Sneakers hanging from power lines have sparked plenty of curiosity over the years. While I used to think it was just a harmless prank, there are a bunch of different theories behind it. One idea links the tradition to soldiers who’d toss their boots after finishing training. Over time, others speculated it could be a gang signal or even a form of bullying—kind of like those movie scenes where a kid’s shoes get taken and thrown out of reach.

But honestly, the most believable explanation is also the simplest: people do it for fun. It’s probably just a random tradition that keeps going because someone saw it, thought it looked cool, and decided to try it too. Harmless, quirky, and kind of mysterious—that’s what keeps the sneaker-on-a-wire phenomenon alive.