It wasn't at all what they were expecting to find.

Back in August 2016, workers at St. John's College at the University of Cambridge opened

up a section of wall to put in some new electrical wiring and stumbled upon something else, an

old leather shoe.

Now let's be clear, old buildings have a long history, and St. John's College has been

around since 1511, making for plenty of time to accumulate odd things.

It wasn't anything fancy, just a dusty old shoe about the size of a modern size 6 and

most likely worn by a man, but this simple old shoe, estimated to be about 3 centuries

old, is more than just debris.

It's a clue.

See, it's evidence of a practice that historians refer to as concealment.

It was a folk ritual designed to protect the building the object was hidden inside.

How it was supposed to actually work is still a bit of a mystery, but there are some who

believe that shoes were viewed as capable of trapping the devil.

And while thousands of shoes have been found in walls, attics, and chimneys all across

England and its former colonies, other items were concealed as well.

We've talked about witch bottles before, but folks also frequently hid locks of hair

and wigs.

They was believed that fairies or witches who might try to enter a home through the chimney

would spot the hair, believe it was a real person standing guard, and run away.

But of all the types of objects found hidden inside the chimney or roof of an old home,

one group always gets a bit more notice.

...