Poison, Ecstasy and Razors In Halloween Candy: The Holiday's Biggest Lie

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

This year’s warning was equally as unlikely as in past years but came from a source you would expect to be reputable.

“If your kids get these for Halloween candy, they ARE NOT CANDY!!!” the Jackson, Mississippi, Police Department warned on Facebook, below a photo of some candy-like pieces shaped like skulls, the nintendo logo and dominos.

“They are the new shapes of ‘Ecstasy’ and can kill kids through overdoses!!!”

True enough. But not as drugs disguised as candy handed out to trick-or-treaters.

It seems like every Halloween a story gets around about candy laced with some sort of harmful substance along with a message urging parents to be vigilant lest their children fall prey to an evil scheme.

But is there really anything to worry about?

Your local law enforcement (and second-cousin who spends way too much time on Facebook) may say yes. But the evidence says no.

Dr. Joel Best, a sociology and criminal justice professor at the University of Delaware, has been researching what he calls “Halloween sadism” — the passing of contaminated treats to trick-or-treaters — for 30 years by studying articles in major newspapers dating back to 1958.

The grand total of incidents in which a child was killed or seriously injured by contaminated candy handed out by a stranger during trick-or-treating: a big, fat zero.

“It’s a great thing to worry about, because it happens one day a year,” Best told Patch. “People are imagining this terrible person, who lives down the block, is so crazy that he poisons little children at random. But he’s so tightly wrapped that he only does it one day a year.”

Only there’s no record this person exists.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not keep statistics on Halloween candy-poisonings, a spokesperson told Patch.

Best isn’t alone in his findings. MedFriendly.com listed several illnesses that initially caused Halloween hysteria but none of those cases were caused by tampered candy obtained via trick-or-treating.

Two Halloween candy deaths are frequently cited. Strangers, though, were not involved.

The first case, in 1970, involved a 5-year-old boy in Detroit who was thought to have died from heroin hidden in his candy. The boy had actually mistakenly found the heroin in a relative’s home. In an attempted cover-up, the family put heroin in the rest of his candy to make it look like an attack.

Four years later, an 8-year-old boy in Texas died from a cyanide-laced Pixie Stix. An investigation revealed that the boy’s dad had intentionally poisoned the candy to claim a $20,000 life insurance payout. The dad was found guilty and later executed.

Otherwise, in three other deaths, the culprit was thought to be Halloween candy but ended up being only coincidental.

As for injuries, Best writes in his study, “I know of only two reports of foreign bodies having been ingested and the injury attributed to Halloween sadism.”

“In one of these cases, a pin was swallowed nearly a week before Halloween; in the other, a 55-year-old man ingested a needle thought to have been in a caramel-covered apple.

“In other words, it seems unlikely that either incident was directly related to trick-or-treating.”

There have been two high-profile cases of attempted candy shenanigans by strangers.

A Fremont, California, dentist in 1959 handed out candy-coated laxatives to 16 kids. None were hospitalized, but six got nausea and diarrhea.

In 1964, a Long Island woman handed out arsenic pellets used to treat ants to kids who she thought were too old to be trick-or-treating. No one was injured, but she was still arrested. She told police it was just a joke.

These are the kinds of stories that get told over and over again, creating the Halloween hysteria.

Authorities urge Halloween-goers to remain vigilant.

“Parents really need to take a hard look at all of the candy in their child’s trick or treat bag before any of it is ingested,” Timothy B. Sheehan, chief of the Tewksbury (Massachusetts) police department, told Patch. “Anything loose, unwrapped, suspicious looking, or wrapped by someone other than the commercial manufacturer should be immediately discarded.

“I would go a step further and recommend trick or treating at only houses where parents know the residents.”

The Consumer Product Safety Commission warns children “not to eat any treats before an adult has carefully examined them for evidence of tampering.”

A Jackson police spokesman told one TV station that tampered candy “has not been an issue,” despite the department’s Facebook warning.

The evidence and history show that unless you’re trying to poison your kid or have some spare heroin lying around, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

“One of the things this has taught me is humility,” Best said. “You realize that announcing that you have research really doesn’t make much difference. The contemporary legends are harder to kill than werewolves.”

There are, though, lots of things that actually can hurt kids on Halloween.

One study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that Halloween was the fourth-most dangerous holiday for child injuries.

A State Farm study found that on October 31 kids have the highest chance of being hit by a car compared to any other day.

The CDC offers tips: always travel in in groups, make sure kids can see out of their masks and look both ways before crossing the street.

And yes, it does advise to check for tampered treats.

“You send tens-of-millions of kids out into the dark,” Best said. “They get hit by cars, they trip over their costumes and fall down and hurt themselves; there are idiots who let them walk around with open flames.

“You’ll see these lists of safety tips that will get published … And there’s always the thing, ‘Inspect all the treats.’ My attitude is, well, you can skip that one.”

Patch’s Liz Taurasi contributed reporting.