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Ltrain
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Username: Ltrain

Post Number: 107
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, November 09, 2006 - 5:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20061109/U PDATE/611090462

Not really but this article would make you think it. How do they connect the Detroit and Saginaw dots and when did Detroit invent Devil's Night?
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Wolverine
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Username: Wolverine

Post Number: 238
Registered: 04-2004
Posted on Thursday, November 09, 2006 - 6:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm surprised there is anything left of the East side to burn.
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Royce
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Username: Royce

Post Number: 1881
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 1:44 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"'Devil's Night' is the name given to the night before Halloween in Detroit."

I didn't know that Detroit had an exclusive contract with Devil's Night mischief.
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Dialh4hipster
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Username: Dialh4hipster

Post Number: 1843
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 2:13 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Heh, believe it or not, it's generally considered a Detroit thing around the county.

My friends in other cities have never even heard of it except in the context of Detroit.
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Jerome81
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Username: Jerome81

Post Number: 1175
Registered: 11-2003
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 2:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Check out CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US /11/09/saginaw.fires.ap/
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Ragtoplover59
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Username: Ragtoplover59

Post Number: 14
Registered: 09-2006
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 3:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Devil's Night -- the name given to the night before Halloween in Detroit -- gained notoriety after a high number of arsons during the 1980s and early 1990s"

"when did Detroit invent Devil's Night?"

I know it was called "Devil's Night" long before the 80's, seen many Garages burned during the early 70's but not so much of the Houses yet!

Although Houses did get "Firebombed" for some reason at any time of the year?

I also recall a Broken Down Bus getting torched on the Service Drive close to Springwells.

Being at a young age,I never wondered "What the Hell is Happening to our city", It felt more like "there goes another one".
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Broncobillybuttons
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Username: Broncobillybuttons

Post Number: 6
Registered: 09-2006
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 4:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We absolutely had Devil's Night in the early 'Fifties, certainly up in my 'hood just south of Northland (I lived more or less under the towering watertank that once graced Viola Liuzzo Park). However, it was basically a night of soaping windows and stealing hubcaps that left us free to collect candy on Halloween. A few other cities back East have adopted the practice in recent decades, but probably after hearing about Detroit in the news.
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Treelock
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Username: Treelock

Post Number: 173
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 10:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

People in other parts of the country have no idea what "Devil's Night" is, and I, too associate the occasion with childhood memories of toilet-papering trees, playing ding-dong-ditch or maybe, in the most fiendish of cases, egging the homes of hornery ones.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 908
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 12:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Devil's Night in the 'forties was ringing doorbells and knocking over trash cans in the alley. There was no arson back then.
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Quickdrawmcgraw
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Username: Quickdrawmcgraw

Post Number: 86
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 1:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It was the media who hyped this back then and still now.
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Dds
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Username: Dds

Post Number: 13
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 1:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Not really but this article would make you think it. How do they connect the Detroit and Saginaw dots and when did Detroit invent Devil's Night?




I don't think it connects any dots, or even implies that Detroit coined the phrase "Devil's Night." The article simply states "Devil's Night -- the name given to the night before Halloween in Detroit" which means that's what we call it down here. The article goes on to say that we've "effectively put an end to the arsons" which puts Detroit in a positive light. Let's learn to read objectively before climbing on the "They're bashing Detroit" bandwagon.

(Message edited by dds on November 10, 2006)
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Sycloneman
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Username: Sycloneman

Post Number: 59
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 1:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

At least CNN left out the part about Detroit. :P
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Yvette248
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Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 101
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 3:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I guess the burning of buildings in Iraq was because of Detroit also.

wtf?
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Ltrain
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Username: Ltrain

Post Number: 108
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 9:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

All I am saying is there was zero point in mentioning Detroit in an article about Saginaw having fire issues when it's basically been a non issue in Detroit for years. It's not reading objectively, it's not necessary.
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Ltrain
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Username: Ltrain

Post Number: 109
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, November 10, 2006 - 9:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Devil's Night -- the name given to the night before Halloween in Detroit"

How is that not "coining" something? WTF?
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Bob_cosgrove
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Username: Bob_cosgrove

Post Number: 407
Registered: 03-2005
Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 8:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The name Devil's Night was not coined in or for Detroit - that term goes centuries back, although it's been applied to what was going on in Detroit, especially arson, for the past 20 or 30 years.

