It’s too bad that Halloween has turned into a night of vandalism in so many communities.

I remember once when I was visiting my home town in Pennsylvania that several cars on the street where my family lived were “keyed” (someone ran their key through the paint on our cars, leaving cut marks behind). I was lucky in that I had an older car, so that didn’t matter to me, but some neighbors had brand new autos that were defaced really badly. All the police seemed to be able to do was shrug their shoulders and take everyone’s names.

It might be the result of similar events that has caused some towns to outlaw teenagers trick-or-treating. Here’s the story from the Associated Press via ABC News:

>>There’s no way to know exactly how many cities have such ordinances. The National League of Cities doesn’t keep track of ordinances, and states have left such matters up to the localities.

Trick-or-treating evolved out of the late medieval custom of children asking for treats in exchange for praying for the dead of the household, said Hans Broedel, a University of North Dakota history professor and expert on early traditions.

Tricks — usually vandalism and other debauchery by teens and young adults — were a big part of Halloween for a time until a conscious effort in the 19th and early 20th centuries to shift the celebration toward children, Broedel said.

Excluding teens from trick-or-treating could make it more appealing to do other, less desirable, things, he said.

“Trick-or-treating in a large part is embraced in this country because it serves to cut down on teenage vandalism,” Broedel said. “Certainly telling teenagers they can’t go trick-or-treating isn’t going to stop them from going out on Halloween and doing whatever.”

John Womeldorf, a real estate agent in James City County, Va., has two sons ages 12 and 11. He said his 12-year-old is bummed that this will be his last year to trick-or-treat, but he looks forward to scaring kids who come for candy next year.

Womeldorf said he doesn’t remember any such rules as a kid but see why they might be necessary now.

“It is a different world than I grew up in so I guess we do have to have certain things like that in place to be enforced if needed,” he said.

Still, Alisa Alexander Goetz of Jordan, Minn., questions why such restrictions are needed. Kids grow up too fast, she said, so why not let them continue the tradition?

Of trick or treating, she said, “It’s better than them out drinking or getting into trouble.”<<

When I was growing up, it was very strongly frowned upon by the teenagers in my neighborhood if a teen went trick-or-treating–unless they were just along to monitor the younger kids. That meant one was out of the “free candy” trade pretty early in my hometown.

Here are two dogs in the Halloween spirit–so much so that one pulls the old bag trick:

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