Posted on 10/30/2018 11:05:11 AM PDT by SMGFan
Toilet paper and rainbows of silly string dangling from trees, soap smeared on car windows and overflowing foam fountains. Eggshell shards scattered across yards and driveways with with gooey yolks sliding down window panes. Each Halloween in New Jersey, some residents awake to find such sights on their manicured lawns and once-sparkling windows. It's the sign that someone (probably your local teens) had a good time the night before on Mischief Night — which is, apparently, a very Jersey thing.
The night of Oct. 30 has long-proved a prankster's paradise. But in recent years, more and more police departments have set curfews for those under 18, patrolling neighborhoods to make sure no cartons of eggs or rolls of toilet paper go to waste decorating the streets.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
I do not recall when it quieted down in the past decade or 2.
Was this trick of Trick or Treat in the rest of the USA on Halloween?
Does Detroit still burn itself down in celebration?
Don’t forget chalk night and soap night!
I think they ran out of things to burn … or arsonists.
As I remember it, Trick or Treat night was the 30th, the night before Halloween, and the pranksters went out on Halloween Night itself to harass the people who had not provided treats the night before. But that was back in the ‘40’s in New Jersey for me. The same ‘rules’ applied in the early 1950’s in the D.C. suburbs of Maryland.
Detroit and Camden ...
There has been some “wilding” going on on Halloween night for some time now. Something else Trump will be blamed for.
“Well, well, well. Devil’s Night is upon us again. Figured we’d throw a little party, start a bunch of fires, make a little profit. .. “
I grew up in a Northern Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati, it was very popular when I was a kid, and was called Cabbage Night. It was mostly pranks, writing on car windows with paraffin, and throwing firecrackers in mailboxes, and things like that.
In Jersey City etc in the early 20th century I heard children went around on Thanksgiving Day “begging”
Believe it or not, Halloween was not the first holiday to feature creepy costumes and door-to-door soliciting. In a Progressive Era ritual called “Thanksgiving masking,” children dressed up as beggars and took to the streets to ask for treats, food and pennies. Though high society frowned on the practice, the day was one of merry mischief-making through the 1920s. These photos from the Library of Congress show “Thanksgiving maskers” circa 1910-1915.
We celebrated it in suburban Pittsburgh.
It was called devils night during the 60’s in Detroit. It was mainly harmless then. Until the riots started. Eggs were the worst because of the damage done to painted surfaces on cars and houses.
Grew up in Jersey in the late 60s, early 70s. Mischief night was big in my area. Toilet paper in trees, and soaped windows was the big thing...plus smashed pumpkins.
A Look Back at When Thanksgiving Was Basically Halloween
How did Thanksgiving take such a detour? According to the 1873 book Old New England Traits, in the early 19th century, poorer Massachusetts residents started knocking on doors on the holiday’s eve, begging, “Something for Thanksgiving?” As a (bad) joke, well-to-do children began dressing in tattered clothes and doing the same.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/71033/look-back-when-thanksgiving-was-basically-halloween
It didn't get retributive until people were in mid-teens. It must have been the water, though. We used to have bottle rocket and Roman candle fights on 4 July.
It's called Devil's Night and yes, they do but not nearly as bad as they did in the 1990s.
Not just a Jersey thing. I grew up in New York, mostly in Westchester County (which I miss), and kids did it there too.
Don’t forget underwear in the trees!
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