The popularity of lighting fires on Devil’s Night can be traced to 1980s Detroit.
Devil’s Night – the night before Halloween that induces mischief of all sorts – became associated with arson because of a surge of Detroit fires in the 1980s.
The Detroit Tigers won the World Series in October of 1984, which ignited over 297 “celebratory” fires. There were also repeated acts of arson in the city the year before – but the fires of 1984 were “the worst fires since the riots of 1967,” according to a Detroit Fire Department chief.
After that, the country – especially Detroit – saw a rise in Devil’s Night fires. Detroit even renamed the holiday Angel’s Night to combat the debauchery.
