Welcome to Freaky Friday. Today, I am re-running my post about Halloween candy from last year. In this post, you’ll find a few urban legends about Halloween candy and a couple of true stories that’ll make you think twice about gorging on candy next Wednesday.
Halloween has the feel of a full moon night times one thousand. The air has a wild, untamed feel to it, and anything the veil between life and death seems thinner than usual.
I came of trick-or-treating age in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By that time, there had been all sorts of scares about poisoned candy, razorblades in apples, and LSD on lick-n-stick tattoos.
Let’s take a tour of these scares and talk about which ones were true and which ones were false and how they originated.
Poisoned Candy
According to this Snopes.com article, poisoned candy being passed out at Halloween is actually a myth.
Several events, however, have given the myth wheels to roll on.
1964:
Mrs. Helen Pfiel of Green Lawn, New York passed out arsenic ant traps, metal mesh scrubbing pads, and dog biscuits to kids she believed were too old to be trick-or-treating.
She meant these as “tricks” and did not intend for the kids to eat them. Mrs. Pfiel was committed to a psychiatric hospital for observation. The uneaten “tricks” were recovered by police.
[From the Milwaukee Journal, November 2, 1964. Click here to read article.]
1970:
Five-year-old Kevin Toston died after four days in a coma after eating heroin which had been made into capsule form. The heroin had belonged to a family member. Kevin’s family made an attempt to avert the blame saying Kevin got the candy while trick-or-treating.
[Story appeared in Jet November 26, 1970]
1974:
Ronald Clark O’Bryan of Deer Park, Texas was buried in debt. He had to sell his house because of it. A month before Halloween, Ronald purchased $20,000 life insurance policies on both of his children, Timothy and Elizabeth.
On Halloween night, Ronald O’Bryan took his children and their friends trick-or-treating. While they were out, he handed them all cyanide-laced Pixy Stix and implied they came from a nearby house. The Pixy Stix containers were stapled at the top.
Timothy ate his Pixy Stix and was dead by the end of that Halloween Night. Fortunately, the other kids didn’t eat theirs. Ronald O’Bryan, who became known as The Candyman, was convicted of murder in May 1975. He was executed by lethal injection in March of 1984.
(For more on the Timothy O’Bryan murder check out this article at snopes.com, the wikipedia article, this article from The Statesman.)
Razor blades and needles:
This Snopes.com article says razor blades and needles in candy and fruit are absolutely true. This practice is known as Halloween sadism.
In Halloween and other Festivals of Death and Life, Jack Santino writes that by 1967, fear of razorblades and needles in apples had superseded fear of poisoned candy.
In “The Razor Blade in The Apple,” Joel L. Best notes that from 1966-1983 forty-nine of the sixty-four reports of Halloween Sadism included a sharp object.
The article from Snopes.com differentiates between the pins and razors in candy and poisoned candy. The pins and razors are nasty tricks, but they are not murder attempts. The states of California and New Jersey passed laws passed against booby-trapping Halloween candy during this era.
LSD on Lick-n-Stick Tattoos:
(AKA Blue Star Acid)
This one is reported as a myth by snopes.com.
Temporary tattoos have come a long way, baby. Back in my day, the didn’t look real no matter how closely you followed directions. They often came as a freebie with various kinds of candy, including Cracker Jacks.
Lycaeum.org has an awesome set of articles devoted to this urban legend.
At Lycaeum.org, I learned that this scare probably comes from a misunderstanding of the way LSD is packaged for sale. What follows is a short lesson of how LSD is packaged to be sold.
Blotter paper, divided into small squares, is soaked with a solution containing LSD. These blotter paper squares might be marked with a cartoon image, which is printed onto the blotter paper. Each of these squares is then sold individually for consumption.
courtesy of TAG Law Enforcement Task Force
In 1980, a bust by the Narcotics Division of the New Jersey State Police turned up a bunch of these blotter squares–which they called stamps. They warned the public that children might ingest LSD by mistake thinking that the stamp was a temporary tattoo.
It is very possible the police information report below launched the whole LSD lick-n-stick tattoo urban legend. A Seventh Day Adventist church began distributing the information report and the rest was history.
click to see larger image and explanation at Lycaeum.org
Though this myth is not necessarily associated with Halloween, it’s something I remember from childhood. It was cited as a reason to never take candy from strangers and was trotted out at Halloween to discourage trick-or-treating.
It was rumored that drug dealers slipping the “tattoo” into candy to hook future customers on their wares. It is, however, unlikely a drug dealer would use this method to attract customers. Who would enjoy an unexpected LSD trip and come back for more?
Jan Harold Brunvand has a chapter devoted to this myth in his book The Choking Doberman: and other Urban Legends.
Time to tell me what you think. Did anybody you know ever get a trick instead of a treat? Do you have a trick-or-treat story or Halloween story you’d like to share?
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Emma said:
The bad candy theme is examined in the film Trick ‘r Treat. The candy the principal gives his student is poisoned, and later on, when a little monster opens his candy wrapper there’s a blade inside.
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Catie Rhodes said:
That movie is free on Netflix. I really need to make a point to watch it. Several people have recommended it to me over the years.
Do you remember the opening scenes of Halloween II? It briefly shows a little boy who has taken a bite of an apple and gotten a razor blade stuck in the roof of his mouth. I always cringe when that pops up in my memory.
