Construction workers renovating the Illinois capitol have come across a variety of oddities … old beer and soda cans, an empty vodka bottle and a bag of corks. But the discovery of a pair of old shoes has been the biggest curiosity.
Theories of the shoes’ origins have circulated since news of the find grabbed headlines. Afterall, the black-and-white, shiny men’s shoes, with their winged tips and gold edge, appear to be antique. As soon as she saw a picture in the newspaper, Brynne Murphy recognized the rightful owner:
“They were definitely Matt Paprocki‘s,” she said.
Murphy is an administrative assistant with the House Republicans, and works alongside Paprocki, a legislative analyst.
“That’s for certain, nobody else would wear those shoes,” Murphy said.
Which gets to why they ended up in construction rubble. Paprocki says he bought them … brand new and shiny … from Terry’s Men’s World in Springfield in 2009 … and he wore them to work.
“I was ridiculed,” Paprocki said. “A lot of people around the office seemed genuinely concerned about my ability to see.”
He says he jokingly stashed them in hidden cubby hole under the carpet in the House GOP’s former offices. Then he forget about them. Until they were uncovered by workers renovating those offices. Paprocki says he’d thought the $35 dollars he’d paid for the shoes was a waste. But money can’t buy the laughs he’s gotten from them mystery they started. (Amanda Vinicky)
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