Mischief Night is a Jersey Thing?

I remember when I was younger and all the kids on our street would participate in mischief night and toilet paper some neighbors houses that said it was okay and have some harmless fun. I know mischief night is supposed to be mischievous, but we figured  if we had the neighbors permission to toilet paper their trees, they'd be less likely to call the cops on us. Still, those were some good times. I don't see many houses with toilet paper all over their trees, probably because kids are scared to get the cops called on them? Who knows!

Out of all the things New Jersey is famous for, who knew mischief night was one of them? Well, according to Only in Your State, it did! The tradition did start in Great Britain back in the 1700's, where it was more of a way for children to destress in the springtime and they'd run around the streets doing harmless things. It wasn't until the 1900's that mischief night moved to the fall and made it's way to the United States. According to the writer that wrote this article, when she visited some relatives out of state, mischief night wasn't a thing there.

Although police have pretty much put a stop to it, I'm guessing mischief night gets added to the list of things that scream New Jersey along with pork roll and salt water taffy.