Correction: the earliest recorded 'trick or treat' is 1917, in Ontario

NOV 01 1917

The phrase is often said to first appear in Blackie, Alberta in 1927. The earlier attested instance is in The Sault Daily Star of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, on 1 November 1917, reporting that 'Tricks or treats you could hear the gangs call out.' Costumed door-to-door guising is documented earlier still, at Kingston, Ontario in 1911, but without that phrase. The distinction worth keeping is between the practice and the formula used to demand the treat.