Bob Cosgrove
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Dds
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Username: Dds

Post Number: 14
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 9:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

I guess the burning of buildings in Iraq was because of Detroit also.




No, but there is this highly documented phenomenon called copycat crimes.

Cosgrove is right, with a little research, one can find out easily that the term did not originate in Detroit, but has been associated with Detroit because of our history.


quote:

it's basically been a non issue in Detroit for years.




And if arson on Devil's Night has not been an non-issue in Detroit for years, why do we still have to organize Angel's Night volunteers? I would say that make it an issue.

(Message edited by dds on November 11, 2006)
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Yvette248
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Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 110
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 11:52 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Copycat crimes???

Excuse me, but are the people in Iraq looking at 20 year old videos of Detroit and then saying, "Great idea! Why don't we burn down Baghdad also?"

I think the Romans burned down cities long before anyone here did. Hey, let's start showing videos of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
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Dds
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Username: Dds

Post Number: 15
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 3:46 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Copycat crimes???

Excuse me, but are the people in Iraq looking at 20 year old videos of Detroit and then saying, "Great idea! Why don't we burn down Baghdad also?"




Actually I was referring to the Saginaw fires.

It sounded like you were making an overstatement in your previous post. I was using your statement to sort of back up that it's ridiculous to make the connection that Detroit should be blamed for what's happening in Saginaw. Or the fact that anything like that should be, or could be inferred from the article in mention. Please note that the best use of sarcasm is to keep piling it on. Hell, let's blame all of the Devil's Night fires on Mrs. O'Leary's cow and blame Chicago for all of our problems.
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Mountainman
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Username: Mountainman

Post Number: 116
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Saturday, November 11, 2006 - 11:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Devil's night is actually a term used frequently throughout the British Commonwealth. It stems from the origins of Halloween in the British Isles. I could post a large tirate on the Celtic origins of Halloween, but I suffice it to say that Devil's night for well over 1500 yrs has been the name applied to the night of mischief prior to the festivals celebrated on present day Halloween. As for how I know this, I'm presently studying Medeval English Literature. I don't think Detroit really holds any claim to the name. Although the media certainly would like to believe so.
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Dds
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Username: Dds

Post Number: 33
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 10:44 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Again with Saginaw

I'm surprised no one caught on to this article and started bashing the residents of Saginaw for calling their city a "Little Detroit."
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Yvette248
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Username: Yvette248

Post Number: 180
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 10:48 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"It sounded like you were making an overstatement in your previous post."

Yes I was. Dripping sarcasm is one of my strong points :-)
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Hockey_player
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Username: Hockey_player

Post Number: 263
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 11:22 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Devil's Night is an age-old tradition of mischief, but it was only in Detroit that burning down houses en masse became a yearly reality. I know people just discovering Detroit don't seem to understand this, but in the 80s there were over 800 house fires in a three-day period around Halloween for several years, hence the very well-deserved national reputation. Why do you think they send out thousands of volunteers nowadays on Devil's Night to keep watch on the streets of the city - for no reason?

Rather than get hysterical every time the media mentions Detroit, perhaps take into account the well-documented history behind their statments. The thousands of arson fires on successive Devil's Nights were a fact, and were a strictly Detroit phenomenon.

(Message edited by hockey_player on November 22, 2006)
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Dds
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Username: Dds

Post Number: 34
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 - 11:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Like I said, I'm surprised folks around here are NOT pitching a fit. Then again, you have the scantily-cladded tart on the other thread that's keeping people's attention. Priorities, y'know.

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