In the dusty memories of my little-kid Halloween days, I fondly recall making costumes out of Dad’s ties, aluminum foil, old towels and mom’s lipstick… and there I was, Cinderella, ready to trick or treat. People served up treats of fresh candied apples, brownies and a handful of Bazooka Joes.
Then one year something truly terrible happened. Halloween got scary and not because of ghouls, egg fights and the undead.
Halloween itself was being sabotaged. News shot through our neighborhoods. Evil people were putting razors in apples, needles in the chocolate bars, poisoning sweets. Suddenly hospitals offered to x-ray candy. Dear Abby warned that Halloween wasn’t safe.
Eventually, the story was picked up by the New York Times. (1970) California and New Jersey (1971, 1982) passed laws against Halloween sadism, schools gave children special training for inspecting treats.
Before you could say boo, Halloween candy was sold in big bags of individually wrapped, machine sealed bites. It was the only safe way to protect us from sadists and poisoners.
My mother scrutinized everything, looking for hypodermic sized holes in every candy bar and kiss. There were threats of CANCELLING Halloween next year. (Luckily mom came to her senses.)
Despite the danger, my brothers and I courageously donned our pirate outfits and witch hats and went out into the night, trick or treating. We endured.
But every year there would be sporadic reports. By 1985, (a few short years after the ‘82 Tylenol contamination case) an ABC/Washington Post poll found 60% of parents feared that their children would be injured or killed because of Halloween candy sabotage.
It was the scariest Halloween story ever.
Then came a bizarre twist. In 1985, a couple of researchers, Joel Best and Gerald T. Horiuchi (Cal State, Fresno) studied every reported incident since 1958 and found out the most shocking bit of all. None of it was true.
It never happened. It was an urban myth perpetuated by fear. But it changed Halloween forever.
Stories are powerful things.
Be safe out there.
Happy Halloween! From KimCommVideo
