Shoe tossing

This article is about the use of shoes for entertainment. For information about the use of shoes to insult, see Shoeing.

Evidence of shoe tossing in Edmonton, Canada

Shoe tossing (or shoe flinging), the act of using shoes as improvised projectiles or weapons, is a constituent of a number of folk sports and practices. Today, it is commonly the act of throwing a pair of shoes onto telephone wires, powerlines, or other raised wires. A related practice is shoe tossing onto trees or fences. Shoe tossing has been observed in areas of the Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Bolivia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Republic, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United States and Venezuela.

Shoes hung from overhead wires ("shoefiti")

Shoes hanging from a telephone wire in Gothenburg, Sweden

Shoe flinging or "shoefiti" is the American and worldwide practice of throwing shoes whose shoelaces have been tied together so that they hang from overhead wires such as power lines or telephone cables. The shoes are tied together by their laces, and the pair is then thrown at the wires as a sort of bolas. This practice plays a widespread, though mysterious, role in adolescent folklore in the United States. Shoe flinging has also been reported in many other countries, as mentioned above.

Shoe flinging occurs throughout the United States, in rural as well as in urban areas. Usually, the shoes flung at the wires are sneakers; elsewhere, especially in rural areas, many different varieties of shoes, including leather shoes and boots, also are thrown.

A number of sinister explanations have been proposed as to why this is done. Some say that shoes hanging from the wires advertise a local crack house where crack cocaine is used and sold (in which case the shoes are sometimes referred to as "Crack Tennies"). It can also relate to a place where Heroin is sold to symbolize the fact that once you take Heroin you can never 'leave': a reference to the addictive nature of the drug. Others claim that the shoes so thrown commemorate a gang-related murder, or the death of a gang member, or as a way of marking gang turf. A newsletter from the mayor of Los Angeles, California cites fears of many Los Angeles residents that "these shoes indicate sites at which drugs are sold or worse yet, gang turf," and that city and utility employees had launched a program to remove the shoes. These explanations sound more like urban legends, especially since the practice also occurs along relatively remote stretches of rural highways that are unlikely scenes for gang murders.

A Boy Scout throws his boots over the Philmont entrance sign at Base Camp, a famous tradition.

Other, less sinister, explanations have been ventured for the practice. Some claim that shoes are flung to commemorate the end of a school year, or a forthcoming marriage as part of a rite of passage. In Scotland, it has been said that when a young man has lost his virginity he tosses his shoes over telephone wires to announce this to his peers. It has been suggested that the custom may have originated with members of the military, who are said to have thrown military boots, often painted orange or some other conspicuous color, at overhead wires as a part of a rite of passage upon completing basic training or on leaving the service. In the 1997 film Wag the Dog (dir. Barry Levinson, New Line Cinema), shoe tossing features as an allegedly spontaneous mass cultural manifestation of tribute to Sgt. William Schumann, played by Woody Harrelson, who has purportedly been “shot down behind enemy lines” in Albania, although the development has been orchestrated by the public relations team of the U.S. President in its effort to divert attention from an incipient scandal concerning his sexual impropriety.

Others claim that the shoes are stolen from other people and tossed over the wires as a sort of bullying tactic, or as a practical joke played on drunkards. Others simply say that shoe flinging is a way to get rid of shoes that are no longer wanted, are uncomfortable, or do not fit. It may also be another manifestation of the human instinct to leave their mark on, and decorate, their surroundings. It has been reported that workmen often throw shoes if they are not paid for waxing floors.

Shoe flinging may cause utility outages, as the weight of the dangling shoes can disrupt the power line. In addition, people have been killed by electrocution while trying to remove shoes from power lines. Utilities have asked the public to call them instead of trying to remove the shoes themselves.

In some neighborhoods, shoes tied together and hanging from power lines or tree branches signify that someone has died. The shoes belong to the dead person. The reason they are hanging, legend has it, is that when the dead person's spirit returns, it will walk that high above the ground, that much closer to heaven. Another superstition holds that the tossing of shoes over the power lines outside of a house is a way to keep the property safe from ghosts. Yet another legend involves that shoes hanging from telephone wires signals someone leaving the neighborhood onto bigger and better things. Of course, only each individual shoe-thrower knows why his/her pair of shoes now hangs from a wire.

Shoe tree

The Shoe Tree in Morley Field, San Diego.

A shoe tree, not to be confused with the shoe-preservation device of the same name, is a tree (or, occasionally, a powerline pole or other wooden object) that has been festooned with old shoes. Shoe trees are generally located alongside a major local thoroughfare, and may have a theme (such as high-heeled shoes). There are currently at least seventy-six such shoe trees in the United States, and an undetermined number elsewhere.

Detail from a shoe tree on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.

Competitive boot throwing

Boot throwing has been a competitive sport in New Zealand for many years, although not one that is taken very seriously. Gumboots or Wellington boots are the heavy rubber boots worn by most farm workers and many other outdoor workers. A competition to see who can throw a gumboot the furthest is a feature of many Agricultural Field Days in the rural communities. The town of Taihape in the central North Island is particularly identified with this sport; they claim to be the Gum Boot Throwing Capital of New Zealand. They hold an annual competition in the main street and award a Golden Gumboot as the trophy; see Wellie wanging.

Since 2003 the sport has been practiced competitively in Eastern Europe. The 2004 World Championship Competition was won by Germany who is hosting the 2005 Competition at Döbeln. Teams were also expected from Sweden, Estonia and Russia. Boot throwing has been a popular sport in Finland since 1976 when the first Finnish Championships of boot throwing has been organized.

In popular culture

In Wag the Dog, a 1997 film, a political spin doctor played by Robert De Niro used shoe-tossing as a propaganda weapon to commemorate a fictitious veteran of a war they made up by manipulating news media. In Big Fish, a 2004 fantasy drama film, Jenny Hill, a young girl in the town of Spectre, throws the shoes of protagonist Edward Bloom over telephone wires to discourage him from leaving the town.

See also

• Abandoned footwear
• Folklore
• Overhead powerline
• Urban legend
• Telegraph post

External links

• Site dedicated to "shoefiti"
• New Zealand shoe throwing
• Shoe tree in Juntura, Oregon from GoSleepGo
• Shoe Tree in Armstrong Park, Newcastle in its post council cut down state
• Shoes in Santa Barbara
• University of Minn. campus shoe tree
• Musings on meaning of shoe tree
• Bootthrowers' House
• Close-Up: New York's hanging sneakers – BBC News report looking at the phenomenon