Tainted Candy

Starting at an early age, we’ve all been taught to not take candy from strangers…except on Halloween! The one day a year children go door-to-door asking for candy and treats is also the day parents believe some sick individual has possibly given their child dangerous tainted candy. This Halloween urban legend has spread so fast and feared as truth by many adults that schools and news reports issue yearly warnings on what candy to avoid. So is there a madman sticking razor blades in apples? Have kids become sick by chocolate bars that were dipped in poison? Nope, it’s all just an urban legend as police have never reported children getting poisoned by Halloween candy.

The case that gave this legend fuel is from Halloween 1974, when eight-year-old Timothy Marc O’Bryan died after eating Pixy Stixs that were laced with cyanide. Tragically the monster that gave Timothy the deadly candy was his own father Ronald O’Bryan. In hopes of collecting on life insurance policies on his children, Ronald gave Timothy, his sister and two other children the bad candy. Luckily the three other children didn’t eat it, but this sad case helped spread the notion that tampered candy was a very real thing. While parents will always be disturbed that their child might come into contact with the darker side of Halloween, the only thing they should fear is candy corn!