The night before Halloween, October 30th has traditionally been a night of pranks and mischief in much of the Midwest and some of the northeastern United States, as well as some parts of Canada.
Devil’s Night in Detroit can probably be traced back to mid-1880’s Ireland, where the night of mischief was originally attributed to fairies and goblins. In the United States, the holiday morphed into a night of soaping windows and toilet papering (a verb) trees.
In other words, October 30th was the “trick” to Halloween’s “treat” and gave suburban kids a night of rebellion and anarchy.
Mischief on October 30th
Region to region, the night has different names, but the activities remain very much the same: ringing doorbells, egging cars, dumping rotten produce and setting a bag of poop on fire. Camden, New Jersey calls the Holiday Mischief Night, while other parts of New Jersey call it Cabbage Night. Cincinnati, Ohio calls it Damage Night, while other parts of Ohio call it Beggar’s Night. In other regions of the United States, it is known as Doorbell Night, Trick Night, Corn Night, Tick-Tack Night and Goosey Night. In Canada, it is known as either Gate Night or Matt Night.
The Southwestern United States Doesn’t Celebrate
As widespread as the phenomenon seems to be, many parts of the United States, most notably states in the south and west, never heard of it and apparently reserve all their mischievous hijinks for Halloween.
Devil’s Night in Detroit
In Detroit and much of Michigan, the night is known infamously as Devil’s Night, a moniker now eternally linked with widespread arson. Devil’s Night was once, however, just a different name for more of the same: mischief. In spite of the notoriety of Devil’s Night, Detroit is not the only region to experience an escalation from pranks to arson on October, 30th.
the crafty lady in combat boots 