Why do shoes get hung onto telephone wire?
Posted by chillygurlz on December 19, 2007
I was walking around my neighborhood, i spotted a shoe on one of the telephone wire. i always wonder what gets people going on about wanting to throw shoes on those telephone wires, yes its funny but can be dangerous…
December 19, 2007 at 7:04 am
Hey Rita,
Good topic! Well, I learned about it back in my teen trying to find answers how, why and when did shoes on a wire started.
From what I understand, there is no proven when or why but there has been rumors around for years that drug dealers throw shoes over the wire letting people know where to find location to buy drugs but is this true?
Or other one of possibilities is that the gang members did this to let other gangs know that it’s their terrority or when a gang member lost live, etc.
Really, it could mean a lot of things, also some people do it for fun.
But for dangerous, I can’t say it is dangerous because shoes have not cause any kind of damages to wires such as fire, harm anyone that I know of.
Good answers why shoes over the wire that I can find:
http://yedda.com/questions/phenomenon_shoes_strange_electric_9510472918511/
-SG
December 19, 2007 at 9:15 am
I have always wondered about this too. I drive by a pair of shoes on a wire every day, and I wonder why they are there. I have seen shoes on wires in the weirdest places. I just have to wonder why someone would throw their shoes up there? How many times did they try before the shoes landed just right across the wires? How long have they been there and how long will it take before the shoe laces rot so the shoes fall off? And will the shoes fall on someone’s head? Lots of questions. . . hahaha! Good vlog!
December 19, 2007 at 12:38 pm
that is cool info Seek Geo… thanks…
December 23, 2007 at 6:54 am
Hi Rita,
I’m Roberto, and I’m new here, I found your site thru seekgeo. About the shoes hanging on the phone wires thing… hmmm… I’ve always wondered about that too growing up, I never knew why but I thought like Kim said that that shoe might fall and hit someone in the head. lol.
December 30, 2007 at 5:28 am
Seek Geo is correct - Shoes on the phone wires is really to inform people that you can find drugs in the area. It is a marking of terroritory for drug dealers/gangs. This is a practice that has gone on for years.
December 31, 2007 at 5:58 am
Hello,
I’ve known it to mean, that you’ve made your meal ticket ( long term monetary goal) and it was time to retire them.(shoes)
March 6, 2008 at 6:38 am
I always thought the shoes on the wire was to ward of pixies and fairies…Folk lore…arn’t they theifs?
April 18, 2008 at 9:40 am
I have oft heard the “Dealer is Near” meme associated with this practice.
One of the ‘Quatsi films (Koyanisquatsi, Nagoyasquatsi, Powanisquatsi) has some interesting images of many tens of shoes hung over power/phone/cable lines. In this case the indicator may be that the area is highly, or hotly, contested selling space with a large number of vendors.
I just ran across an interesting location in my locale where a tree near a bridge hosted some 200 pairs, by my admittedly quick and dirty estimate, of shoes. It was a startling sight to see to be sure. The truly funny thing in this case is that there were many shoes without any form of laces that were clearly thrown off the bridge as if the individual who tossed them expected that they would somehow catch in the tree by hope alone. Quite odd…