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Rumors of tainted, poisoned or otherwise murderous Halloween candy handed out to unsuspecting youngsters are as much a part of the Halloween tradition as costumes and sing-song pleas for sweets Poisoned candy myths are mostly urban legends about malevolent strangers intentionally hiding poisons, drugs, or sharp objects such as razor blades in candy, which they then distribute with the intent of harming random children, especially during Halloween trick-or-treating. These myths, originating in the United States, serve as modern In 2001, police feared a Vancouver girl's Halloween candy had been deliberately poisoned after she fell ill and died of heart failure hours after eating it. They asked parents to confiscate their Seven people died after being poisoned by painkillers laced with cyanide. This led to speculation that Halloween candy would be dangerous that year. But there was no wave of Halloween poisonings In 1984, a Texas man named Ronald Clark O’Bryan was convicted and executed for killing his 8-year-old son Timothy by lacing his Halloween candy with cyanide, according to the New York Times Poison candy fear The Halloween candy scare began in 1970. An op-ed on Oct. 28, 1970, in The New York Times suggested the possibility of strangers using Halloween’s “trick-or-treat On Halloween, 1974, an 8-year-old boy named Timothy O’Bryan died. His candy had, indeed, been poisoned. A few days prior, his father, Ronald Clark O’Bryan, took out a $40,000 life insurance Some rumors of Halloween sadism are merely reflections of the times and “the ways we express our anxiety,” Best said. In 1982, after seven people in the Chicago area died from poisoned Tylenol 0:00. 1:05. For parents of trick-or-treaters, it’s the warning that always stays close. Tainted Halloween candy with needles, poison or something else dangerous inside. And it goes back almost Halloween sadism is defined as the act of passing out poisoned treats to children during trick-or-treating. But even before the term was coined in 1974, parents already feared a mysterious To qualify as a Halloween poisoning, poisoned candy has to be handed out on a random basis to children as part of the trick-or-treating ritual inherent to Halloween. The act cannot be targeted to Real-life Halloween poisonings. While there has never been a genuine attempt at a random Halloween poisoning, there have been several isolated incidents of children being harmed on or around Halloween. All of these cases, including the few that involved poisoned candy, were instigated by the children’s caretakers instead of neighbors or Ronald entered a not guilty plea, with his defense blaming the tainted candy on some untraceable boogieman—a sick individual using the cover of Halloween to poison unsuspecting children. Best has studied reports of tainted Halloween candy going back to 1958, and claims the majority of tainted Halloween candy reports are hoaxes. A 2011 article about Halloween myths from KPLU 88.5 quotes Best as saying, “I have been unable to find a substantiated report of a child being killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked By all indications, no. Snopes has collected an impressive array of stories where randomly poisoned Halloween candy was blamed for deaths, though. In 1970, a five-year-old in Detroit died after But there’s no evidence for the poisoned candy scares. In a study published in 1993, Best looked for credible reports of poisoned Halloween candy, finding no plausible cases up to that point For all the hype about poisoned candy on Halloween, there’s little evidence that any child has died from eating tainted sweets by trick-or-treating in the U.S. Except for one documented case Holiday Razor blades and poisoned candy: A history of Americans fearing Halloween Tales of 'Halloween sadism' reportedly emerged in the 1970s and have persisted for decades despite lacking evidence As author Jack Santino noted in his history of Halloween, "pins and needles" rumors began to supplant "poisoned candy" rumors in the mid-1960s, and nearly all such reports of such rumors proved to What should I do if Halloween candy makes me sick? If you experience adverse or unexpected symptoms from consuming Halloween candy or other treats, get guidance from Poison Control immediately. Help from Poison Control is available at poison.org and by phone at 1-800-222-1222. Both options are free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day.
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