Is Halloween mischief a thing of the past?

[herofan]

Is there any mishchief that goes on in your area on Halloween anymore?

I live in a rural area, and there is practically nothing anymore. When I was a youngster in the 70s and 80s, there was toilet-papering, soaping windows, cutting trees in the road, burning hay rolls, egging, shooting fireworks, and a hundred other pranks i could mention. I remember law enforcement patrol was thick on those nights. If we drove through town, it was crawling with groups of kids up to mischief. People were always nervous about being out on Halloween, and nervous as to whether their house would get hit. These days, it's nothing. It's probably been this way here for 10 or more years.

I asked a local policeman, and he said it's no big deal anymore. I drove through town this morning, and I couldn't tell Halloween had even happened.

I'm curious, are the pranks gone everywhere else too? I wonder what toned that tradition down?

 

[Nesikep]

Its alive and well around here... you have people setting off firecrackers a couple week before, which is a PITA! We're rural and don't have it around the house, but in town it's a lot of drunken stupidity.

I think you actually have to be a certain age to buy eggs here the week of halloween!

I'm OK with pranks, but they have to be creative!.. egging, toilet papering, etc are worn out, and they're a pain to clean up... tying tin cans to a car is funny, and is easy to fix. Even saran wrapping something is easier to fix than an egg-and-TP'd car. You shouldn't pull pranks you aren't willing to fix is how I look at it.

 

[Hook]

Knifing a yard with a thousand of those clear plastic picnic knives.....

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

We have kids that like to vandalize cemeteries. This year our community hired a sheriff to keep an eye out. They arrested two people last night caught shooting in the cemetery....

 

[Bigfoot]

It probably requires more effort, than today's youth are willing to exhert.

My yard was rolled about 8-10 years ago. It was done in good humor, but it wasn't funny to me. I just grinned and beared it.

 

[dun]

Anymore the kind of stuff that went on when I was a kid would get you put in jail, or juvie depending on your age.

 

[Brute 23]

It probably requires more effort, than today's youth are willing to exert.

:nod:

 

[MO_cows]

In our town the kids seem to be doing "pranks" and vandalizing stuff year round.

 

[kucala5]

Is there any mishchief that goes on in your area on Halloween anymore?

I live in a rural area, and there is practically nothing anymore. When I was a youngster in the 70s and 80s, there was toilet-papering, soaping windows, cutting trees in the road, burning hay rolls, egging, shooting fireworks, and a hundred other pranks i could mention. I remember law enforcement patrol was thick on those nights. If we drove through town, it was crawling with groups of kids up to mischief. People were always nervous about being out on Halloween, and nervous as to whether their house would get hit. These days, it's nothing. It's probably been this way here for 10 or more years.

I asked a local policeman, and he said it's no big deal anymore. I drove through town this morning, and I couldn't tell Halloween had even happened.

I'm curious, are the pranks gone everywhere else too? I wonder what toned that tradition down?

In the 70's we were unstoppable on Halloween. Rural as well and the local grocer stopped selling eggs to youngsters 2 weeks beforehand...because we stockpiled them. Also, back then deer season started on a Monday and that was a school holiday as long as the school wasn't vandalized on Halloween. We set hay on fire on main street and stood watch on the top of buildings to throw eggs. Awww, those were the days! Good grief I feel old.

 

[Galloways1]

We used block the rail crossings with empty rail cars, block streets with the local lumberyard, and an occasional Motor Grader may be used if the operator had left the blade up. That one took a few of us to move. We always left one crossing open in case emergency vehicles needed to get from one side to the other.

We tried not to damage anything, but law enforcement started taking the fun out of it, when they would hold kids and call parents to come and get them, then chew them out and threaten them with liability...

 

[I luv herfrds]

Only excitement out here was the drunk idiot climbing the old rail road bridge and ending up getting a ride in the helicopter to the trauma unit.

Too many kids around her cause trouble year round so a quiet Halloween is nice.

 

[Ouachita]

Those pranks required an element of creativity, even if they were a copycat. They also required the prankster to get off the couch, turn off the TV, and put down the dam phone. Kids are zoned in to digital world now, and they only come out of it to take a dump (some even take their phones with them)
Not all kids, I know. There are people raising good kids out there that are not as heavily influenced by this technology. They are the kids that chose to turn the phone off or leave it when it's time to carry the firewood in, or cook supper, or go fishing.......because those task require 2 hands. But remember that these kids who are mentally capable to mastermind and physically willing to carry it out, with leadership abilities to employ help, are not the kids who would dare do something to damage someone else's property nor embarrass their parents.

Side story.......I hired a 16 yo kid to do basic clean up work around the facility. It proved difficult to keep him productive. He already had 2 strikes. I go to the restroom one day (it's a one holer). He didn't lock the door behind him. I open the door and there he sits on the throne leaned over to one side a bit, shytty toilet paper in one hand cell phone in the other, with the most stupid expression ever to this day seen on a face. He was let go, and I don't think you have to worry about my turning this kid out on the street to reek havoc at Halloween. I'm pretty sure wiping his arse is as ambitious as he ever gets, and he can't do that without getting shyt on his fingers. Probably working at McDonalds now. Remember, it takes 2 hands to wash hands

 

[hillbilly beef man]

Anymore the kind of stuff that went on when I was a kid would get you put in jail, or juvie depending on your age.

Dun, I think this coupled with laziness is the reason why it is so quiet.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

The only thing that goes on around here anymore is cutting trees. The county makes two cuts on any trees in the road and shoves them out of the way with a snow plow. Anything down is fair game for firewood. Seems odd that only oak, locust, and hickory are cut across the road. ;-)

 

[herofan]

Let me add a question and ask about Halloween decorations. When i was a kid, a carved jack-o-lantern was about it. There might have been an occasional stuffed, home-made dummy on the porch, or maybe an occasional ghost sheet in a tree.

Then, a few years ago, it started looking like Christmas-style decorations here around Halloween. There were all kinds elaborate decorations and lights. I've noticed in the last few years, however, that has died down.

 

[Ouachita]

I don't notice any decorations around here. I understand our local Walmart has a couple aisles dedicated for Halloween stuff, but I don't go in there. There does seem to be a Christian base counter influence to this holiday in and around our community. The most common name for this "holiday" is "Fall Festival" or similar. I never have understood it. Motive is one thing, method is another.

 

[gimpyrancher]

Well, in my day, the streets were safe enough to allow us out to cause mischief. Today, safety is such a concern that we didn't have one child at our door this year or last. Being outdoors at night is a thing of the past for most families.