MadMags Sat 28-Oct-17 07:39:09
Mathanxiety: It's a British Isles tradition that emigrated to the US and is now making the return journey to Britain, but it has always been going strong in Ireland.
MadMags: Where in Ireland? I've lived all over and have family all over and have literally never heard of it
Yikes, I am not making myself clear at all.
I am talking about Hallowe'en, which was always a thing in Ireland though it died out in Britain, thanks to the Reformation I suspect.
In Ireland long ago Hallowe'en itself used to be an occasion of hooliganism and mayhem. There was never any Mischief Night per se.
Even when I was young, my parents, who were both from rural areas, were suspicious of Hallowe'en - when they were young it was a night when damage was sometimes done to farmyards, animals, winter crops, hen houses, etc. It took a bit of convincing to let them allow me and my sisters out with everyone else in our Dublin neighbourhood to collect apples and nuts (this was all that was going in the 70s - the chocolate and sweets are recent arrivals). They were even a bit 
when we made Hallowe'en masks in our convent primary school, in 1973-4-5.
My thought was that maybe this tradition of hooliganism eventually became 'Mischief Night' elsewhere (not in Ireland). In Britain the mischief seems to have become associated with Guy Fawkes night, which replaced Hallowe'en as a night of bonfires and fun for the young.
In the US, Hallowe'en used to be a very rowdy affair too, until the 60s/70s, and there are still parts where 'Mischief Night' is a thing separate from Hallowe'en.