Poisoned Halloween Candy Urban Legend: Fact or Fiction?

Every Halloween, parents fret and search their children's candy haul for signs of tampering. The idea that some deranged neighbor has laced their little one's sweet treats with poison, razor blades, or needles frightens parents across the U.S. every Halloween. But has anyone ever handed out poisoned Halloween candy to random children?

The Popularization of Trick-or-Treating After World War II

With the advent of the teenager in the 1950s, many communities attempted to quell their Halloween shenanigans like toilet papering homes and tipping outhouses by making the holiday more kid-friendly. Many communities embraced Halloween, making trick-or-treating a mainstream activity, effectively putting an age limit on the holiday.

It Started With Pennies

Soon after trick-or-treating took off in the '50s, stories of people heating pennies on stovetops before dumping them from the skillet into the waiting hands of children began to circulate. By the 1960s, the legends had morphed into poisoned candy.

The Legend Becomes a Reality

Halloween, Huston, Texas, 1974

Timothy and Elizabeth O'Bryan went trick-or-treating with two friends, accompanied by their father, Ronald O'Bryan, and another parent. The children's laden sacks of candy each contained a Pixy Stix. Two of the three children passed on their Pixy Stix for other candy, and one couldn't remove the staples sealing the candy's paper straw. Sadly, eight-year-old Timothy ate his at the behest of his father. Within minutes, Timothy was dead. An autopsy and test of the candy concluded that the Pixy Stixs had been laced with cyanide.

Making Fiction Fact

The death of Timothy and the attempted poisoning of his sister and three other children seemed to prove the belief that lunatics were poisoning children's Halloween candy. Yet, all investigators had to do was follow the trail of clues.

The Simplest Explanation Is Usually Correct

Most murder victims' lives are taken by someone close to them: a spouse, a friend, or a family member. Police quickly turned to the children's parents. Ronald O'Bryan, deep in debt, had recently taken out significant life insurance policies on both of his children and had purchased cyanide. While no one witnessed O'Bryan place the poisoned Pixy Stix into the children's bags, none of the houses visited had given out the candy. It was then speculated that Ronald laced around five Pixy Stix with cyanide in the hopes of killing at least one of his children to collect the insurance payout. Children other than his own harmed by the poisoned candy other children were collateral damage to throw authorities off O'Bryan's diabolical plan.

While the case against O'Bryan was circumstantial, it didn't keep him from being convicted of Timothy's murder. O'Bryan was given the death penalty in 1975. He was executed on March 31, 1984, not October 31, as many tellers of this horrible story will claim.

Has Anyone Died From Randomly Poisoned Halloween Candy?

On November 2, 1970, four years before Timothy's murder, 5-year-old Kevin Toston of Detroit, Michigan, lapsed into a coma and died four days later of a heroin overdose. Initial reports relayed that Toston's Halloween candy had been dusted with heroin. The story of the boy's death was widely touted as a real-life incident of poisoned Halloween candy. However, what wasn't so widely reported was that Toston had discovered his uncle's heroin stash and eaten it. To hide the real source of the drug, the family sprinkled the remainder onto Toston's Halloween candy. They hoped that the belief in maniacs poisoning candy would conceal the truth.

Other Halloween Candy Poisoning Scares

A Bad Halloween Trick

On Halloween in 1964, Helen Pfeil became annoyed that many trick-or-treaters visiting her home were teenagers, not children, and decided to prank those she deemed too old to partake in the festivities.

In the days leading up to Halloween, Pfiel crafted special goodie bags for teens containing steel wool, dog treats, and ant buttons (the latter of which contains arsenic). All of the items in the teen bags were inedible, and as Pfiel handed them out, she told the teens they were just a joke. Despite Pfiel's "harmless" take on the Halloween trick, poison is poison. Pfiel pled guilty to endangering minors with the ant buttons and received a suspended sentence.

Cocaine In Candy?

In 1994, doctors diagnosed a three-year-old from New Britain, Connecticut, with cocaine poisoning. Even though the child had been sick earlier that day and had a love for placing anytime he found into his mouth (him and all other three-year-olds), his Halloween candy was under immediate suspicion. The police found no trace of cocaine on his remaining Halloween candy.

A similar story occurred to seven-year-old Ferdinan Siquig of San Jose, California, in 1996. Squig collapsed after eating cookies and candy gathered while trick-or-treating. The lab results from the hospital initially reported traces of cocaine in his urine. Subsequent tests revealed that his system was free of cocaine or any other toxins. So was his candy.

Doctor Jumps the Gun

In 1982, a doctor in Redford Township of Detroit, Michigan, misread lab results and publicly announced that a child had been poisoned by cyanide after ingesting Halloween candy. Extensive testing by the FDA later concluded that the candy contained no contaminants.

Sudden Heart Failure (SAD)

31-year-old father Kevin Michael Cherry of Montgomery County, Washington DC, died of heart failure soon after eating some of his child's Halloween candy in 1991. Parents across the area dumped their children's candy bags in fear. On November 2, the Washington Times printed a retraction, clearing the candy of causing the father's death.

SAD Strikes Again

Seven-year-old Ariel Katz died of congenital heart failure while trick-or-treating in Santa Monica in 1990. Of course, the police flew into action, fearing that she'd been poisoned by Halloween candy, confiscating the neighborhood's candy supply for inspection.

