Mischief Night


Mischief Night is an informal holiday on which children and teenagers engage in pranks and vandalism. It is known by a variety of names including Devil's Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Moving Night, Cabbage Night and Mat Night.

Historical background

The earliest reference to Mischief Night is from 1790 when a headmaster encouraged a school play which ended in "an Ode to Fun which praises children's tricks on Mischief Night in most approving terms".
In the United Kingdom, these pranks were originally carried out as part of the May Day celebrations, but shifted to later in the year, dates varying in different areas, some marking it on 30 October, the night before Halloween, others on 4 November, the night before Bonfire Night.
According to one historian, "May Day and the Green Man had little resonance for children in grimy cities. They looked at the opposite end of the year and found the ideal time, the night before the Gunpowder Plot." However, the shift only happened in the late 19th century and is described by the Opies as "one of the mysteries of the folklore calendar".

Naming variations

In the United States and Canada

In most of New Jersey, as well as in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, parts of New York State, and Connecticut, it is referred to as "Mischief Night" or, particularly in the Great Lakes region, "Devil's Night". In some towns in Northern New Jersey and parts of New York State, it is also known as "Goosey Night".
Meanwhile, in Baltimore, Maryland, it has traditionally been referred to as "Moving Night" due to the custom of exchanging or stealing porch furniture and other outside items.
In Detroit, which was particularly hard-hit by Devil's Night arson and vandalism throughout the 1980s, many citizens take it upon themselves to patrol the streets to deter arsonists and those who may break the law. This is known as "Angels' Night". Some 40,000 volunteer citizens patrol the city on Angels' Night, which usually runs October 29 through October 31, around the time most Halloween festivities are taking place.
In rural Niagara Falls, Ontario, during the 1950s and 1960s, Cabbage Night referred to the custom of raiding local gardens for leftover rotting cabbages and hurling them about to create mischief in the neighbourhood. Today, the night is still celebrated in Ontario but is also commonly known as "Cabbage Night" in parts of the United States areas of Vermont; Connecticut; Bergen County, New Jersey; Upstate New York; Northern Kentucky; Newport, Rhode Island; and Western Massachusetts.
It is known as "Gate Night" in New Hampshire, West Kootenay, Vancouver Island, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Bay City, Rockland County, North Dakota and South Dakota; the implication is that the Gates of Hell open the night before Halloween; as "Mat Night" in English-speaking Quebec; and as "Devil's Night" in many places throughout Canada, Michigan, and western Pennsylvania.

In the United Kingdom

In some parts of the country, "Mischief Night" is held on 30 October, the night before Halloween. The separation of Halloween tricks from treats seems to have only developed in certain areas, often appearing in one region but not at all nearby regions.
Mischief Night is known in Yorkshire as "Mischievous Night" or the shortened "'Chievous Night" "Miggy Night", "Tick-Tack Night", "Corn Night", "Trick Night" or "Micky Night" and is celebrated across Northern England on 4 November the night before Bonfire Night. In some areas of Yorkshire, it is extremely popular among 13-year-olds, as they believe it to be a sort of "coming of age ceremony".
In and around the city of Liverpool, Mischief Night is known locally as "Mizzy Night"; trouble spots were being tackled by the Merseyside Police in 2015.

Contemporary practice

In the United States

Mischief Night is generally recognized as a New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan phenomenon.
Mischief Night tends to include popular tricks such as toilet papering yards and buildings, powder-bombing and egging cars, people, and homes, using soap to write on windows, "forking" yards, setting off fireworks, and smashing pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns. Local grocery stores often refuse to sell eggs to children and teenagers around the time of Halloween for this reason. Occasionally, the damage can escalate to include the spray-painting of buildings and homes. Less destructive is the prank known as "Knock, Knock, Ginger".
In New Orleans in recent years, Mischief Night has included a series of unruly parade-like riots. According to participants, the Mischief Night "krewes" follow in New Orleans' carnival's centuries-old tradition of "", which mostly transpire in the lead-up to Mardi Gras. Mixing revelry with mindless violence, Mischief Night parades involve thematic floats and costumes as well as targeted vandalism and fires. Targets of vandalism, attacks and arson have included the police, innocent bystanders and property.
When asked in an interview from 2017 how Mischief Night in New Orleans fits into the context of carnival, a parader replied "Our Carnival traditions are those that actually want to 'turn the world upside down.'" After a parade through downtown in 2016 that saw bonfires in the street, police cars hit with paint, and a now-removed white supremacist monument chipped away at with a sledgehammer, another participant wrote:

There is no longer a middle ground; that’s been seized for luxury condos. The choice is stark: we either collectively build a more combative spiritual practice or we collude in ceding our ritual spaces of encounter to the oppressors.


In some areas of Queens, New York, Cabbage Night has included throwing rotten fruit at neighbors, cars, and buses. Children and teenagers fill eggs with Neet and Nair hair remover and throw them at unsuspecting individuals. In the mid-1980s, garbage was set on fire and cemeteries were set ablaze. In Camden, New Jersey, Mischief Night escalated to the point that in the 1990s widespread arson was committed, with over 130 arsons on the night of October 30, 1991.

In popular culture