8. The Tricks Used To Be Dangerously Raucous, Ending In Hardcore Vandalism
Trick Or Treating is easily the most recognisable and best part of modern Halloween. It's fairly tame now, with the worst tricks being toilet-papering someone's house, or perhaps throwing a few eggs. In the past however, things were much, much worse. Around two hundred years ago, trick or treating was an essential part of Halloween festivals around the world, but the tricks were much more like dangerous and violent pranks than simple annoyances. In the US especially, tricking became a point of pride, and pranksters would let chickens out, open animal pen gates, tip over outhouses, demolish sheds, and fire pistols into the air outside people's homes. In the early 20th century, especially between the World Wars the pranking became so endemic that reports state that entire city blocks would be closed and thronged with people partying and destroying property, smashing windows and almost rioting. It's a commonly held belief that it was these events that caused the festival to be more directed toward children, and encouraging of dressing up and modern Trick Or Treating as a safer alternative to engaging in fights and vandalism.
Trick Or Treating is easily the most recognisable and best part of modern Halloween. It's fairly tame now, with the worst tricks being toilet-papering someone's house, or perhaps throwing a few eggs. In the past however, things were much, much worse. Around two hundred years ago, trick or treating was an essential part of Halloween festivals around the world, but the tricks were much more like dangerous and violent pranks than simple annoyances. In the US especially, tricking became a point of pride, and pranksters would let chickens out, open animal pen gates, tip over outhouses, demolish sheds, and fire pistols into the air outside people's homes. In the early 20th century, especially between the World Wars the pranking became so endemic that reports state that entire city blocks would be closed and thronged with people partying and destroying property, smashing windows and almost rioting. It's a commonly held belief that it was these events that caused the festival to be more directed toward children, and encouraging of dressing up and modern Trick Or Treating as a safer alternative to engaging in fights and vandalism.