Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Sneaks

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:

Anonymous said...

It also means that it is marked as a territory of a certain gang.

Rot said...

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.

Commish said...

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.

Damian Michael AKA HalloweeNut said...

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.

Goneferalinidaho said...

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.

SPOOKSHOWS.COM said...

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.

Rot said...

Goneferal....myth busted ; )

Ragged Grin said...

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.

Grim said...

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.

Sara said...

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."
:)

girl6 said...

Ommmmgahhhhh.
i CAN'T get past that dreamy image of the kicks thrown over the wires...
soooo Urban & Phillllly..<33333333

girl6 said...

ohhhh & there are some hanging (just like that) right outside my door...
hahahha..<333
Gangs...Nah, just some kitts doing their thing.