DETROIT (WWJ) – For many years, the night before Halloween was one of the most violent nights of the year.
Known as Devil’s Night, there were hundreds of fires set across the city, eventually leading to the creation of Angels Night: counter efforts to put a stop to the destruction.
On a new Daily J podcast WWJ’s Zach Clark takes a look back at how Devil’s Night spiraled out of control to the point of 800 fires in 1984 and how city leaders put an end to the madness.
Despite Mayor Coleman Young getting somewhat of a grip on the fires near the end of his time in office, Devil’s Night saw a resurgence in 1994, the first year of Mayor Dennis Archer’s term.
“When Dennis Archer was elected mayor in 1993 and took office in ‘94, when I became chief, because of what they had done in the past, our assumption was that this was not gonna be a problem anymore,” former Detroit Police Chief Ike McKinnon said. “Well, we were wrong that first year.”
He said Devil’s Night that year was “beyond one’s imagination,” admitting city officials had made a mistake in not cracking down on the fires.
“It was traumatic and disappointing,” Archer said. “Mayor Young had done such an outstanding job of reducing the fires that occurred on Devil’s Night and everybody was so excited about a change of administration and a lot of positive things were happening, and we were not as prepared as was Mayor Young.”
Archer said after that night he vowed it would never happen again, as an estimated 50,000 people volunteered to patrol the streets on Oct. 30. Volunteers wore yellow shirts and had flashing yellow lights on top of their cars, while residents were urged to keep their porch lights on.
And thus, Angels Night was born.
Archer said the success of Angels Night grew every year throughout the rest of his term and “we never had a problem again.”
McKinnon says the people of Detroit deserve a lot of credit for helping put an end to the fires.
These days, Devil's Night -- and Angels Night -- are thing of the past. A trip to angelsnight.org now redirects visitors to a page for the city's trunk-or-treat program.
"And this is what we've been hoping for for a long time," McKinnon said.