Historians mystified by bricked-up shoes: charm against evil?

Mon, 12 Apr 2010

Korschenbroich, Germany - Eight shoes bricked up inside the thick stone walls of a medieval castle are baffling historians in Germany, who suspect they are part of some forgotten custom to ward off evil.

Kristin Dohmen, a historian, said Monday the find at Schloss Liedberg, a privately owned castle near Cologne, was the latest of about 1,000 cases found all over Europe. The worn-out shoes are poked inside holes in the walls, then sealed up with stone.

"You always find them near windows and chimneys," she said. "It could be intended to stop the Devil from coming in the window."

There is no documentary record of the custom. Repair masons who found the moldy shoes at Liedberg had never heard of the charm either.

Dohmen said one shoe had machine stitching, proving the custom was still alive in the 19th century. She said the oldest find on record was a 600-year-old shoe from a wall of Winchester Cathedral in England.

The owner of the German castle has asked for the men's, women's and children's shoes to go back into the wall after being studied by scientists. He has also donated one of his own shoes to be bricked up with them. Just in case it does bring luck.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/318332,historians-mystified-by-bricked-up-shoes-charm-against-evil.html.