October 29, 2013
Every year around Halloween we hear of pranks ranging from harmless mischief to serious destruction.
The Halloween of 1913 in Sheffield, Alabama, was a little of both.
According to press reports, the destruction resulting from a Halloween prank gone awry was as much a surprise to the kids as it was to the town’s residents.
The kids’ plan was simple: they were going to load the town cannon with “several pounds of [gun]powder” and set it off at one o’clock in the morning.
It worked; the explosion was deafening.
As reported in the following Alabama newspaper article:
“…the explosion shaking the [Sheffield Hotel] like an earthquake, in fact the guests thought it was an earthquake, and rolled out of their beds and room, scantily attired, rushing down into the lobby to ascertain the cause of the explosion.”
The cannon itself “…was thrown several hundred feet from the concrete foundation by the discharge.”
And the destruction from the prank was real: “All of the plate glass on the lower floor and all the window lights on the north side of the Sheffield Hotel…were broken and shattered.” The estimated damage was $1,000.
