Trick or Treat!
It’s October 31. The goblins are out and Linus will be up all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin! All the candy, pumpkins, haunted houses, and skeletons remind me of my youth. We bought or made costumes in advance, and this was a night my sweet tooth salivated for. But, one had to survive Devil’s Night first.
That was the night before Halloween. I’ve lived in many other states over my life and most people never experienced Devil’s Night nor knew what it was. They were lucky.
Maybe it was a Michigan thing but the night before Halloween kids would go out and soap windows, TP (toilet paper) houses, and ring doorbells. To be transparent, we all participated in that. It was innocent and usually directed at friends or the girls that you wanted to notice you but never did.
There was an ugly part of Devil’s Night. Some of the older teenagers would throw eggs at cars, houses, and younger kids, and generally terrorize the neighborhood. In Detroit, houses would get burned down. It could get dangerous.
A lady who lived next door to me didn’t have a garage and someone spray painted graffiti 0n her Mustang on Devil’s Night. Another neighbor had a tree cut down in his front yard. My dad would stand outside with a hose, ready to spray down anyone that came near our house. It wouldn’t have felt good getting sprayed in 35-degree weather!
As an adult, when Devils Night arrived, I turned on all my outside lights and stood valiantly, ready to face down any evil doers. My neighbors didn’t believe my stories and thought I was paranoid. But I was determined not to allow any vandalism at my house. Not on my watch!
Once past Devil’s Night, the goal was to collect as much candy as possible by racing from house to house until no one opened their doors anymore. We carried pillowcases and by the time we finished we dragged them home, totally exhausted. We separated our candy into favorites and compared the booty. My favorites were Hershey bars, Milky Ways, and Milk Duds. It was usually all gone within a few days!
Who came up with this idea for a holiday, anyhow? The chocolate industry? Or was it created by dentists to cover their BMW payments for the rest of the year? I don’t know but I still enjoy putting up lights and handing out candy to neighborhood kids. After moving back to Michigan seven years ago, I haven’t seen any of the Devil’s Night antics again. Sometimes change is good!
Happy Haunting,