Shoes On Power Cables

I've seen this as a kid, back in the Mesozoic era, and I still have no clue why this is. There's a power line around the corner from here that has four pairs of shoes hanging from it. Seriously, who does this, and why?

It just can't be for the hell of it, can it? I simply can't understand hanging out on a busy street trying to throw a pair of shoes over a wire. What's the purpose?

I've done stupid things before, heck, I've inhaled freon. That's pretty stupid but at least I got high for a moment so there was a reason, no matter how misguided.

Maybe it's one of those things that belies my sense of logic. Or, I'm just too stupid to figure it out. One or the other, which may be the same thing, but anyway someone explain this to me. I'm baffled.

It's to advertise a house selling (medical ) mariJuana. Well that's what it means in my country.

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher

It's more widespread than I ever thought. Have a look at these reasons.

There's a place about 6 miles from me where kids have thrown trainers on the lines. No drugs, no message; the kids in that little area are feral and semi-feral. They might be trophies of all the men they've jumped lol.

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher


Best answer: There is no real "purpose."

It is just done for one reason or another.

Way back in my day it was the last sport shoes you wore after the last game before graduation.(i.e. you were hanging em up for the last time)

From what I know, it shows dominance. They took those shoes from someone and displayed them on the wires. A kind of a gang territory thing ...

It started as a gang reference (the hanging of the shoes of someone they offed as a warning. But has spread everywhere else now and used for different reasons or not at all other than being cool or cruel.

Im sure there are all manner of reasons. But i've always seen it be a prank.

You can't get them back down. So once you throw them up there, the owner can't get them back down to wear/

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher

The most likely reason: kids.

Also - physics lesson. I mean that sincerely. My kids do all kinds of things to figure out how physics works, and I did too. Gravity, trajectory, centrifugal & centripital force, etc. To them it's just "fun", but they're experimenting and observing. I never did the shoe thing though, that was for a much more nefarious bunch:

Killer Clowns:

The explanation we went with in the 70's-80's: Anytime a clown kills (and eats) a kid, it throws their shoes up on a power line as a sort of trophy.

Murderous, cannibal clowns are everywhere.

My dad used to be a L.E.O. He told me that at least back in the day, and in Flint where he grew up, that meant drugs were available nearby.

-Alee

Not sure why they do it over power lines.

But we used to have a shoe "tree" out in the middle of nowhere by where I live.

Until someone I know, cut it down. Just to be an a hole.

lol when I lived in Detroit it, the colour of shoes was a symbol of whos hood it was.
There are so many gangs or thugs that all "rep" something.
But to name a few...

If you see black shoes w/ gold laces = Latin Counts

Baby blue shoes white laces= Ca$h flow nation

Green shoes w/ black laces = Spanish Cobras

Red or white shoes with red laces = Blood and affiliates Eastside Bounty Hunters Watts Bloods (Yes Watss Bloods... even though they are in the D. )

Blue or white shoes with blue laces = crips and affiliates

And the idiot list goes on and on. These were just a few in the couple block radius from my place.
Imagine being a white kid and at each end of your city block there's a different color of "kite" being flown.
Man, I couldn't go anywhere. lol

i dont know the particulars of what string colors and all that mean.
around here if you are driving around and you see shoes over the lines then you can bet that youre in a majority black neighborhood.
i dont know why and i didnt make those rules but that is how it is.

Yeah, I know, I'm lazy about threads I start most times but one has to admit this really isn't a important topic.

Kandinsky, thanks for the Wiki link. I guess there's a Wiki page about everything but I never imagined shoes made out of trees. At least I'm not the only one curious enough to look into it, or in my case just ask some questions on a forum.

I'm not buying the drug angle, at least in my neck of the woods. The place I mentioned that has four pairs hanging also has, within maybe a hundred feet, a permanent memorial to someone who died there(it's a somewhat dangerous s-curve there) so that makes sense in that one instance. How does one take down the shoes when they move on or are tired and need some sleep? Even drug dealers need to sleep once in a while and while I have seen this reported on shows about drugs I just don't see it happening in the areas of Las Vegas I see them hanging at.

I figured I just had to be missing something that would make no sense to me and my perspective. Seems, just looking at that Wiki page, there are no real answers or one no one will know anytime soon. How would one investigate this, as it seems it would be impossible.

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher

why not try say 12 things you never tried before or that are outside the box or outside your comfort zone? Stuff that can make you feel alive again. Just try it