devil’s night n Also devil’s eve scattered, but esp seMI Cf hell night n
= mischief night n.
[1893 Sumner Gaz. (IA) 21 Dec [4]/4 (newspaperarchive.com), The students of Des Moines college stabled a cow in the chapel on devil night, commonly called Halloween.] 1924 Chester Times (PA) 31 Oct 4/2, The night preceding All Hallowe’en evening is known among the juvenile population as “Devil’s Night,” but there was little disorder reported about the borough by the local police authorities. 1956 Lancaster Eagle–Gaz. (OH) 30 Oct 2/1, Tonight is “Beggars Night,” more popularly known as “Trick or Treat.” . . Last night was “Penny Night” or “Devils Night.” 1960 Delaware Co. Daily Times (Chester PA) 28 Oct 17/8, Darby—Borough police will be backed up by members of three organizations in an attempt to curb vandalism on Mischief Night—called Devils Night by the youngsters. 1969 Detroit Free Press (MI) 31 Oct sec B 4/3, Detroit and suburban police departments reported widespread incidents of vandalism Thursday night as cruising carloads of youths celebrated “Devil’s Night,” the eve of Halloween. 1975 Traverse City Rec.–Eagle (MI) 1 Nov 1/1, The number of sheriff department complaints was less than the night before on Devil’s night. 1983 Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell MT) 31 Oct 2/4 Detroit MI,The dispatcher said the number of fires deliberately set was “about average for “Devil’s Night.”[”] 1985 Capital Times (Madison WI) 1 Nov 40/3 Detroit MI, Officials in Detroit, meanwhile, were busy Thursday trying to assess damage from a wave of arson that sweeps the city every Halloween and the night before, called Devil’s Night. 1995 NY Times (NY) 30 Oct sec A 10/2 Detroit MI, For years, Detroit appeared to have doused Devil’s Night. But the city relaxed its vigilance last year. . . It was rewarded with the biggest outbreak of fires since 1986. 2002 in 2017 DARE File—Internet swPA, When I lived in Pittsburgh we called it [=the night before Halloween] “Devil’s Eve.”2003 Vaux–Golder Harvard Dial. Survey (Internet), What do you call the night before Halloween? [11.13% of 10,640 infs responded with devil’s night, with scattered instances throughout the country, but chiefly in sNEng, seNY, NJ, MD, MI;0.78% responded with devil’s eve, with scattered instances throughout the country.] 2014 DARE File—Internet MI, I’ve always heard it referred to it as Devi’s [sic] Night (grew up in MI). Husband calls it Mischief Night (from NJ).