Mischief Night

[Jersey Nonny]

Getting down to the wire!

If you wake up tomorrow morning to find toilet paper in your trees, a smashed pumpkin on your porch or egg on your car, blame Mischief Night. The night before Halloween inspires rambunctious youths to engage in petty pranks.

Mischief Night is mainly celebrated in the northeastern United States, Ireland, Canada and the United Kingdom, and it goes by a variety of names. The most elaborate Mischief Night hoax: Orson Welles' broadcast of "War of the Worlds." In the 1970s, Detroit's Devil's Night escalated into a night of arson and mayhem until the practice was curtailed, partly by changing the name to Angel's Night in 1995. New Jersey has had some trouble, too.

Here's a rundown of Mischief Night's other names and the practices that may have inspired them:

Turning livestock loose on Gate Night;

Smearing rotten vegetables on a neighbor's house on Cabbage Night;

Stealing doormats on Mat Night;

Soaping windows on Goosey Night;

Cob-tossing on Corn Night.

The most obscure Mischief Night name we found? Tick-Tack Night, apparently named for this scary noise-making contraption.

What, if anything, do you call Mischief Night? Tell us.

(And, c'mon, confess the pranks that you've committed.)

[windysan]

I did too many terrible things. Too many to mention. I was a hellion.

[Aysha]

I dont know about mischief night..But we use to smear nair in other kids hair on Halloween when we were teenagers.
Never saw what the result of it was.

[Jersey Nonny]

I, personally, never even went out on Mischief Night.

What I always hated was going to my car on Halloween morning, and finding the windows soaped or raw egg thrown on it. I'd have to make a quick trip to the carwash before going to work!!! Nasty, evil kids!!!