Devil's Night
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Devil's Night is a name associated with October 30, the night before Halloween. It is related to "mischief night" practiced in other parts of the United States and the world.
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[edit] Description
Devil's Night in Detroit dates as early as the 1930s. Traditionally, youths in Detroit engaged in a night of criminal behavior, which usually consisted of acts of vandalism (such as egging, soaping, or TP'ing). These were almost exclusively acts of petty vandalism, causing little to no property damage.
However, in the early 1970s, the vandalism escalated to more devastating acts, such as arson. This primarily took place in the city, but surrounding suburbs were often affected. Property owners unable to sell in the rapidly declining housing market would use this night as an opportunity to burn down their homes, collect the insurance money, and claim that an arsonist was at fault.
The crimes became more destructive in Detroit's inner-city neighborhoods, and included hundreds of acts of arson and vandalism every year. The destruction reached a peak in the mid- to late-1980s, with more than 800 fires set in 1984, and 500 to 800 fires in the three days and nights before Halloween in a typical year. [1]
[edit] Decline of Devil's Night arson
By the early 1990s, Detroit saw little decline in Devil's Night arson.[2] After a brutal Devil's Night in 1994, then new mayor Dennis Archer promised city residents arson would not be tolerated. In 1995, Detroit city officials organized and created Angel's Night on and around October 29-31. Each year as many as 50,000 volunteers gather to patrol neighborhoods.[3] Additionally, youth curfews in the city as early as 6 P.M. are instituted on the days before Halloween. Former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had kept this program up in force since taking office in 2002.
[edit] Devil's Night outside of Detroit
The name Devil's Night, Mischief Night or Hell Night is used in parts of the eastern U.S. and Canada, although the acts are generally less destructive and violent than those committed in Detroit. A survey done in the United States shows the comparative popularity of various names for this night around the country. In parts of Quebec, it is known as Mat Night, as stealing doormats was a common prank in earlier times.
In other places, Devil's Night is called "cabbage night", "gate night", "corn night", or "Hacker's Night"; all with youths committing petty vandalism, 'attacking' people and cars with such things as eggs and shaving cream, and sometimes smashing the pumpkins of neighbors and ruining other decorations.
On the last day of Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark concert-goers torch the tents surrounding the area, even if they're not their own. This day is called "Hell Night".
In recent years, Saginaw, MI, a small industrial city 100 miles north of Detroit, has experienced a growing problem with arson on Devil's Night, with 42 homes set ablaze on the night of October 30, 2006. City officials and residents have implemented volunteer programs to battle the problem, which has been met with great success[4].
[edit] Appearance of Devil's Night in fiction
- Devil's Night is an integral part of the 1994 film The Crow. Set in Detroit, the film shows in flashbacks the murder of Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), and the rape and murder of his fiancée Shelley Webster (Sofia Shinas) on Devil's Night. Later in the film, Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) makes mention of the perceived popularity of Devil's Night, claiming that there are Devil's Night greeting cards.
- In the movie Grosse Pointe Blank, which takes place in the Detroit suburbs of Grosse Pointe, the character Debi Newberry says that her apartment burned down on Devil's Night.
- Devil's Night was also chronicled in journalist Zev Chafets' 1990 nonfiction book Devil's Night and Other True Tales of Detroit.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "The Mischievous History of Devil's Night". The Washington Post. 2007-10-30. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/10/the_mischievous_history_of_dev_2.html.
- ^ Devil's Night Fires Decline By More Than Half in Detroit, The New York Times, November 3, 1991
- ^ City of Detroit Angel's Night Homepage, Accessed July 4, 2007
- ^ Volunteers, rain limit Saginaw 'Devil's Night' fires, The Saginaw News, October 31, 2009
[edit] Further reading
- Chafets, Zev. (1990). Devil's Night and Other True Tales of Detroit. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58525-3.
- Davis, Adam Brooke. "Devil's Night and Hallowe'en: The Linked Fates of Two Folk Festivals." Missouri Folklore Society Journal XXIV(2002) 69-82
