Skip to main contentText Only version of this page
Access keys help
bbc.co.uk
Home
TV
Radio
Talk
Where I Live
A-Z Index

19 March 2007
Accessibility help
Text only
North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire

BBC Homepage
England
»North Yorkshire
News
Sport
Junior Football
Travel
Weather
Entertainment
Message Board
In Pictures
Webcams
I Love NY
Faith
Students
RaW
Comic Relief
Abolition
Blast
CSV Interaction
BBC Radio York
Site Map
 

Contact Us

Like this page?
Send it to a friend!

 

Features

Janine from Eastenders being flour bombed
Flour-bombed!

Confessions from a Mischief Night brat

Mischief Night, Yorkshire's own brand of annual chaos. In the run up to another November 4th, read this confession from one former 'Miggy Night' perpetrator. Beware, it's not for the faint-hearted...

Mischief night is definitely a Northern thing - those Southerners are far too soft for the sort of thing that goes on.

November 4th, the night before Bonfire Night, has become known as Mischief Night in Yorkshire. We're not certain of the origins of the tradition, but then who is of any tradition? What we are certain of, is what goes on.

"When I was a kid I actually thought it was legal - 'coppers can't arrest you on miggy night.' That was the folklore."
Ex-Mischief Night brat

On this evening beware, because kids across the county will run riot, dustbins will be tipped over, pets might be at risk and gates will be removed. Sounds bizarre doesn't it?

In a discussion in the BBC Radio York newsroom, it emerged that a (now reformed) 'Miggy Night' perpetrator was in our midst. Here's his confession, his identity will obviously remain a secret!

Special delivery

"From the relatively harmless knocking on doors and then running away, to putting honey on door knobs and removing house gates. What could be more fun or more dreadful than Mischievous Night, or in the local vernacular 'Miggy Night!'

"Yorkshire's own excuse, on the eve of Bonfire Night, for mayhem disguised as tradition. Why? I don't know. How it started and when? Who knows. Why only in Yorkshire? Again I don't have the answer - wish I did.

Don't get me wrong - I don't prefer the recent American interloper. Trick or Treat is just legalised and disguised begging - all treat and never a trick! But Miggy Nite?? Violent shameful chaos - seen as every kid's right.

"When I was a kid I actually thought it was legal - 'coppers can't arrest you on miggy night.' That was the folklore.

"The worst thing I ever did on this annual night of shame was to place a rather special smelly delivery in a post box, when it should have been in a toilet. Poor postman."

last updated: 31/10/06
 
Have Your Say
Do you have a confession about your exploits on Mischief Night? Fill in the form and we'll publish it here, providing it's not too bad...
Your name: 
Your comment: 
 
The BBC reserves the right to edit comments submitted.

sean
egg windows and knock a door run

Tomasz
Not a tradition you can be proud of.

Alice
micky nite is mint man

karl
i cant believe the comments been posted on here,its just an excuse to make lives a misery...not just on so called miggy night

Jim
It is the parents at fault,they do not know what their brats are doing at night. They give them money to buy noisy bangers to anoy people.Fire works should not be sold until bonfire night, organised only.Should also have a licence to buy them, as the same as guns, fireworks have gun powder they are dangerous.

York lad
Miggy night is mint we all go around egging houses

a perpetrator
ok as far as i can remember Mischief Night has always been the 4th Nov this was because on this night Guy Fawkes placed the last of his gunpowder underneath the Houses of Parliament ( The only person who has entered Parliament with honourable intentions ). As a youth in the early 70's my favourite prank was to go onto Hob Moor and collect some cow dung and place it into a paper bag, this was then deposited on the doorstep of someone who had annoyed me during the last year. The Bag was then set on fire and i'd knock on the door and run like hell to a safe hidy hole and watch as the person would stomp on the bag to put the flames out... Justice served!!

Dinga B
Them were the days, when us kids knew our place and for 1 night a year could get away with a bit of mischief. Not vandalism, mugging or intimidation like the little varmints get away with nowadays but just a bit of good, not so clean and almost harmless fun..

bill child harrogate
We used to put a firework under a metal dustbin lid and it would bake a big bang.

jake
mizzy night in liverpool is the best all u southeners come down here

gill
we also have mischief night in the north west or mizzy night as we call it. we'd go out with a bag each full of eggs, flour, tomato sauce, shaving foam, toilet paper etc... and go around our neighbourhood causing pure mischief

jammie dodger
i think it is the best in the whole wide world were yoo can nik other peoples stuff

Emily
wer i live we have mischief night the day before halloween not bonfire night and we dnt call it miggy night we call it mizzy night lol xx huyton xx

chelsea & becci
we silly stringed evry1 we saw and silly stringed an old man on a granny scooter n he nely fell off lmao :P

