Today I’m doing a blog on Halloween Pranks. And, to get into the mood, I’m playing an early Halloween prank on an unsuspecting member of my household. I’ve placed a large plastic spider on the sink near their toothbrush.
Recently in the early morning hours, we had a huge live lizard on the floor on the bathroom floor. However, I still have no idea of how he got into my house.
So, I’m thinking this person will think the spider is also real and get a real fright. Let’s see what happens.
History of Halloween Pranks
In the early 19th-century Halloween was a time of pranks, tricks and scary fun.
As America modernized and more people lived in urban areas, Halloween mischief became a problem. More destructive and dangerous pranks were played. Gillian Brockell reported, “in Fairfax County, VA in 1929, roving bands of boys set off dynamite on their school grounds.” Pranksters, also, tied apartment door knobs together, soaped or waxed store windows, and rang door bells.
As a teenager, I remember one incident of an unruly Halloween mob of teenagers downtown. The police were called but the only thing I remember hearing is that our town’ s local beauty queen crawled under a car to get away from things.
In smaller communities, kids placed rocking chairs or wagons on roof tops, removed farm gates, let the chickens out of the coop, pushed outhouses over, and spread molasses or tar on door knobs.
Around the 1930’s, people wanted to make Halloween safer for children and began to hold group parties for the children. Because of the Depression, one person didn’t have the money to host the entire party so house-to-house parties were invented. So children when to one house for a sheet costume, one house for a piece of candy, another to play a games, etc.
By the 1960’s, porch lights were left on for trick-or-treaters and children receive candy for not doing tricks.
Around 1962, kids were collecting money for UNICFT during Halloween instead of treats.
Halloween Pranks Today
So what Halloween pranks have been played on me?
One time during the Halloween night, a huge pumpkin was removed from my front step and smashed to bits on my front sidewalk.
Another time, pranksters removed the rails out of my fence and placed them in the road to block traffic. OK, this one could have been dangerous, but I’m always on the lookout for pranksters and noticed this before it became an issue.
I’ve also had odd sounding telephone calls on Halloween.
One recent Halloween, I was chased down the street by a scary bear. OK, it was not too scary and more for fun, since I knew who was in the bear costume.
Ending Notes
Halloween and Halloween pranks have evolved over the years. Now, we get to see cute children in what ever the popular costume of the year is.
And, how did the spider prank turn out? The pranked person said they were not scared but they did a double-look to be sure the spider was fake.
Resource Sites: Gillian Brockell, “Haunted Houses: A Spooky Solution to a Scarier Issue”, Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2019, and www.smithsonian mag.com. “When Halloween was all Tricks and no Treats”.