The 21^st Century Magazine, at South Florida's www.miami-dade-online.com.

The event that lead me to begin my study was (like many others that lead to a break through In our knowledge and open new fields of research) an ordinary one. I was removing old clothes from a closet. There were many wire hangers left over and I put them neatly in a brown paper bag.

I did not Immediately put the bag in the trash. The next morning, as I went to do so, I casually glanced in the bag. The hangers were not neatly arranged as I had left them the night before. They were in a tangled mess. I had difficulty separating them. I was about to forget the whole thing and chuck the mess in the trash, when I realized that I had observed this type of event before.

So, I decided to conduct a simple, controlled experiment. I carefully hung the hangers on a clothes rod. Not a single one was touching another. Closing the closet door, I did not enter the closet for two days. Upon entry I observed that some were not only touching others, they were in a tangle. Some still hung alone and not touching. They were the majority. But some definitely had cozied up to others, and, if I stretched my imagination a bit, they seemed to be in some sort of embrace.

How could this have happened? There had been no event, natural or otherwise, that vibrated the house, let alone the closet. Somehow the hangers had moved together on their own, but that didn't seem possible. I was puzzled. I asked friends if they had ever observed tangled clothes-hangers. All had seen it at one time or another. Some even claimed that the number of hangers in their closets had multiplied over a period of time. But I can't verify that.

To what activity could we assign the cause of this widely observed phenomenon: the phase of the moon, high voltage wires creating a magnetic field, the vibration from a passing train? Based on my investigation, which is too detailed and complex to describe here, I came to the conclusion that no external physical event could be the cause. There was only one explanation; sexual activity! But if that was the reason there were many more questions raised than answered.

Are there male and female hangers? If so, how can we distinguish one from the other? Is the sexuality due to the wire from which the hanger is made or does the act of twisting the wire into the hanger shape cause the characteristic to appear? Does painting the hanger have any effect? Is the sexuality true only of wire hangers? If not, Is there a preference between wire, wood and plastic to copulate only with their own or do they cross "racial" lines?

Quite frankly, although I am curious, I must discontinue my research. I realize that to scientifically attempt to answer the many questions mentioned above will be a long and difficultt task and I can't afford the time or money to continue beyond my breakthrough discovery. Reluctantly, I must leave the work to others. I will gladly give my extensive files to any person I deem worthy. I'm sure that a properly prepared request could get a research grant from the government or perhaps a major university.

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