Shoe Flinging, what do you think it means?

[Kelli in TN]

Some websites say that the practice of throwing athletic shoes over utility lines is harmless fun, some say it is a gang or drug sign.

 

What do you think? Does your community have shoes hanging from the wires?

[Storm Bay]

I haven't seen this, but it sounds immature to me!

[sweetbaby]

LOL! Are you kidding? I have never heard of this. Is this a new sports craze? Can't say that we have any hanging in our area. Sounds dangerous.

[Eleni]

I dont know what it means! But what I want to know...is HOW whoever does this got their shoes over a utility line that crosses over one of our busiest freeways??? That is one mystery that bugs me...

[Plaid Dad]

I always thought it meant some kids got really drunk and took on a stupid dare...who else would throw away a perfectly good pair of shoes?

[Krista in LA]

Around here, they say it's a drug sign. I guess I don't know for sure though.

[lori in tx]

well here in the not so great side of town, it is a sign that a gang member was killed there and they throw there shoes up to be a memory of them.

hth

blessings

lori

[elbac]

I can remember seeing shoes over lines when I was younger... around 25 years ago or so. I can also remember hearing of people doing it just for fun when I was in high school. So I don't think it's by any means something new. Just that's it's likely taken on a new meaning in some areas.

 

Some of the places I can remember seeing shoes hanging were in the middle of nowhere so I find it hard to imagine that the shoes suggested you could buy drugs nearby. :lol:

 

Personally, I've always wondered how many attempts are made before one succeeds with a successful shoe hanging? :D

[Plaid Dad]

Here's the Snopes page on the subject. Short version: no one knows for sure.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Some websites say that the practice of throwing athletic shoes over utitility lines is harmless fun, some say it is a gang or drug sign.

 

What do you think? Does your community have shoes hanging from the wires?

 

Drugs, says best friend's police officer brother.

[Eleni]

hmmmm...i wonder how drug deals go down on the outerbelt.....during rush hour? i NEED to take a photo of the ones that are above the freeway...they are so strange.

[abbeyej]

I think it's totally one of those "it depends" things. There could be times when it's drug-related, but there are also plenty of times when it's just people being silly/stupid.

[mcconnellboys]

I'm not sure what you mean by a drug sign.....??? Get your drugs here? Where? How would it lead you to where to find the drugs? I could see it being a sign for a gang that says this is so and so's territory - are the shoes particular colors, etc.? But I can't figure out what it could have to do with drugs.....

[Donna]

Shoes over telephone lines mark drug territory.

[chiguirre]

Doesn't it come from the movie Wag the Dog? That was one of the trends the political consultants started to support the soldiers in the war they fabricated, if I'm remembering it right. In any case, we have shoes over a line at the beginning of our quiet, suburban cul-de-sac where I've never even seen a police car so I don't think it's drug related.

[SheilaZ]

In my area it means that's the house where two little wild boys with not nearly enough supervision live. They aren't involved in gangs or drugs though. They are just have a dad going though a mid-life crisis and a mother who can't be bothered.

 

If fact we can trace their whereabouts by the location of stuff hanging fromt he power lines.

I'm actually surprised they have lived to be the age they are.:glare:

[Philothea]

Dh says when he was a kid, the kids just took their old shoes and flung them up there for fun.

[Kelli in TN]

I ask this because I am watching Extreme Home Makeover and they were removing shoes from the utility wires. They say that it denotes where you go to purchase certain drugs. I wondered if that were true for all communities, I have seen them in my community many times.

[Remudamom]

I know what it would mean to me..........that I'd have to buy more &%(* shoes.

[Jenny in Atl]

No matter why they are there... it's just plain ugly. You don't see it much in the burbs of Atl but I used to see it a lot as a kid in New York.

[mcconnellboys]

Hmmmm, that's very interesting. So do you think it means that people stand on the street there and sell drugs right there? But wouldn't the police know these things, too, and just remove the shoes or hang out and catch them selling?

[Kelli in TN]

Hmmmm, that's very interesting. So do you think it means that people stand on the street there and sell drugs right there? But wouldn't the police know these things, too, and just remove the shoes or hang out and catch them selling?

 

:confused:

 

Maybe it marks a certain neighborhood? Not the particular spot but it serves a landmark?

