Mischief Night takes place each year on the evening before Halloween, on October 30th. Mischief Night is traditionally an evening in which people participate in mischief, albeit of the harmless kind -please take note! If you intend to take part in Mischief Night, please make sure that the mischief is entirely innocent and harmless, as other kinds of mischief can result in big problems. Even some mischief that might seem harmless enough could cause trouble, so be very careful.
Needless to say perhaps, law enforcement organizations strongly discourage participation in Mischief Night. The mischief they observe can often be not very funny at all, and unfortunately veers into destructive behavior such as vandalism.
Nonetheless, many people do take part in Mischief Night and some of the traditional ways to cause mischief include the likes of soaping windows, tossing a couple of rotten tomatoes, knocking on doors and then running away, egging houses and cars, and even toilet papering houses and trees and so on.
The roots of Mischief Night appear to go back to 19th century in England. There are a number of documents and readings that suggest that Mischief Night actually takes place on 31st October, the same night as the much more famous Halloween, but other references insist that it takes place the night before, on 30th October. Whatever the accurate date, if you find yourself participating in Mischief Night ensure that you do so in a happy, safe and harmless manner.
Lance Grooms
