Herman, owner of Herman Construction Inc. in Sykesville, said the shoes he’s found usually were sized for children and were old, worn and tattered.

At first, the findings perplexed him. He didn’t know why they were so old or who put them in the walls.

“I couldn’t understand why it was shoes,” said Herman, a former mayor of Sykesville.

But he did research on the topic, and learned about the history of concealed shoes.

Sykesville Gate House Museum of History Curator Errol Smith said the custom of placing shoes in various parts of a house dates to the 12th century.

He said the practice was thought to ward off witches or evil entities, and sometimes people would use coins or a cat’s skeleton in addition to shoes. The shoes were usually placed near a portal of the house and were usually located in a ceiling or flatboard.

“It’s based on a lot of deep-seated superstition,” Smith said.

The custom was practiced in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, according to the website “Ian Evans’ World of Old Houses.” The site is a resource for those restoring old houses.

Smith said he recently received two shoes as donations for the museum from Sykesville resident Natalie Whittaker.

Whittaker said she found two left shoes behind a wall in 2005 while renovating a house when she lived in Flohrville. The house was built in the 1900s, she said.

She said the two left shoes seemed to have belonged to a little boy and girl. The boy’s shoe was a black leather boot that was tattered and discolored. The girl’s shoe was made of soft, black fabric and had a strap that went across the front part of it.

Whittaker said she decided to donate the shoes to the Gate House Museum because she didn’t have the time to research the history of them.

“It was old-fashioned, for sure,” she said.

Smith said shoes have always had a lot of significance. They were prevalent in children’s nursery rhymes and classic storylines such as “The Wizard of Oz” and “Cinderella.”

Shoes were also the most expensive item for a family to buy, Smith said. A good pair might take one week’s salary to purchase. And sometimes one pair of shoes would have been worn by two or three different siblings.

Smith said he plans on putting concealed shoes on display and is asking South Carroll residents to donate any concealed shoes they should find.