Everyone remembers the red jacket from “Thriller.” Hardly anyone ever thinks about the shoes.
They were plain and black, a pair of Florsheim loafers in size 9.5. Michael wore them in the video and through all those long rehearsals, and when it was over he didn’t lock them away in a vault. He gave them to one man, along with a handwritten letter tucked inside.
Now, more than forty years later, those shoes are about to be shown to the world again.
Julien’s Auctions announced on October 7 that the loafers are heading to the auction block. Flip them over and the soles are hand-marked “MJ Thriller Shoes,” so there’s no doubt about what they are or where they’ve been. They go up for sale in Abu Dhabi on December 7, sitting alongside the famous “Thriller” jacket and the single glove from Motown 25.
Here’s the news report with a close look at the pieces.
A news report on the “Thriller” auction items
So who did Michael trust with the shoes off his own feet?
It wasn’t a singer or a movie star. It was Michael Peters, the man who created that unforgettable zombie dance, the one you’ve seen a thousand times every Halloween without maybe ever knowing his name. Peters helped turn a music video into a short film the whole world copied on dance floors for decades.
The letter that came with the shoes is dated December 18, 1983, just weeks after the video changed everything. It was a thank-you, one artist to another, from the biggest star on the planet to the choreographer who helped him get there.
For years that little gift sat quietly out of public view. Now the whole package is part of the sale, and collectors around the world are paying close attention.
There’s a price tag on the shoes too, and it might surprise you. The auction house expects them to bring somewhere in a range that says a lot about how the world still feels about that one video. You can hear the full estimate in the report above.
It’s easy to picture the famous jacket. It’s harder to picture the plain black shoes under all that dancing, and the kind note that went with them to a man most people have never heard of.
Take a look at the clip and see the pieces for yourself before they cross the block in December.