A crisp night in late October full of. toilet paper? Mischief night on Oct. 30 is not meant for children. It is a night full of pranks that young adults play on nearby neighbors with rolls of toilet paper or making yolk-filled messes.
Throughout the years pranks have remained traditional, yet more creative.
At the end of October, Halloween is also celebrated by young children and some adults. The participants of Halloween dress up in various costumes that can be scary, humorous or meaningful.
It is tradition that children ring their neighbor’s door bells and receive the greeting, “Trick-or-treat?”
If the children respond “treat,” which they always do, they receive free candy.
However, this tradition stems back to the beginning of Halloween celebration when older children would respond “trick” and perform their joke and run away.
Because suspecting neighbors give out treats to avoid the “trick” each year young adults leave the “tricking” to the day before on Oct. 30 otherwise known as Mischief Night.
This night of pranks is celebrated by youngsters throughout the United States, England, Scotland and Ireland. Even though the night itself has various names in different regions it still owns the same concept as it does in America.
In America police have always been conscious of the “tricking” that happens on Halloween and Mischief night.
The police strive to keep the “tricking” to a minimum by adding extra police cruisers to the streets to keep the public safe and without egg on their faces.
Some of the acts that are done are “egging,” throwing eggs, “T.P.ing,” toilet-papering a house or a public building and “forking,” placing forks on a neighbor’s lawn.
A few Cabrini students have been witnesses to the aftermath of the pranks performed by their peers.
They have been victims themselves or been lucky enough to miss having the prank pulled on them and their families.
“A couple of years ago our pumpkins were always smashed when we walked out the door Halloween morning. There has not been any recent damage done in the past few years, but this year might be interesting since a couple of fraternity boys have moved in down the street,” Janene Gibbons, a junior English and communications major, said about her experience with Mischief Night.
Shaen Johnson, a junior history major who had a similar yet less messy experience, said, “In past years I have seen toilet paper hanging from a neighbor’s house from the trees. Fortunately it did not take them long to clean-up the mess but they were not happy that it happened to them.”
Cabrini students have also participated in the night of mischief.
“We drove around and took Halloween decorations off of people’s houses and put them on our friend’s houses. It is more enjoyable when you are a kid, but now you have to worry about getting in trouble,” Gabriel Valentino, a senior marketing major, said.
Even though these pranks seem harmless and amusing at the time it can be stressful for the victims to clean up afterwards.
