Lots of us have had that internal debate when we’re kids: “am I too old to go trick-or-treating?” Well, if you live in Chesapeake, Virginia, then that internal debate won’t last very long. Not because you figured it out, but because you don’t want to go to jail.
In Chesapeake, kids over the age of 12 are legally prohibited from going trick-or-treating. Doing so is considered a misdemeanor, and is punishable by a fine from $25 to $100, six months in state prison, or if you’re really unlucky, both. The town also has a strictly enforced time limit on trick-or-treating; any child out after 8:00 PM can be punished by a similar fine or a month of jail.
Chesapeake isn’t even the only Virginia town that employs these laws. Portsmouth and Newport enforce the time limit and the age limit, respectively. I guess Virginians takes their Halloween really seriously, though not in the way most folks do.
