It’s pretty hard to click those heels three times without those shoes.

This summer marks the 10-year anniversary of the theft of the pair of ruby red slippers made famous in “The Wizard of Oz” from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The shoes, encased in a Plexiglass box, were about 15 feet from a window when someone smashed the window and the Plexiglass on Aug. 28, 2005 and ran away with them.

Rumors have abounded for years that it might have been a gang of kids who stole the shoes and stashed them away somewhere. In the last decade, divers have searched a local mine pit to no avail and authorities searched a collector’s mansion in California. This summer, an anonymous “Oz” fan from Arizona put up a $1 million dollar reward for the return of the shoes and the identity of the culprit. So far, no one has come forth.

John Fricke, a renowned “Oz” historian and expert, who is the author of The Wonderful World of Oz: An Illustrated History of an American Classic published by Down East Books, has been pondering this theft for years. He has no idea who this anonymous donor could be.

"If this person had been in Los Angeles, or New York, or a couple of other locals, I might be able to venture a guess." he said. “But, Arizona?  I know there are a lot of entrepreneurial businesses there and perhaps one super fan has stashed away a lot of money over the years!” he joked. “But then, it’s impossible for to find anyone who doesn’t have a potent memory of that movie. You could never tabulate all the fans — or their purchasing power.”

Fricke, who celebrated the launch of his book with a speaking engagement at the Camden Public Library in 2013, thinks it will take more than money to bring those shoes back to its rightful owner.

“I would think there would have to be legal amnesty for whomever took them,” he said. "Additionally, the insurance company has long since paid out close to $1 million to the collector who owned the shoes in the first place."

Fricke provides more insight on the shoes, which most news outlets are reporting were one of four pairs from the original movie set. Actually, according to Fricke, there were at least six pairs.

“The first pair, which have never turned up, were worn by Judy Garland in the first two weeks of filming,” he said.  They had to stop production and recast the Tin Man, and change Judy’s hair and dress. We’ve seen stills of those shoes, but they were very plain, no bows. Those pair have never turned up.”

The transition period between the first two weeks of filming and when they redid Garland's hair, make-up, and wardrobe, produced a second pair.

“These had curled up tips, like an exaggerated Arabian shoe, very gaudy and ornamental,” said Fricke. “Judy Garland never actually wore these in the film either, but they can be seen in stills. Those, Debbie Reynolds owned for a long time, before she auctioned them back in 2011 for something over a half million dollars.”

The next four pairs actually appeared in the movie. One, resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. The second pair belongs to the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences and will end up in a museum it eventually construct. The third pair is in the hands of a private collector.

“Supposedly,” added Fricke. “He won’t let anybody see them.”

Which brings us to the missing fourth pair, which were owned by collector Michael Shaw when they were stolen.

If indeed, the slippers were stolen by a bunch of teens, Fricke said: “I don’t know if we’ll ever find them. If kids took them on a dare, then didn’t realize the import of what they’d done and got rid of them or they have been hiding them ever since–there are just as many theories as there are people talking about it.”

“What it boils down to is how magical those shoes are and what a hold they have on the imaginations on virtually everyone over the age of three.”

For more information about the theft and its various leads visit: facebook.com/judygarlandmuseum

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com