The story was that my Irish grandmother tied two cat’s tails together with a rope and hung them over somebody’s door knob! She also was party to taking some guy’s buggy apart and pulling it up on top of his barn, piece by piece, and putting it back together there! That was in the later years of the 19th century, back in the days when Halloween wasn’t trick or treat, it was just plain tricks! Alas, the country has been tamed into a spiritless beehive since then!!
Ah, BigChief, kids still get into mischief, only when they do, people of our generations tend to call them vandals and call the police. For example, back in the ’20s at our old church, a kid drove his dad’s car through the church doors on a dare. Caused damage to the doors (which his dad fixed), and it was over. When some kids in my day picked up a guy’s VW Bug from the street and put it on his lawn as a joke, they all got arrested. It’s always funny to remember it, but the same folks who remember their own pranks so fondly get very upset if the current batch of kids tries something similar.
Small town Halloween in the early ’50s….
One year our school principal decided to cleverly pre-tip his home outhouse to steal our forthcoming thunder that night. He should have known better. We teens organized a force that stealthily hand-carried it across town and sat it upright at the top of the school steps.
Back in my day (the late ’40s and early ’50s), Halloween was always preceded by Mischief Night the night before. That was when the ‘tricks’ prevailed with no treats.
If you wanted to be really nasty, you used a candle to “soap” someone’s windows instead of actual soap - a real beeuch to clean off.
My Dad told me that back in the 40’s my great aunt owned a Crosley. On Halloween, my grandpa and great uncle use to pick it up and set it on the front porch so that the neighborhood kids couldn’t pick it up and move it.
smoothpate wish I had gotten here sooner, “Monkey Ward catalog” man that’s a blast from the past, We had a Montgomery Ward store here in town of course it went out of business, sigh!
We always found that it was much more fun to move the outhouse back a couple of feet without tipping. Then wait for the next victim to fall in the hole! Messy. In Canada we used the Sears catalogue.
We used to wait until someone was in the outhouse then park a vehicle right in front of the door so they couldn’t get out. Oh wait, that wasn’t for Halloween though, it was just a couple years ago when I was in the Middle East on my “uncle’s” nickel.
Yukoner over 15 years ago
Seems “knock over” has undergone a generational shift.
sjoujke over 15 years ago
Happy Halloween Everybody! (Nice Avatar Yukoner)
Kids are so much more mature these days!
JP Steve Premium Member over 15 years ago
“Porta-Johns?” Would the current generation really not know what an “Outhouse, Biffy, or One-holer” was?
http://www.jldr.com/shackpoem.html
JerryGorton over 15 years ago
We had a two-holer. Kansas winters and nobody wanted to wait and take turns…..(this was before the hot winds of global warming.)
COWBOY7 over 15 years ago
Why you little hoodlums. LOL
BigChiefDesoto over 15 years ago
The story was that my Irish grandmother tied two cat’s tails together with a rope and hung them over somebody’s door knob! She also was party to taking some guy’s buggy apart and pulling it up on top of his barn, piece by piece, and putting it back together there! That was in the later years of the 19th century, back in the days when Halloween wasn’t trick or treat, it was just plain tricks! Alas, the country has been tamed into a spiritless beehive since then!!
cdward over 15 years ago
Ah, BigChief, kids still get into mischief, only when they do, people of our generations tend to call them vandals and call the police. For example, back in the ’20s at our old church, a kid drove his dad’s car through the church doors on a dare. Caused damage to the doors (which his dad fixed), and it was over. When some kids in my day picked up a guy’s VW Bug from the street and put it on his lawn as a joke, they all got arrested. It’s always funny to remember it, but the same folks who remember their own pranks so fondly get very upset if the current batch of kids tries something similar.
GROG Premium Member over 15 years ago
From tom foolery in one generation to criminal punkery the next.
Charles Brobst Premium Member over 15 years ago
We hid a punk’s VW Beetle in another guy’s van. It was weeks before either guy noticed it was there.
lazygrazer over 15 years ago
Small town Halloween in the early ’50s…. One year our school principal decided to cleverly pre-tip his home outhouse to steal our forthcoming thunder that night. He should have known better. We teens organized a force that stealthily hand-carried it across town and sat it upright at the top of the school steps.
carmy over 15 years ago
My Papa Daddy was a carpenter. My Mom said he built a deluxe outhouse for the family. I took her word for it.
JesseUWG over 15 years ago
Lol.
Dewed over 15 years ago
We put the neighbor’s picnic table on their roof once.
fbmce over 15 years ago
Back in my day (the late ’40s and early ’50s), Halloween was always preceded by Mischief Night the night before. That was when the ‘tricks’ prevailed with no treats.
If you wanted to be really nasty, you used a candle to “soap” someone’s windows instead of actual soap - a real beeuch to clean off.
smoothpate over 15 years ago
My Dad told me that back in the 40’s my great aunt owned a Crosley. On Halloween, my grandpa and great uncle use to pick it up and set it on the front porch so that the neighborhood kids couldn’t pick it up and move it.
smoothpate over 15 years ago
Quoting NyukNyuk2000, “Don’t outhouses already have TP?”
Not always, sometime you used a corncob or a page from the Monkey Ward catalog!!!!
Dry and Dusty Premium Member over 15 years ago
smoothpate wish I had gotten here sooner, “Monkey Ward catalog” man that’s a blast from the past, We had a Montgomery Ward store here in town of course it went out of business, sigh!
carmy over 15 years ago
Drycula, I used to work at Monkey Ward when I was in high school.
wlcary over 15 years ago
Be sure you don’t use the “shiny” pages.
JP Steve Premium Member over 15 years ago
A corncob? That’s gotta smart!
MatureCanadian over 15 years ago
We always found that it was much more fun to move the outhouse back a couple of feet without tipping. Then wait for the next victim to fall in the hole! Messy. In Canada we used the Sears catalogue.
MisngNOLA over 15 years ago
We used to wait until someone was in the outhouse then park a vehicle right in front of the door so they couldn’t get out. Oh wait, that wasn’t for Halloween though, it was just a couple years ago when I was in the Middle East on my “uncle’s” nickel.
Skywatcher68 over 15 years ago
Mason’s echoing a Hart joke from ~30 years ago.