Blood Poisoning, Not Poisoned Candy

In 2001, four-year-old Tiffaney Troung of Vancouver died 24 hours after eating her Halloween candy. Police urged all parents in the area to dump their children's candy. An autopsy discovered that Tiffaney died from sepsis caused by a non-contagious form of streptococcus bacteria.

These Snickers Are Sure to Give You the Munchies

Back in 2000, children in Hercules, California, received marijuana disguised as mini snickers bars. Parents reported the bars to the authorities, who quickly traced the would-be candies. The bars had been rescued from the dead letter office because the sender hadn't placed enough postage on the package. The postal employee tasked with cleaning out the dead letter office decided to keep the Snickers for distribution on Halloween, unaware they contained weed instead of chocolate.

Why Wait Till Halloween to Poison Candy?

On October 8, 1988, The New York Times reported that traces of strychnine were found in a box of Sunkist Fun Fruits Dinosaurs. The package of treats had been purchased in Emerson, New Jersey, on September 23. The suspicious white powder found on the candy was none other than the very innocuous and edible food agent corn starch, not strychnine.

The New York Times printed an update to the story on October 14, 1988, but it was too late for nearly 10,000 cases of gummy dinos. Thomas J. Lipton Inc. took no chances on anyone getting hurt from ingesting their candy.

Foreign Objects in Halloween Candy

The hysteria around Halloween candy tampering has solicited responses from doctor offices, dentists, and hospitals who have offered to x-ray Halloween candy. In one instance in 1988, a needle was discovered in a candy bar in Maryland, but no culprit was apprehended.

In 2000, Joseph Smith of Minneapolis, Minnesota, placed needles in candy bars before handing them out on Halloween. No one was injured save for a teenager who pricked themselves on a needle protruding from the wrapper. Smith was charged with one count of adulterating a substance with intent to cause death, harm, or illness.

Poisoning Treats Outside the U.S.

The U.S. isn't the only country with fears of poisoned candy. In Japan, an unidentified man threatened candy manufactures that he'd poison their goods and kill people if his demands weren't met, resulting in hundreds of pounds of candy being pulled from store shelves. No one was injured or caught.

The same many struck a few months later, threatening to contaminate cookies. This time the threat was real. Packaged cookies laced with cyanide were discovered in Central Japan. Luckily no one was poisoned. However, the guilty party was never captured, and the lead directive took his own life over his failure to solve the case.

Putting Poisoned Halloween Candy Stories to Rest Isn’t Easy

Whenever a report about the possibility of poisoned Halloween candy, it becomes almost impossible to convince the public that it didn't happen. The stories that claim possible poisonings garner front-page exposure and breaking reports on the nightly news, but the coverage is underwhelming when these stories are found to be false.

A 1989 article run in the Los Angeles Times found that between 1958 and 1988, 78 stories had run on poisoned Halloween candy. Of those reports, two deaths occurred, Timothy O'Bryan and Kevin Toston (O'Bryan, who was poisoned by his father, and Toston, who found his uncle's heroin stash). Of the remaining 76 stories of poisoned Halloween candy, most turned out to be pranks pulled by kids who had heard the scary stories and decided to give everyone a real scare, usually their parents. The kids, mostly teens, placed needles and poison on candy and then reported their findings to their parents. No one was hurt by the pranks.

Dear Abby and Anne Landers Helped Promote the Legend of Poisoned

Warnings for parents to keep an eye out for tampered Halloween candy appeared in their columns. The articles pleaded with parents to watch out for razor blades and needles in candy and caramel apples.

1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders

The fact that seven Chicago area citizens died after taking over-the-counter pain medication laced with cyanide did nothing to help assuage the public's fear of random poisonings. No one was ever arrested for the Chicago Tylenol deaths, and the case remains open.

Like many urban legends, horrible stories follow social paranoia. The Chicago Tylenol Murders led to greater awareness of our naivety at placing containers that anyone could open on public shelves. The Tylenol tampering led to childproof and safety packaging, which may or may not be foolproof, mainly if contamination occurs during manufacturing. However, many crimes are crimes of opportunity. The harder it is to pull off a crime, the less likely it will happen.

The peak of Halloween candy poisonings occurred in the 1980s alongside the Chicago Tylenol Murders. That's not a coincidence. Urban legends propagate in times of stress and fear.

Sources

Blakemore, Eric, (2018). "How Americans Became Convinced Their Halloween Candy was Poisoned." History.com. https://www.history.com/news/how-americans-became-convinced-their-halloween-candy-was-poisoned

Lewis, Dan, (2013). "Where Did the Fear of Poisoned Halloween Candy Come From?: The answer, as always, is to blame the media". Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/where-did-the-fear-of-poisoned-halloween-candy-come-from-822302/

Lopez, German, (2018). "The myth of poisoned Halloween candy." Vox. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/10/31/18047794/halloween-candy-poisoned-needles-pins-razors

Snopes, (2000). Poisoned Halloween Candy. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/halloween-non-poisonings/

Trex, Ethan (2014). "A Brief History of People Tampering with Halloween Candy." Mental Floss. http://mentalfloss.com/article/12914/brief-history-sick-people-tampering-halloween-candy

Author's Note

Cynthia Varady is an award-winning short story writer. You can find her work here on Vocal, Wattpad, and Medium. She resides in the PNW with her husband, son, and two kitties.

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