There are now kids on my block in River Edge again who come around with their parents to get candy on Halloween. I never know ahead of time whether I will get no kids or groups of them. This brought my memory back to when I was a kid in Callicoon Center and what I did on Halloween. 

I was once falsely accused, along with my friend, by Mrs. Sadie Maulick. She chased us away, saying she knew we had already been to her house even though we hadn’t. However, I did do some tricky things which I will confess to now. A friend and I thought it would be fun to put potatoes in the exhaust pipes of cars which were parked at Tumble Inn. We did this to three cars and then went to a look-out spot at an upstairs window of my house. It took several minutes for the drivers to figure out why they were all having trouble starting their cars. What they never knew was who did such a mean thing. If they found out I’m sure they would have thrown us into the brook. 

Around the same time, some other fresh kids took firewood which had been stored against another house and threw it at our house. Such vandalism! As my father used to say, “If kids get any worse, they might wind up as bad as he was when he was a kid.” 

The night before Halloween is sometimes called Mischief Night, Gate Night, Cabbage Night, or Devil’s Eve, but I no longer see any signs of mischief. No more smashed pumpkins, toilet paper strung from trees, or shaving cream on cars. We once had to park cars all the way to the back of the driveway, lock our doors, and bring pumpkins in for the night. I’ve gone to many Halloween parties in my life and I’ll probably go again.