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Help Solve the Mystery of the Columbus Avenue Footprints

July 15, 2021 | 8:25 AM - Updated on June 30, 2024 | 1:27 AM
in ABSURDITY
55

By Carol Tannenhauser

For months, a stretch of sidewalk between West 74th and West 75th Streets on Columbus Avenue has been undergoing a major renovation, so carefully done that workers built an impressive bridge over it.

Photograph courtesy of Beth Israel and Paisley Shaler, of The Shade Store.

The day after they took the bridge down to expose the new, gleaming-white sidewalk, this is how it looked:

What? No!

If you look carefully, you’ll see that the footprints in the cement are very narrowly placed, and small; I tried to walk in them, but my size seven sneakers were too big, and the steps were so far apart that I had to leap to reach them.

Why would the workers take the bridge down before the cement was dry? Was the culprit a woman or child, based upon their shoe size? Did the long steps indicate they were running? Was this an accident or intentional? Whose footprints encased in cement are these?

Any information or speculation is welcome in the comments. There are five (size small) West Side Rag T-shirts waiting for the five most imaginative — or obvious — answers.

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55 Comments
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Leon
Leon
3 years ago

Let me kick this off by ruling out the Riverside Park goats.

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JD
JD
3 years ago
Reply to  Leon

No kidding.

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dc
dc
3 years ago
Reply to  Leon

Leon, T shirt for you!
Definitely not the goats.

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Tom
Tom
3 years ago

We’ll have to investigate this one step at a time.

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Abbie
Abbie
3 years ago

Nancy Pelosi running for hairdresser’s appointment and $15.00 pint of ice cream!

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S. Hayes
S. Hayes
3 years ago

Prince?

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Le Pink Panther
Le Pink Panther
3 years ago

Une réponse facile, mais en anglais:
These are single impressions spaced far apart! Therefore, they are obviously the work of a one-legged person hopping up the avenue!
U.R. most welcome!
Jacques Clouseau

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Michael
Michael
3 years ago

Slenderman!?

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S
S
3 years ago

Someone tried to do a “”two step” dance move but “misstepped”.

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Nick H
Nick H
3 years ago

It’s an invisible sculpture. (Duh…)

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Gonf
Gonf
3 years ago

Clearly the work of the great, long, red-legged scissorman.

That or bedbugs.

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MAD
MAD
3 years ago

Some of the prints are from a left foot shoe, alternating with those from a right foot shoe. And they are widely spaced, which indicates the mysterious stepper is either very tall or floats above the ground with some sort of foot stamper. Oh, heck — who knows??

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Mark Permann
Mark Permann
3 years ago

The only remaining footprint (WSR’s own words!) of Ethan Freckles.

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LD
LD
3 years ago

Banksy.

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Reply
sudden_eyes
sudden_eyes
3 years ago
Reply to  LD

You get my vote!

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Cato
Cato
3 years ago

Australopithecus afarensis. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetoli .

The proximity to the Museum of Natural History confirms the connection.

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Josh P.
Josh P.
3 years ago

New evidence suggests ancient tourists waited in line for Levain’s even longer than their modern descendants.

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Pearlman Katie
Pearlman Katie
3 years ago
Reply to  Josh P.

I love this one!

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BDB
BDB
3 years ago

As an upper Westsider we hate everything and I hate this!

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John
John
3 years ago

These are obviously the long-lost steppes of the UWS-SSR.

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SR
SR
3 years ago

Frustrated artist who volunteered as a banner untangler at The Gates in hopes of meeting Christo and launching a successful career. Didn’t happen. Saved pole. Has been creating anarchic art installations around the city since then, this time by sticking shoes at the end of the Gates pole and leaning over the side of the bridge.

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Cato
Cato
3 years ago
Reply to  SR

Giving New York its own Golden Gates Bridge??

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Mark Moore
Mark Moore
3 years ago

Mary Poppins

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Tom
Tom
3 years ago

Someone with only left foot. 🤔

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Owlbert Zimmerman
Owlbert Zimmerman
3 years ago

Little Foot!

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Truth and Reason
Truth and Reason
3 years ago

It’s like the Cask of Amontillado of sidewalks. Whose feet are they?

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Tessa
Tessa
3 years ago

I’m betting it was the workers’ own inside job, done by hand (not by foot…) and well before the bridge deconstruction unveiled their art project.

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Ed
Ed
3 years ago

Or as Sherlock Holmes might say: “Come, Watson, come!” he cried. “The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!”

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JILL GILL
JILL GILL
3 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Defenitely a foot….

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Matt G
Matt G
3 years ago

I’m positive it’s the same person that’s been trying to contact me about my vehicle’s extended warranty.

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J
J
3 years ago

The artist signed their work – there’s a handprint and a small smiley face in the corner of this section of cement. A cool UWS mystery!

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Bill
Bill
3 years ago

Now after the Covid-19 pandemic has abated a bit, these are the first steps in the return of shoe-business.

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Rob Godley
Rob Godley
3 years ago

They are definitely the Wicked Witch Covid’s footprints being run out of the UWS.

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Ish Kabibble
Ish Kabibble
3 years ago

Hopalong Cassidy?

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Pearlman Katie
Pearlman Katie
3 years ago

Someone on stilts obviously did this on purpose after they gauged that the cement was just dry enough or wet enough to do this quickly and get away. Perhaps a retired member of the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus?

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Cynthia Parzych
Cynthia Parzych
3 years ago

It’s the Wicked Witch of the West(side).

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Steven
Steven
3 years ago

It looks like the footprints you see in Scooby Doo.

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Reply
Susan F
Susan F
3 years ago

It’s just a hop, skip, and a jump away to shake shake!

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Reply
Susan F.
Susan F.
3 years ago

Daniel Day-Lewis sequel entitled “my two left feet”.

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Reply
Auntie Depression
Auntie Depression
3 years ago

Semi Social Distancing.

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Reply
HELFRICH-YOOD, Ruth
HELFRICH-YOOD, Ruth
3 years ago

Clearly left by the elusive legendary creature, Smallfoot.

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Steve Reiness
Steve Reiness
3 years ago

Watch the movie Gaslight (1944) – that will explain this.

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Brunnhilde
Brunnhilde
3 years ago

There’s a game afoot, here!

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Jan
Jan
3 years ago

One small step for ……

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NP
NP
3 years ago

We need to tread lightly before jumping to conclusions.

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World Peacenik
World Peacenik
3 years ago

I confess.

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Reply
cma
cma
3 years ago

A deeply inner soul/sole, this sidewalk phantom.

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Reply
Robin Rice
Robin Rice
3 years ago

“Don’t look at us!” say the raccoons. We’re too busy emptying garbage cans than to fool around with nonsense like this.

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Larry D
Larry D
3 years ago

Clearly an artistic homage to Julia Haart’s shoe line.

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Reply
P.K.
P.K.
3 years ago

“When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you”

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Reply
World Peacenik
World Peacenik
3 years ago
Reply to  P.K.

The Lord?

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Reply
tim
tim
3 years ago

Locals stay in their lane.

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Reply
Sunny's Mom
Sunny's Mom
3 years ago

Obviously not a skilled Hopscotcher,… clearly the line has been stepped on!

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Reply
Anne
Anne
3 years ago

Someone who’s well heeled left these prints.

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JD
JD
3 years ago

The ghost of Peter Stuyvesant

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