The Knock at the Door

A door-knocking prank, colloquially known as knock down ginger; ding dong ditch; Chappy; and knock a door run amongst other names, is a prank or game that dates back to the traditional Cornish holiday of Nickanan Night where it was originally called Nicky Nicky nine doors in the 19th-century or possibly earlier. The game is played by children in a lot of cultures. It involves knocking on the front door (or ringing the doorbell) of a victim, then running away before the door can be answered. The only names listed in the Historical Thesaurus of English are runaway knock (attested 1813) and runaway ring (1790). "Runaway Knock" is the title of paintings depicting instances of the prank by George Cruikshank (1855) and Stanhope Forbes (1888).