What's the mystery behind the Shoe Tree in Paris, Ontario

​As we passed along the Green Lane, in Paris Ontario; this tree catches my attention. Then, I asked my husband (who was driving the car) to come nearer to the tree so I can have a closer look of it. I felt some sadness right away. 

I showed to some locals the photos I took. Posted it in my facebook page and in the local community pages.

After two days, I found myself asking the locals. Some people told me that they didn't like the idea of it and some showed how upset they are as the tree becomes garbage. A place to dump old footwear.

At first, I thought this tree symbolises that people or kids were killed in car crash or bus crash as it is situated in the near highway. Or families might be killed by flood in the nearby river as it is in a higher point where the river is located. I was hesitant to post it in respect to the families.

In the actual appearance of it, it looks really scary and spooky. That's why it captured my entire curiosity.

After my investigation, I've learned that one grandmother decided to nail her grandchildren's pair of shoes on the tree. After a while, random people started nailing shoes on the same tree and it collected numerous shoes, laces, slippers, sandals over the years.  And that's the story of it.