[CookieMonster]

Maybe it marks a certain neighborhood? Not the particular spot but it serves a landmark?

 

Yes.

 

As with anything, there will be shoes you see hanging from wires that don't mean a thing. But, everywhere I've lived, they have. In some places where I grew up it denoted gang territory. I think this useage has gone by the wayside in a lot of places.

 

Our neighborhood has a pair hanging near the entrance way. And I'm pretty sure who is selling. The house and the shoes aren't that close to each other. But, if you're looking for drugs, you know what you're looking for.

 

This is just my understanding of things, btw. I've not made a scientific inquiry into the situation. And, I think Snopes was being on the safe side. Cops don't go around making this stuff up. But that doesn't mean it's a universal symbol.

 

Why the cops don't just cut them down? You got me on that one.

[Maria from IN]

Could be anything, really, but I wouldn't be surprised if it pointed to a drug house.

 

My boyfriend used to work security at the HUD apartments in Indy and one of the drug dealers there would hang a bicycle tire up very high on the wall. Every so often he would do it again and my boyfriend and his coworkers would have to take it down.

[SuzyKS]

I have seen it here in Kansas and someone told me it meant a drug house was close. I am not sure if that means a perspective buyer is suppose to just start knocking on doors or what but....that is what I was told. I really think they are ugly.

[TCoppock]

:sad: Great we just had neighbors move in down the road from us and we now have shoes on our lines. I really hope it doesn't mean drugs or gangs have moved to our neighborhood. I am keeping my eyes open from now on. Just another reason I am looking to move to a small town. Mine is quickly being overtaken.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

 

Some of the places I can remember seeing shoes hanging were in the middle of nowhere so I find it hard to imagine that the shoes suggested you could buy drugs nearby. :lol:

 

 

In the middle of nowhere it's easier to cook meth without anyone sniffing you out. :-)

[Jenny in Atl]

In the middle of nowhere it's easier to cook meth without anyone sniffing you out. :-)

 

We had a meth house down the street from us at the old house (Cherokee co. GA). Never knew a thing till one day guys in funny white jump suites showed up after the cops took away the middle aged man who lived there. They cleaned it (hopefully well) and sold it. I always wondered if the family who bought it knew it was an old meth house. We were out in the woods so all the wires were buried. No place for a tennis shoe, so I wonder what his calling card was.

[TrixieB]

Shoes over the electric wire -- something I've seen all my life. I always figured it was kids with nothing better to do. The drug dealer who lived across the street from my family for most of my youth didn't have any shoes hanging over his electric wire.

[Crissy]

I always wondered if the family who bought it knew it was an old meth house.

I have always wondered a similar thing. If the young family who bought the home my brother rented knew he was murdered there. Our state law does not require the seller to disclose such information.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

No place for a tennis shoe, so I wonder what his calling card was.

 

A capital "M" spray painted on the street signs. :glare:

[KidsHappen]

I don't know what it means but I have seen it many times since I was very young and some of the areas I lived were unlikely to be places where drugs were sold. My gut feeling is that it may have started as an urban legend but now may be a sign of a drug house.

[Lorna in the boonies]

I have always wondered a similar thing. If the young family who bought the home my brother rented knew he was murdered there. Our state law does not require the seller to disclose such information.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. What a horrible thing to have touched your family.:grouphug:

 

In my state, the seller is required to disclose this information, and we still didn't find out about the murder that took place in our bedroom (the room I'm in right now, in fact) until three weeks after we closed on the house and moved in.

 

We only found out because a team doing a piece for Forensics Files showed up and informed us that they were going to be filming the exterior of our house.

 

If anyone ever sees the episode about a young man befriending an older couple and then poisoning them with arsenic (the husband died, but the wife survived), and you see blue jeans hanging on the clothesline . . . those are my dh's jeans!

 

No idea what the shoes mean, though -- I always just figured it was kids being stupid . . . but I can be pretty naive sometimes!

[Crissy]

In my state, the seller is required to disclose this information, and we still didn't find out about the murder that took place in our bedroom (the room I'm in right now, in fact) until three weeks after we closed on the house and moved in.

 

 

Oh, that is terrible! I imagine the family that bought my brother's rented house probably found out from the neighbors. What a shock it must be!

