Mischief Night / Devil's Night Vs Halloween

[Ghost In The Machine]

We did Mischief night here in what was then the West Riding of Yorkshire, but now is North Yorkshire (go figure). It was indeed the 4th Nov. Sometimes we got more excited about that, than Bonfire Night... So not just the NW - also Yorkshire as t'others here said.

Having just watched 'Gunpowder' I now feel bad about celebrating Bonfire Night, all those years... We were only 10 mile or so down the road from York, where Guy Fawkes was from - I don't think we should ever have done it!

 

[JamesWhitehead]

I think the Opies did a map of where Mischief Night was celebrated on the various dates: it was not neatly geographical at all. It was the same with some rhyme-variants, which could leap miles or counties, maybe carried on the wings of a single child! lane:

 

[decipheringscars]

Here in Detroit we have something similar: Devil's Night on the night before Halloween (Hallowe'en e'en?).

It's not as much of a thing anymore, thankfully, because it's a bit more than mere mischief. The main thing was arson - burning vacant houses and other buildings, especially. In the late '90s, Mayor Dennis Archer started a push called "Angels' Night," where people would sign up to be in the streets and watch for unwanted activity. There were posters you could get to put on buildings that had a huge pair of eyes and read "THIS BUILDING IS BEING WATCHED." We put one on the derelict house we were rehabbing (that I now live in) in the early '00s.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I was visiting an old college chum in Detroit on Devil's Night in the very early 1990's. He lived in a high-rise near the city's center. After returning to his apartment from a nice dinner we poured some good liquor, parked ourselves in front of his picture window, and watched for the expected fires to appear. I recall there were as many as 3 or 4 whole-house fires visible in the distance at the same time.