take pics of these shoes from all different places when we came upon them and compile them into a big coffee table book. We were going to call it "Tripped On The Way To Heaven."
:)
Ommmmgahhhhh.
i CAN'T get past that dreamy image of the kicks thrown over the wires...
soooo Urban & Phillllly..<33333333
ohhhh & there are some hanging (just like that) right outside my door...
hahahha..<333
Gangs...Nah, just some kitts doing their thing.
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