For further information related to folklore see:  The Archaeology of Ritual and
Magic by Ralph Merrifield, 1987 (pp.128-136) and The Pattern Under the Plough
by George Ewart Evans, 1966.  Good luck and please post anything you find on
hats and boots enclosed under floorboards.  Thanks.  Julie



Quoting [log in to unmask]:

> This was recently posted on the Utah Historic listserve from the Utah
> SHPO. I
> was asked to post it on HISTARCH for any responses. Send to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
>
> Subj:   Shoes in Bricks
> Date:   12/11/2001 4:02:00 PM Mountain Standard Time
> From:    [log in to unmask] (Cory Jensen)
> Sender:    [log in to unmask]
> Reply-to:    [log in to unmask] (Historic Preservation)
> To:    [log in to unmask] (Historic Preservation)
>
>
> Recently a woman came into our office with an adobe brick taken from
> an
> interior wall of her c.1905 house in west Salt Lake City.  Adobe
> bricks
> aren't in and of themselves that unique in Utah; but what was unique
> about
> this brick was the child's shoe encased therein.
>
> Her question to us here at the preservation office was, "why is there a
> shoe
> in my brick?"  To be honest we had no idea and asked around but found
> no
> solid answers, so we left it as either a child's prank or the fact
> that
> someone's shoe got stuck in the clay and was pulled off.
>
> Then we chanced upon a web site in England that explains such
> interesting
> finds (primarily in centuries old English dwellings), including shoes,
> clay
> vessels, dead cats, etc.  The link is:
> http://www.folkmagic.co.uk/index.html
>
> What is interesting is that this ancient custom persisted to the
> twentieth
> century to various places outside the British Isles, including Utah.
> Unfortunately, we do not have the ownership history of this particular
> house,
> but it would be interesting to see if the original owners came here
> from
> England.
>
> If any of you have, or know of someone who has found a shoe in a wall,
> a
> dried cat, horse skull, or bottle hidden somewhere in the walls, or
> under the
> ceiling or floor of their house we would be interested in hearing about
> it!
>
> J. Cory Jensen
> Architectural Historian/National Register Coordinator
> Utah State Historic Preservation Office
> 300 Rio Grande
> Salt Lake City, Utah  84101
> 801/533-3559
> FAX 801/533-3503
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>