mischief night, and other names

(Originally posted 30 October 2021)

The night before Halloween, 30 October, is traditionally a night when children and teens play pranks, such as smashing pumpkins, throwing eggs, toilet papering trees, and the like. Sometimes though, the night becomes violent, with acts of serious vandalism and arson. The night goes by many names in various regions of the United States.

The oldest of these names would appear to be mischief night, which has its roots in the north of England. The English mischief night was originally “celebrated” on 30 April, but nowadays is usually either 30 October or 4 November, the nights before Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day, respectively. The tradition goes back to at least 1830, when the Sheffield Independent of 22 May of that year reported:

Mr. Lee, in confirmation of this statement, said that the last witness was one of his tenants, and had with many others suffered serious injuries from the proceedings of a gang of lawless boys, who had taken it into their heads that on particular occasions, such as May een, or mischief night as it was termed, they might commit the most serious depredations with impunity.

Mischief night is most often found in the northeastern US, especially in New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania. The Chester Times (Pennsylvania) of 31 October 1924 had this to say:

“Mischief Night,” it is not on the calendar of special occasions, but last night was so designated by hundreds of youngsters in the lower wards of the city, who staged a premature Halloween celebration and struck terror into the hearts of the more timid motormen on the lines of the S.P.T.C., which operate in that section, and motorists, also many businessmen who had their wares on display outside their premises.

If last nights pranks are an indication of what might be expected to happen tonight, some parts of the city will resemble a place struck by a tornado tomorrow morning. Several signs were removed last night, discarded autos placed on trolley tracks and many a housewife answered a knock at the door last night only to find that she had been fooled.

But mischief night is not the only name for the night in that region. That same issue of the Chester Times had this in an article about the neighboring town of Eddystone:

The night preceding All Hallowe’en evening is known among the juvenile population as “Devil’s Night,” but there was little disorder reported about the borough by the local police authorities.

Use of devil’s night can be found in scattered use throughout the US, but it is most often associated with southeastern Michigan and Detroit, where past devil’s nights have been particularly violent and damaging.

The demonic association is also made in the name hell night, which is in scattered use throughout the US, but is especially prevalent in New Jersey. The Asbury Park Press of 29 October 1954 had this:

Many destruction-bent youngsters have come to regard the night before Halloween as “Hell Night” Law officers emphasized that the “boys will be boys” attitude will be totally ineffective in keeping the wayward juveniles out of jail.

Sometimes the name of the night is taken from the objects that are thrown at people. Cabbage night can be found throughout the Northeast US and the Great Lakes region. The Daily State Gazette and Republican of Trenton, New Jersey had this to say on 1 November 1861:

Last night was the holiday we know as Hallow Eve, or popularly in this latitude as “Cabbage night.” We noticed sundry boys armed with cabbages.

In the North Midlands and Appalachians kernels of corn are traditional missiles, giving rise to corn night. From the Wellington Enterprise (Ohio) of 8 November 1882:

Hallow’een celebrations are a relic of the dark ages, and ought to be abolished. November 9th or “corn night” which consists of ringing door-bells and of throwing a shower of corn into the face of the one who opens them, we trust will not be a very paying business in Wellington.

Perhaps the oddest name for the evening is goosey night, which is found in northern New Jersey and New York City. Why it is called that is a mystery. Goose and goosey have long been words meaning a fool or simpleton and that may play into the name, but it is really anyone’s guess. The name is recorded in the late 1960s, but there are claims that it was in use for decades before that. From New Brunswick, New Jersey’s Daily Home News of 31 October 1969:

Call it what you will—Mischief Night, Goose Night, or Hell Night—but last night was the traditional night for youngsters to vent their mischievousness and the were out in full force armed with rocks, sticks, broken pumpkins and, of course, eggs.

The form goosey night is recorded by 1974, from a publication titled About Patterson of that year:

The mayor took little action and called this descent into chaos “a bad Goosey Night.”

These are just a few of the names for the night. Others include: damage night (especially southwestern Ohio), fox night (Michigan and Minnesota), mystery night (Black communities in New Jersey), chalk night (from the practice of defacing homes and storefronts with chalk graffiti, central Atlantic and southern New England), clothesline night (from the practice of cutting clotheslines, scattered, but mainly western US), doorbell night (from the practice of ringing doorbells and running, North and Midland), garbage-can night (from the practice of upsetting garbage cans, Inland North and North Midland), gate night (North, North Midland, southeastern New York), moving night (from the practice of removing furniture and belongs from homes, Baltimore), picket night (from the practice of knocking down picket fences, scattered), soap night (from defacing windows with soap, North and North Midland), and ticktack night (from the sound made by tapping on windows, scattered)

Sources:

“Added Cops, Organized Parties to Curb Halloween Pranksters.” Asbury Park Evening Press, 29 October 1954, 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), 2013, s.v. mischief night, n., and other entries.

“Eddystone.” Chester Times (Pennsylvania), 31 October 1924, 4. NewspaperArchive.com.

Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, June 2002, modified September 2021, mischief, n.; second edition, 1989, s.v. goosey, n., goose, n.

“Town-Hall—Tuesday.” Sheffield Independent, 22 May 1830, 3. Gale Primary Sources: British Library Newspapers.

“West End Youngsters Play Wild Pranks.” Chester Times (Pennsylvania), 31 October 1924, 1. NewspaperArchive.com.

“Youngsters in City Do Their Mischief.” Daily Home News (New Brunswick, NJ), 31 October 1969, 32. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

Photo credit: Jan Bergander, 2015. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license (CC BY-ND 2.0).