Halloween Myths

Every other fall or so, I like to write about the Worst Things Found in Halloween Candy. However, this year I want to do something a little different and address the myths surrounding Halloween candy. I might run this into a sequel. I might not. Who knows?

For now, though, I'm going to address a handful of true and untrue Halloween candy myths, focusing on things that can poison you, get you high, and cut you. 

THINGS THAT WILL POISON YOU

Police have never documented actual cases of people randomly distributing poisoned goodies to children on Halloween.

I'm not sure about you, but when I was a child I had to sift through all of my Halloween goodies with the folks to a) watch all of the bubblegum be snatched away before my very eyes and b) ensure none of candy appeared tampered with.  As it turns out, though, there haven't been any cases of someone intentionally trying to hand off poisonous candies to children. 

Over the years, there have been accidents (mostly drug-related, but more on that later, or now if you'd like, I'll wait). And there have been people who used the myth of poisonous candy to cover up crimes. Take the infamous Ronald Clark O'Bryan case. 

O'Bryan infused Pixie Stix with cyanide and gave the Stix to his son Timothy Marc, who just so happened to be insured for fair sum of money. To make it look like some monster was handing off poisonous Halloween candy, O'Bryan also gave the laced candy to his daughter and three other children. O' Bryan received the death sentence for his acts and was lethally injected in 1984.  

In the end, however, this was a horrible premeditated act and not the work of an individual distributing poisoned Halloween candy to random children. 

THINGS THAT WILL CUT YOU

Pins, needles, razor blades, metal, glass, bullets -- you name it, it's probably been found in Halloween candy. While the sightings are far and few in between, unlike poison, candy containing something that might cut you, or otherwise do harm, is more of a real thing.

The razor blade stories have been found from time to time, but they seem to mostly stem from an accumulation of different myths and hoaxes. 

In many cases, as I've discussed in the previous Worst Things entries, the foreign objects found in Halloween candy derive from faulty machinery, human error, or are the result of a pranks.  However, as with the case of the bullets, there is some kind of obvious mix-up involved, but the source or motive may never be known. 

THINGS THAT WILL GET YOU HIGH

There isn't much evidence pointing towards anyone trying to hand off drugs to children via Halloween candy, yet there are quite a few stories about kids accidentally getting their hands on drugs during their regular trick-or-treating. Here are just a couple:

CRYSTAL METH

2014 - HERCULES, CA
A little girl returns home from a night of trick-or-treating with a ".1 gram plastic bag of crystal methamphetamine" and the police can't figure out who gave it to her. 

MARIJUANA 

2000 - HERCULES, CA
Previously, in the same damn town where you always find drugs in your Halloween candy . . . 

Some goof tries to hide nuggets of weed in fun-size Snickers bars. He doesn't use the correct postage, so the bag is left stuck at the post office until a frugal postal worker snags the bag instead of buying his own Halloween candy. You pretty much get the story, but if you'd like you can read the rest below.  Seriously, read it. There's also this one tale about cocaine that's pretty sweet. 

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