A night of disaster in New Jersey in 1991 turned into a fire in Camden

Throwing eggs ended with splashes of gasoline, and prank turned into chaos.

On October 30, 1991, vandals set 150 fires in North and East Camden, burning 86 mostly empty buildings, 25 of which burned beyond repair. causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Two families lost their homes and the discount business was reduced to ashes, leaving six workers out of work.

57 persons, including 41 minors, were charged with criminal responsibility for committing crimes.

Locals know the night before Halloween as prank night. And although “crime” has long been a part of Halloweenwith US newspapers in the 1920s even with the main holiday in mind under the same namea holiday devoted exclusively to huts apparently originated in England. from English

According to the Guardianthe earliest use of this term dates back to 1790. The headmaster of St. John’s College, Oxford, put on an annual school play that ended with “An Ode to Fun, in which the tricks of children during a mischievous night are praised.”

The tradition followed Irish and Scottish immigrants when they moved to the United States. And the use of the term in its modern form, describing the events leading up to Halloween and calling it “The Night of Mischief”, began to appear in The Inquirer back in the 1930smostly accompanied by descriptions of various examples of looting and vandalism.

Traditionally, they would ring the doorbell and run away, wrap leafless trees in toilet paper and throw eggs at vehicles and front doors. ways of celebrationwith more malicious antics culminating in the 1991 Camden fire.

But it was mainly observed in the areas along the North-Eastern Corridor. AND University of Pennsylvania the study found that the term was most common in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware.

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Throughout the rest of the 1990s, parents and officials in the cities of Camden and others New Jersey has taken precautions due to large-scale destruction. Annual police patrols, curfews, and other local initiatives in Philadelphia and the suburbs were put in place to prevent problems like the Camden fires, and it was mostly effective, as local communities managed to prevent the disaster from escalating into much worse.