Hobo symbols

Hobo signs were a system of symbols, marked on fences, trees, houses, etc. to give fellow “Knights of the Road” help and warnings.

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The Hobo Code

I don't remember if we called them 'hobos' but I do recall occasionally seeing 'hobo marks' made in chalk or charcoal on walls or the sides of houses, when I was a child growing-up in Scotland.

Symbols and meanings

In the 1930s, hobos used signs to communicate on the situations of people and places.

These are the marks that told travelers whether a town or house was friend or foe.

Do you believe in signs? They’re everywhere! Keep your eyes and your mind wide open, and I promise, you will find some incredible, perhaps even life-changing, signs.

Many of us now use the word hobo to refer to any homeless individual, but back in the America of the late 19th and early 20th century, to be a hobo meant something more.