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Perry Block (@PerryBlock) said:
Well, that’s it! I’m done trick or treating once and for all!
Of course at age 62 I think there’s kind of a cut-off already. But it was this post that totally made up my mind.
Thanks!
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Catie Rhodes said:
Glad you enjoyed the post, Perry. Thanks for stopping by.
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Marcy Kennedy said:
I come from a small, rural area, so no one I know ever got a trick instead of a treat. I do remember my mom would only take us to houses of people she knew though. And any fruit was examined. I don’t see many kids out trick or treating anymore except in big malls where the stores will hand out candy.
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Catie Rhodes said:
Like you, I don’t remember anybody who was actually from our community getting ahold of any tainted candy or fruit. But, also like your mom, my mom was vigilant about making sure I went only to people she knew and trusted. And I’m sure she examined my candy. LOL
When we first moved to this neighborhood in 2003, we had scads of trick-or-treaters, both young and old. The number has gradually fallen off. I blame it on two things: 1) A lot of expensive new neighborhoods have popped up around here since 2003. I suspect trick-or-treaters target those neighborhoods instead of the older neighborhoods like this one. 2) As you mentioned a lot of malls and shopping centers and other businesses hand out candy.
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Patricia Yager Delagrange said:
Because of those freaky incidents (and really, considering how many kids trick-or-treat, there are very few terrible things happening), I still look askance at candy that doesn’t seem “normal”. But nothing has ever, ever happened to me or my family for which I’m grateful.
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Catie Rhodes said:
Same here, Patti. I can’t say I personally know anybody who has gotten tainted candy on Halloween. Speaking only for myself, I am amazed that so few terrible things happen on Halloween night. It seems like a night made for mayhem.
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sandylrowland said:
I remember all of this. My kids were little when the tattoo scare occurred. It’s great to know that most of it was hyped and only had a grain of truth. Halloween should be fun! No tricks here. Just treats.
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Catie Rhodes said:
Wow! You must have kids my age then. You don’t look old enough for that at all. I remember Mom and Dad telling me to be careful of people giving me those stick on tattoos because they might have LSD on them.
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Christine Ashworth said:
I remember vividly the whole “razorblades in apples” thing. 1967-68, my parents got a little paranoid and wouldn’t allow us to eat anything that wasn’t fully wrapped by a store. No homemade treats, not even those made by loved and trusted neighbors. My goodie bags got “de-goodie-ized” for a good three or four years in a row, until people stopped giving out the home made treats.
Those same goodies were welcomed in the bright afternoon sunshine, when presented on a saran-wrapped halloween plate. Grownups are so funny…
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Catie Rhodes said:
It’s a scary world. I think much of what we do to protect ourselves has no real value and no real power to protect. We do it because we need to be doing something.
Thanks for stopping by.
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Tiffany A White said:
No one I know has ever been tricked instead of treated… thank God!! It is a scary world and there are some sick, sick people out there.
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Catie Rhodes said:
There are sick people out there, and it’s not just Halloween candy that proves it. Sad, but true.
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alandhopewell said:
My mother would allow us to go around the neighborhood, and sometimes she’d take us to other neighborhoods in the car. When we got home, all the bags were dumped out on the kitchen table, and she’d go through everything. Any fruit, popcorn balls, or anything hand-wrapped got tossed, no questions asked. Anything left, including money, was divided equally between the three of us.
Greatest Halloween trick I ever pulled was to die of a drug overdose on Halloween of 1978; My heart stopped for two and a half minutes (Ahhh…misspent youth!)
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Catie Rhodes said:
Wow! Your second paragraph shocked me. We do some crazy things in our youth. It’s chilling to think about the fact that survival is not guaranteed. Thanks for commenting.
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amyshojai said:
Scary stuff. Hope everyone stays safe this year!
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Catie Rhodes said:
Same here, Amy!
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Rhonda Hopkins said:
Fortunately no one I knew ever had anything bad happen to them while out TorT-ing. My parents would always inspect the candy before we ate it though. Of course that gave dad time to pick out a few choice pieces he liked. LOL
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Catie Rhodes said:
My dad always ate a good bit of my candy, too. LOL Like you, I never knew anybody who actually was the victim of bad candy. But it was a very pervasive fear when I was growing up.
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donnagalanti said:
I can breathe easier this Halloween knowing this is an urban legend now! Thanks Catie
Still think to look for razor blades too – LOL. I just wish I could keep my son’s Reese’s!
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Catie Rhodes said:
Buy yourself a bag of Reese’s. You deserve it. LOL
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Louise Behiel said:
here in Calgary we had pins or razor blades one year. the sad part about this is that it meant the end of healthy treats (like apples) and home made, caring snacks. i buy junk now. it’s sad but I know why.
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Catie Rhodes said:
I know what you mean. At Halloween time, there are few types of candy that are not packaged individually. I remember those candy pumpkins from my childhood. I rarely see those anymore, and I think it’s because the manufacturer did not package them individually.
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Donna Coe-Velleman said:
I never got a “trick” but my daughter once got a a pencil without any lead in it.
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Catie Rhodes said:
That’s sort of funny. Get rid of your garbage and look like you’re being generous–just give out your broken pencils and pens. LOL
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