Daria thanks for your response and the info, I am sure the folks in NJ
will be pleased.......thanks again.........Jim

Daria E. Merwin wrote:
>
> A single old shoe, along with a smoked cat (!), was found behind a
> chimney dating to around 1810 in the Terry-Mulford House in Orient,
> New York (the eastern tip of the North Fork of Long Island).  This
> find is described by Frank Turano in his Ph.D. dissertation
> (SUNY-Stony Brook, 1994), in which he ascribes it to "an old English
> building tradition that was supposed to protect the house from evil"
> (page 213).  Turano's citation is :
>
> Ralph Merrifield (1988), The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic.  New
> York: Amsterdam Press (pages 131-135).
>
> Hope this helps to explain this intriguing practice!
>
> Daria
>