Ann
I'm not sure what they call it, but there are areas of Scotland where they have an old tradition of kids knocking on doors on Halloween and being given sweets and other treats. Maybe the American tradition was started by Scottish emigrants who carried it into their new country. Any Scots out there who know the history? I was never allowed to go out on Mischief Night as my Dad was a policeman and was worried that I would get into trouble. His parents, however, used to tell stories of how they would put a parcel in the road and wait for someone to stop and try to pick it up. They would then reel it in on the piece of string they were holding in their hiding place behind a bush or garden wall. Another of their tricks was to tie a button onto a length of thread and fasten the thread to a drawing-pin pushed into the top of the window frame. They would then hide in the darkness and tap on the window by flapping their end of the thread and try not to giggle out loud when the householder came out to investigate. Back in their childhoods (the very early 1900's) there were fewer vehicles on the roads and all window frames were made of wood. I always felt I missed out on something I should have been entitled to by not being allowed out on Mischief Night. I didn't enjoy being sent out on the morning of Nov. 5th to find our garden gates, though, and to try to find the owners of the gates left at the end of our garden path. Having just read some of the other contributions to this discussion I have to say that it seems some people have problems understanding the difference between "mischief" and "vandalism". I don't see how it can be interpreted as "fun" or "cool" to do something which could put someone (including yourself) in danger or to damage property.

Pairo
man im from toronto and NO1 here does anything on mischief nite! (for us that would be on oct 30) so im gona just start/try to start the tradition here. but ppl still egg and tp other houses just not as much and not a special time on mischief nite.

George
Im 40 Now Oh When i remember the things >>> Ok one would be find some dog poo and wrap it in tissue or news paper, Take it near someones front door (not too Close also one of your enemies) and set it alight, Bang on the front door and retire quickly(leg it) to the Alleyway where we had a good view of our evil doings. The person would appear and automatically stamp on the news paper not knowing of the smelly Deposit hidden inside but too late a whole shoe full of neatly folded Poo would be in every crack,Tread and stitch.... If you happen to be a victim of me or my gang on West hill estate, Bridlington Please forgive me and remember one thing isnt poo supposed to be lucky ????

Richard
Im 32 and live in London. We used to empty out fireworks into a tobacco tin. Put a fuse on it and wrap it up in electrical tape. This was placed (lit) into water tanks over the local cemetary. We stopped when we totally split one wide open.

A concerned observer
surely there should be a polite society equivalent to mischievous night, something like borstal evening perhaps. All I can hope for is a good example of vigilante justice gracing the BBC news pages over the next few days, hopefully with elements of quasi-Dickensian disciplinary methods thrown in for good measure.

bobby
we in the street would select one house and cover the chimney with a bag to keep all the smoke from the coal fire escaping of course the occupants allways appeared with blackened faces mixed with red rage i never saw this as i was always running away the years when these dastardly deeds were done were 1959 to 1961, it came to a abrupt end when we were found out

Cal
All treat and never a trick, eh? In the states, Halloween is preceeded by "Moving Night", when anything not tied down might end up elsewhere, and "Soap Night" or "Chalk Night", when young people run through town writing graffiti using chalk or a cake of soap. Annoying, but harmless for the most part.

CAS HIGHER
mischevos nite iz wel gud round allerton bywater we frow eggz at evr1s windows itz wel gud lol

Julie
Mischief Night was ace a group of us used to knock on neighbours doors and run away, put dog poo through letter boxes, chop down washing lines, right on car windows with lipstick and just have a good laugh doing it.

jenny
my mum told me that years ago every village(north riding)had a bonfire and mischief night was the night that rival villages would try to set light to each others' bonfire.

Matt
Sounds like an excuse for anti social behaviour, vandalism and crime - slap some ASBOS about I say.

J.C.Holloway
When I lived in Mirfield (many decades ago) We tied the local bobby's doorhandle to his dustbin lid then knocked on his door, I thought I was thin enough to hide behind a lamp post! I was not as thin as I thought. Nobody down here in Portsmouth has ever heard of mischief night, which will be a relief on Nov 4th!

John Lowe
Great fun, cutting left out "clothes-lines", making fires in drain pipes from the eaves creating an enormous "bull" roar. Getting into unlocked cars and moving them as far as we could push them. 40 years ago, strong memories.

Celia
My Mum actually used to supply us with eggs to throw at the neighbours' front doors! she denies it now of course! We used to get wet loo roll and put it in door locks. Very bad kids, bad parents too.

Schuey
What the hell is this 'Mischief Night'? I moved from London to Doncaster last year and had all my windows smashed, paint thrown over my car, and racial abuse. What does the police/council do? Nothing! All the street lights went off and the police didn't do f-all! This year I've had to cover up my windows, and still, the police say they can't do anything - pathetic!!

jade
mischievious night is mint us southerners do it best lol tippin cars ova etcxxxx

katie and ken
we can remember tying two doors together n knocking on both of them then running away the people couldnt open them hee hee. then another putting cling film on a toilet seat then when people go to the toilet it would spray back up at them

-EcoN-
We once removed a garden gate and placed it in front of somebodies front door. Oh how i miss being cool.

SEE ALSO
home
HOME
email
EMAIL
print
PRINT
Go to the top of the page
TOP
SITE CONTENTS
SEE ALSO

Latest blog entries...
Read the latest entries by our North Yorkshire bloggers

Listen Live to Radio York
Also on 103.7FM, 104.3FM and 95.5FM
Now on air
 

Jeremy Buxton
Join Jeremy's Breakfast Club!
Get in touch

Jeremy Buxton
  Latest News & Sport bulletins




About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy