Devils Night

Just wondering if anyone has some memories to share. Is it still a thing in Detroit?

Alan Ruck drowned in a 50 gallon barrel of personal lubricant on Devils Night.

Throwback!

I'm thinking about starting a fire as soon as the sun sets.





..in my fireplace

My wife and her brothers, who all grew up here, had never heard of Devil's Night growing up.

I grew up in Flint, which was always as bad or worse than Detroit (relative to the size of the cities, of course), so I always thought it was something that everyone did, at least as a prank night. I don't know if cities still let you just rake your leave into piles in the streets, and then they'll eventually come along and scoop them up, but Flint would do that back in the 80s.

So every street would have big piles kindling--err, dry leaves--piled all over the city on a night when people are out to set as many fires as they can. Of course, the more serious arsonists would go for houses, but the leaves allowed for a lot easier burnings. The city would try to pick up what they could before Devil's Night, but would only get so far. Luckily, my old neighborhood hadn't completely one to shit yet when we were still living there, so the fires never really came too close to home.

Really glad that we moved out to the suburbs between 8th and 9th grade.

Those houses in Detroit go up fast because the 90-100 year old lumber they're built with is like dry as matchsticks.

I'm going out with my kids in a bit to soap some windows and egg some cars.

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:I'm going out with my kids in a bit to soap some windows and egg some cars.

You're a good dad, showing them the ropes.

MiamiSpartan wrote:My wife and her brothers, who all grew up here, had never heard of Devil's Night growing up.

I grew up in Flint, which was always as bad or worse than Detroit (relative to the size of the cities, of course), so I always thought it was something that everyone did, at least as a prank night. I don't know if cities still let you just rake your leave into piles in the streets, and then they'll eventually come along and scoop them up, but Flint would do that back in the 80s.

So every street would have big piles kindling--err, dry leaves--piled all over the city on a night when people are out to set as many fires as they can. Of course, the more serious arsonists would go for houses, but the leaves allowed for a lot easier burnings. The city would try to pick up what they could before Devil's Night, but would only get so far. Luckily, my old neighborhood hadn't completely one to shit yet when we were still living there, so the fires never really came too close to home.

Really glad that we moved out to the suburbs between 8th and 9th grade.

Pasadena Ave bitch!

Rocinante wrote:Alan Ruck drowned in a 50 gallon barrel of personal lubricant on Devils Night.

Goddamnit, Roc, it's TOO SOON!

*sobs in corner, watches Ferris Bueller's Day Off on repeat*

I mentioned devil's night down here. People asked if other people went to worship the devil or try to run him out. I said it's too difficult to explain and dropped it.
Miami is a boring city.

InTenSity wrote:I mentioned devil's night down here. People asked if other people went to worship the devil or try to run him out. I said it's too difficult to explain and dropped it.
Miami is a boring city.

You should have burnt their houses down.

I’m feeling devilish.

InTenSity wrote:I mentioned devil's night down here. People asked if other people went to worship the devil or try to run him out. I said it's too difficult to explain and dropped it.
Miami is a boring city.

Tell them Devil’s Night is like what Santeria is to chickens, but with houses and Bic lighters.

And to answer steve’s question, I thought I read a couple of months ago that the past few Devil’s Nights have been so tame that city officials didn’t feel the need to do anything special this year. I hope it goes well.

kingstonlake wrote:

MiamiSpartan wrote:My wife and her brothers, who all grew up here, had never heard of Devil's Night growing up.

I grew up in Flint, which was always as bad or worse than Detroit (relative to the size of the cities, of course), so I always thought it was something that everyone did, at least as a prank night. I don't know if cities still let you just rake your leave into piles in the streets, and then they'll eventually come along and scoop them up, but Flint would do that back in the 80s.

So every street would have big piles kindling--err, dry leaves--piled all over the city on a night when people are out to set as many fires as they can. Of course, the more serious arsonists would go for houses, but the leaves allowed for a lot easier burnings. The city would try to pick up what they could before Devil's Night, but would only get so far. Luckily, my old neighborhood hadn't completely one to shit yet when we were still living there, so the fires never really came too close to home.

Really glad that we moved out to the suburbs between 8th and 9th grade.

Pasadena Ave bitch!

Thug. I lived off Ballinger.

MiamiSpartan wrote:

kingstonlake wrote:

Pasadena Ave bitch!

Thug. I lived off Ballinger.

Lol, I didn't grow there. Played ball up that way. Grew up on the mean streets of grand Blanc....

tGreenWay wrote:And to answer steve’s question, I thought I read a couple of months ago that the past few Devil’s Nights have been so tame that city officials didn’t feel the need to do anything special this year. I hope it goes well.

Wouldn’t it be more cost effective to allow arsonists to burn down the empty houses than to pay a demolition crew?

Devil's night really hasn't been a thing in about 20 years. They started calling it Angel's night and stepped up occifer and citizen patrols back in the 90s and pretty much eliminated the fires. I think I read they stopped calling it Angel's night a few years ago. 

Here you go, actually. 

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/11/01/angels-night-detroit-ending/820484001/

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:Devil's night really hasn't been a thing in about 20 years. They started calling it Angel's night and stepped up occifer and citizen patrols back in the 90s and pretty much eliminated the fires. I think I read they stopped calling it Angel's night a few years ago. 

Here you go, actually. 

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/11/01/angels-night-detroit-ending/820484001/

I remember when Flint started getting more serious about cracking down (probably in the early 90s), people started setting fires on the 29th. It never really took off though.

MiamiSpartan wrote:

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:Devil's night really hasn't been a thing in about 20 years. They started calling it Angel's night and stepped up occifer and citizen patrols back in the 90s and pretty much eliminated the fires. I think I read they stopped calling it Angel's night a few years ago. 

Here you go, actually. 

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/11/01/angels-night-detroit-ending/820484001/

I remember when Flint started getting more serious about cracking down (probably in the early 90s), people started setting fires on the 29th. It never really took off though.

Ha!

Thinking back to my days of Devils Night, went out with a group of like 10 classmates on a devils night in middle school. We all threw a few eggs at houses, smashed pumpkins, I think we kicked over a realtor sign and I think some one threw a bag of dog shit at a house. Looking back at it I cringe and wonder why the fuck anyone would think that's a good time.