If you know me at all from my main social media, you'll know that Halloween is my life.
All of my Halloween nostalgia and stories can be found on my main blog, along with countless other spooky things, if you're into that. I wasn't expecting to write much about Halloween here, since it's all there, but there is one funny story that I thought might get a chuckle out of anyone who follows me solely for the inner child stuff:
My silly history with "Goosey Night", as it's called in my area of New Jersey...Otherwise known as Mischief Night, Devil's Night, even Cabbage Night in some places...the night before Halloween.
The night before Halloween, at least when I was growing up, has always seemed to be famous for mischief and pranks. Sadly, the kids in the neighborhood I grew up in often took it too far and partook in actual property damage. We had brush fires set, mailboxes and car windshields smashed, and I will never forget the year someone took the time to dig up two mailboxes and switch them. It was truly a wild time, and one my parents dreaded.
I never gave much thought to actually taking part in Goosey Night myself, until the year I was in fifth grade.
I got to school that morning, and suddenly all the kids in my class were hyped for it. These would have been ten and eleven year olds, so I doubt they were planning anything major. It seemed to be just silly toilet paper and egg pranks.
Being the person that I am, always so excited for and eager to celebrate Halloween, I found myself suddenly wanting to partake in Goosey Night as well. To me, it suddenly sounded like an extension of Halloween itself, and for that reason, I needed to celebrate it, especially when it seemed like everyone else I knew was.
I went home and asked my mother, figuring she had to understand, given my obsession with Halloween since the age of four, but she absolutely forbid it, and in hindsight, I don't blame her, given the level of damage that was often done in our neighborhood. I don't know where I thought I was going to go, anyway, as a ten-year-old out on her own, but I was very upset.
My father actually would "patrol the streets" most Goosey Nights, trying to discourage delinquent kids from coming near (though I think most of the mischief happened after we'd all gone to bed), and that was the year I started to go with him, figuring it was a way for me to at least be out and about on the night before Halloween. And I discovered one tiny act of rebellion I could perform: I always had tissues in my coat pockets, and that night, when I thought my father wasn't looking, I tossed them into the night.
It turned out, later, that my father had in fact seen me doing this and when he questioned my mother as to what it might be about, he was rather amused when she told him.
I suppose my spirit struck a chord with my parents, because the following year, I was actually given permission to partake in Goosey Night. But there were conditions: I was not allowed anything that would make any sort of real mess. I was only allowed to take some toilet paper and put it on the trees on our own property.
It's silly to think about now, but at the time, it was exciting to me. That year on October 30th, I changed into all black, filled a black-cat-head shaped treat bag with a few rolls of off-brand toilet paper that my mother had gotten on sale and hadn't been impressed with, and set off from my deck to the little ornamental trees maybe fifteen feet away on our property, looking over my shoulder as if the cops were on my tail. It's worth mentioning that I also did this in broad daylight, and no neighbors lived close enough to have even been able to see me. I guess I was just dedicated to playing the role.
The whole thing took probably about ten minutes, and I doubt I went through even one full roll of toilet paper. But I was proud of myself for having participated in something new related to Halloween, and after that, it became a silly yearly tradition, for a couple of years. One year I actually got brave enough to sneak two eggs outside, but my conscience got the better of me and I put them back. I'm not sure what I would have egged, anyway.
Though my interest in Goosey Night faded just about as quickly as it came, I can't help but look back at this every year and have a good laugh at my younger self's expense.