[PrairieAir]

I've seen them in Wichita. I saw some the other day, but I can't remember if it was in Wichita or in our small town. Every time I see it I think some mom has got to be pissed that her kid has lost his dadgum gym shoes again.

[5kidsforME]

Some websites say that the practice of throwing athletic shoes over utility lines is harmless fun, some say it is a gang or drug sign.

 

What do you think? Does your community have shoes hanging from the wires?

 

My dad used to say in Philadelphia people did it when someone died. I don't know if there was more to it or not and can no longer ask him.

 

Edited to add: I know my dad was very wild growing up and he was a city kid.

[ummix3]

I live in the NYC area and this is very common, Im actually surprised some of you have never seen it. Ever since I was a child I recall seeing sneakers thrown over wires. I have always wondered what it meant. I don't think its gang related though.

 

nycmom

[Harriet Vane]

well here in the not so great side of town, it is a sign that a gang member was killed there and they throw there shoes up to be a memory of them.

hth

blessings

lori

 

That's what it is here on the west side of Chicago.

[klmama]

I assumed drunken college students took the shoes off their even more drunk friends and tossed them up there. Still, what do I know? I wasn't a drunken college student and I didn't buy drugs! Now, I'll keep my eyes open to see if there are shoes in the neighborhoods.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Some websites say that the practice of throwing athletic shoes over utility lines is harmless fun, some say it is a gang or drug sign.

 

What do you think? Does your community have shoes hanging from the wires?

 

Throughout this thread, I keep remember that "discovered" song, "Old Shoe" from the movie Wag the Dog. How the symbol of support for the war with Albania became shoes over the power lines.

 

 

:001_smile:

[abbeyej]

Doesn't it come from the movie Wag the Dog? That was one of the trends the political consultants started to support the soldiers in the war they fabricated, if I'm remembering it right. In any case, we have shoes over a line at the beginning of our quiet, suburban cul-de-sac where I've never even seen a police car so I don't think it's drug related.

 

No. It may have been a part of the movie, but sneakers over power lines long predate the movie.

[pixelroper]

I just saw a pair hanging from a line in a town about 40 miles away. I had no idea why they were there and dd was asking a million questions. It was in the main street area at a busy intersection. Dd was trying hard to figure it out. I didn't have an answer other than- "Somebody was fooling around." Now I'm curious.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Hmm. We have shoes hanging on lines near here. . . Actually one of my neighbors told me just yesterday that the house kiddy-korner from us has some "pretty plants growing with lights in their basement":glare: I'm not surprised - we call it the "frat house".

[mommaduck]

It depends on where you live. Some places, it's a sign of drugs being sold and what kind. Other areas, it might be gang related. Yet still elsewhere, it's just kids being kids.

[Whisperlily]

Throughout this thread, I keep remember that "discovered" song, "Old Shoe" from the movie Wag the Dog. How the symbol of support for the war with Albania became shoes over the power lines.

 

 

:001_smile:

 

When I asked my DH what he thought about shoes over power lines, he asked... "boots or shoes?"

 

He said that a lot of the soldiers toss their boots up over the power lines after they return from a deployment to signify... I'm home and the boots are off!!!

 

I haven't actually seen any boots over the powerlines, and it's been a long time since I've seen a pair of shoes tossed up that way. I always thought it was a prank, something of a hazing ritual, similar to putting someone's underwear on a flagpole... only the shoes are hard to get down without the proper equipment, so they stay there for a long time, and the owner has to buy new shoes.

[ckweyant]

I have always heard that it was a gang sign. My ex husband is a law enforcement officer, and he said the same thing.

[Mrs Mungo]

When I asked my DH what he thought about shoes over power lines, he asked... "boots or shoes?"

 

He said that a lot of the soldiers toss their boots up over the power lines after they return from a deployment to signify... I'm home and the boots are off!!!

 

Yes in the military soldiers do it to signify they are home from a deployment, changing duty stations or getting out of the military. It's varied according to community. I haven't seen any such thing here but they were all over NTC.

[LaMere Academy]

I've always heard it means drugs are sold in a house nearby. We did have two sets slung over wires up the road from us...not in our neighborhood, but the road to get to the main road...and they finally took them down! I was SO happy.

 

Now, that being said...last night on Extreme Home Makeover...they had that issue and took them down. As soon as they started talking about it, I muted it. I didn't want my kiddos knowing what that meant. Not yet.