I have lived all my life (so far) in the same area. Trick or treat has never been about the “trick” part at all. I don’t remember being a part of, or even witnessing second hand, any vandalism related to getting no/not enough/yucky candy at a particular house. I heard stories of soaped windows, egged houses and toilet papered lawns, but those were things that would have been done anyway. Halloween just meant you had a good excuse to be out late and in disguise so one may as well kill 2 birds with one stone.
What’s the scoop where you’re from (or where you are)?
The tricks when I was a teenager mostly all happened on what we called “cabbage night” which is October 30th. My own mother used to supply me with shaving cream and toilet paper. :eek: I really don’t see mischief on that night like when I was a kid (20 plus years ago).
We call the 30th Devil’s night, although since it’s Detroit the vandalism runs toward TPing in the burbs and arson in the city. I usually only see one or two houses a year get toilet papered, it’s almost always done by someone the family knows.
Five or six years ago there was a spate of spray-painted graffiti on houses, cops never caught anyone. It was in the few weeks before Halloween, so pretty doubtful that they’d been nursing grudges from the previous year.
There’s a house down my street that deserves…something. Decorations in the windows, carved jack-o-lanterns lit up on porch, front light on and a sign saying “No candy, Happy Holiday!” I’m not saying I advocate vandalism, I’m just saying I’d understand.