Just a friendly reminder...

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Anyone who owns black cats please remember to keep them in over Halloween. A lot of people on Halloween night and Mischief Night (the night before) think its fun to harm or even kill black cats for superstitious reasons.

So just a friendly reminder to keep all of your kitties safe!

I think it's great that you are reminding, OP. Anyone who hurts animals or children are the lowest of the low, and I would chuck them all in jail for a hell of a long time, bastards!

I’m Yorkshire too and we had mischief night. Our garden backed onto a field and the following day you’d sometimes find dead / injured cats. They’d crawl in after being shot by BB guns or tied to fireworks.

Mischief night or miggy night is the 4th of November in the UK.... tends to be a northern thing for those querying it and I know from living up there you give decent Halloween treats or 5 days later find your car,trees or house egged, floured, or loo rolled... hinges off gates so tge fall off when you open them and my favourite.... bags of dog poop set on fire and the bell rung so you answer the door see the fire and stomp them out not that I ever did that but heard of others doing it as a teenager... as it said its a 'mischief' thing not normally malicious or extreme vandalism.... although think it's more fazed out now-unless its because i am too old to do it and live 300 miles away now so dont get it down here

Cats ought to be kept in overnight regardless.

Should keep all pets indoors at this time of year. Another little reminder: please cam trick or treaters please respect other folks'wishes to not be disturbed. People have their own reasons for not wishing to have trick or treaters. If no lights, no lit pumpkin no decorations then please pass by.

Wish some bugger would get all the cats that crap all over my garden and massacre the poor wee birds
I unfortunately have a house cat now after my last boy was run over twice, shot at and some idiot thinking it funny letting his dog off the lead to purposely attack my cat who was coming for a walk with us as he frequently did, then laugh and get crappy with me when I dared to say something back as I then bundled said cat into my car for emergency surgery he still made it to 19 though including many more scrapes and vet bills....

Ps after with others that cats should be kept indoors over night or from dusk

Never heard of Mischief Night (Scottish so not a thing up here in the "frozen north").

Remember a boyfriends cat went missing on Nov 5th. Had kept it in his flat till after 11pm but was yowling to get out. He never saw it again and dread to think what became of it. I'm not a cat lover (it was his cat though I tended to feed it when I was there so I think it liked me ). Despite not liking cats, wouldn't have wished harm on it though.

I visited a nature centre today and there was a Halloween information board and one of the bits of trivia was that rescue centres do not usually rehome cats in the month of October as there is a concern about them being used in ritual sacrifice.

I've only heard about mischief night 30 October in the film The Crow - didn't realise it was actually "a thing".

I let mine out in the day and back in of a night during this time. It has worked for me so far, but you never know! Kids do mess about during the day so it could just as well happen then I guess.

Someone egged our front door few years ago on Halloween. Was hell to clean up. Another time they destroyed a front hedge as my aunt who was babysitting didn’t answer door to massive yoots. And I live in a quiet cul de sac in a quiet suburb! I f@@ing hate Halloween import from the US of stupid A.

We have mischief night in Liverpool. The OP makes a really good point and well done for posting. So so sorry to those whose cats have been harmed :'( I would actually go further than the OP and suggest keeping any cat in at night (not just black ones) and also in the run up to Bonfire night too. Obviously most people wouldn't dream of hurting a cat but there is a small minority who would, better safe than sorry. Fireworks can also spook cats which may cause them to get lost or run in front of cars etc. They are already being set off around here, it's not just on 5th Nov. Cats protection have issued this advice www.cats.org.uk/oxford/feature-pages/fireworks

I too remember Mischief Night growing up in Lancashire in the 1970s. It was most definitely on 30 October. It's interesting how it seems to be celebrated on a different night on the other side of the Pennines.

Not sure why the first few responses are so rude. There have been warnings from Cats Protection etc for at least the last few years.

Black cats are always the hardest to rehome as people generally seem to think they are unlucky and always a target for evil bastards (teenage or adult) who think it is fun to hurt animals. Black cats are more likely to be hurt than others on Halloween or Samhain due to the link to being witches cats. YANBU to mention this and whatever people think about it, if it makes anyone think about this and keep ALL their animals in around this time of year or mention it to someone they know then the post was worth it. Rant over! Samhain blessing to everyone

Thanks OP, mines too young to go out yet but I'm horrified (yet sadly not surprised) people would hurt her.

Proof of mischief night, the news this morning

and from Cheshire Police - Mindless vandals threw bricks at cars, set fire to wheelie bins and threw fireworks last night causing disruption to residents in Halton and Winsford.
Damaging property and vehicles is simply unacceptable behaviour and extremely distressing to the victims. Furthermore, it has much wider implications for the local community.
We are committed to doing all that we can to tackle this bad behaviour. Despite our best efforts there is still a minority of people who are intent on causing mindless vandalism and disrupting others.
In one incident a police car, which was out on patrol in Arley Road, Widnes, had its windows smashed whilst parked up. The damage meant that the car had to be towed away to be repaired – taking an emergency response vehicle off the road for the rest of the night. Similar damage was caused to another of our cars in Winsford.

Hope everybody's cats survived this past week's Hallowe'en/Fireworks, safe and sound and unscathed?

Ever contrary to 'normal' cat behaviour, mine (non-black, so OP's original concerns less of an issue) insisted on sitting outside the back door to watch the neighbour's display on Saturday night...completely unfazed by 20 minutes of massive bangs.

Mysterious creatures, eh?

He was unfazed watched them from the window