Decomposing Child’s Shoe Discovered Under Floor in Centuries-Old Home During Renovation

A Wisconsin woman recently found a child's shoe hidden under the floor of a centuries-old house she bought.

Kelly Wallace was renovating her house in Reedsburg, Wisconsin when she discovered the shoe hidden beneath the floorboards in the bathroom.

"I don't know why it was there. I read people used to hide shoes to keep evil spirits away, or for good luck," Wallace told Newsweek. "It was owned by the same family until we bought it a couple years ago. Research showed they moved to the area in the late 1800s."

The age of the house seems to line up with the timeline of the old superstition, as people during the 18th and 19th centuries would sometimes hide shoes in the walls or floors in the hopes of keeping bad spirits away.

Wallace shared photos of the shoes on Reddit where some users shared similar findings in their homes. Others advised her to put the shoe back in order to not incur the wrath of evil spirits. Wallace said that she plans to put the shoe on display.

"I cleaned and polished the shoe, and we are keeping it on display in the house," she said. "I thought other people might find it as cool as I did."