Belding, Michigan: Shoe Tree - Cursed!

The shoe tree in Belding has had shoes in it for a long time. I've lived in the area my entire life (I'm 40) and I saw shoes in the tree when I was a kid.

I have known this tree to have shoes hanging from it for at least 25 years -- since just before my dad moved to that neighborhood. And I'll bet they were in it before then, too. Sometimes there are hundreds of pairs of shoes, and other times there are only a few pairs, so it is likely that the farmer or teenagers are clearing them off the tree from time to time. If someone wasn't clearing them out of the tree, there would be ancient-looking shoes hanging from the tree, but they change as styles change.

My grandpa died in 1981 and there were shoes hanging there then. I'm not sure why. I often wondered if it was a death memorial, like maybe some child passed away at that location walking or riding a bike wearing tennis shoes.

I have lived 3 miles away from this tree since I moved here in 1988, and that tree has always had shoes on it. The only reason I know is because that is the way my current husband first gave me directions on how to get to his house: "Turn left at the shoe tree." Every week or so I notice more and more shoes. Maybe the curse isn't true, or is it?

At the edge of a farmer's field just south of Belding, hundreds of pairs of shoes hang like fruit from the tree.

Legend has it that a young boy who worked the field during the Depression went without shoes for several winters and lost his feet to frostbite. Infection set in, killing him while he was still in his teens. Before he died, he cursed the fact that such a basic necessity didn't grow on trees. On the first anniversary of his death, a pair appeared on one of the low hanging branches.

Since then, every year, more and more shoes have appeared on the tree. It's said that his ghost can be seen each night as the sun sets, watching over his crop of shoes.