The real reasons you see shoes tied around electricity wires and why others say you shouldn’t take them down are explained…

A Reddit post has highlighted several reasons why you can notice shoes hanging from a power line, some of which are somewhat more concerning than others.

Many of us spend far too much of our day with our heads down, our necks craned, and our eyes glued to our phones instead of taking the time to glance around or even up at our surroundings.

And if you dare to lift your head and look about, your eyes may come to rest on a pair of shoes dangling over a power wire strung in the sky, prompting many inquiries.

How did they get there? Why are they there? What on earth could have caused the shoes to fly so high? Well, there are a few possible explanations.

In the post r/NoStupidQuestions, a Reddit user posed the question, “Why do people throw shoes on power lines?”

It did not take long for people to weigh in.

A person on Twitter clarified: “This is a cultural practice in impoverished neighborhoods and is done for various reasons, some are no longer practiced today, but the shoes still hang from some powerlines.”

They then identified four explanations for the tradition, starting with the use of shoes as ‘a monument for someone who died on that street.’

They told me that they hung their shoes up so their neighborhood would show respect when they passed.

Shoes allegedly marked gang areas with significant drug activity in the 1970s and 1990s, according to another theory.

The user claimed, “It was a message to rival gangs that another gang had already claimed that particular area.”

The remaining reasons pertain to troublesome children, with one hypothesis being slightly more distressing than the others.

“Unsuspecting and ignorant children would occasionally replicate the first two reasons for fun, unaware of the actual meaning,” the post continued. Children would tie old shoes together to see who could keep them up there.

Finally, “teenagers who were bullied also had their shoes taken and thrown onto wires as proof of losing a fight.”

Why do people throw shoes on power lines?
byu/Not-a-Femboy-i-Swear inNoStupidQuestions

Regarding the former, another commenter confirmed: “Whenever I wore out a pair of sneakers as a youngster, I did this solely to commemorate the event on my street.” I believe that most of the time, it’s just bored kids engaging in inappropriate behavior.

Therefore, it is important to learn something new every day.