Best said in some instances, kids tampered with their own candy to get attention, or a friend or family member played a prank that went awry or a foreign object ended up in candy during the manufacturing process. That Halloween, a California dentist named William Shyne distributed laxative-laced candies to children — 30 of whom fell ill.
He was later charged with "outrage of public decency" and "unlawful dispensing of drugs. Another high profile case made headlines in , when a year-old mother from Greenlawn, N. Pfeil told police she "didn't mean it maliciously" but was "annoyed by the Halloween custom," the Milwaukee Journal reported. She was later committed to a state hospital for mental observation.
A search of the CBC Archives revealed that the earliest Canadian case of tampering reported by the broadcaster was in Video footage showed police displaying treats that were reportedly booby-trapped — including several apples containing razor blades, needles and even "poisoned candies. Another oft-cited case is that of an optician in Deer Park, Texas, named Ronald Clark O'Bryan who handed out Pixy Stix candy to several children while trick-or-treating with his two kids in His eight-year-old son, Timothy, died suddenly that night after consuming the candy, and an autopsy later showed the boy had ingested cyanide.
Police managed to recover the poisoned candy from other children before anyone else ate it but grew suspicious when O'Bryan couldn't remember the house at which his son had received the candy.
It was later determined he had poisoned his own son. He was convicted and executed for the crime in They're worried that somebody else is going to do that. The candy-tampering scare reached its height in , when seven people in the Chicago area died after taking tainted cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. About 40 communities actually went so far as to ban trick-or-treating.
That year, the candy industry set up a telephone hotline to collect police reports of candy tampering, but it hasn't received a single verified report of a child being seriously hurt by tainted candy from a stranger. Despite the lack of evidence, parents still sometimes panic over candy that looks strange.
Usually the appearance is due to variations in the manufacturing process or in storage. Chocolate can appear gray when the candy has been exposed to too much heat or moisture See Why does chocolate turn gray sometimes? Although the odds of someone actually tampering with Halloween candy are slim-to-none, most experts recommend that parents check their kids' Halloween haul before letting them eat it.
Although you don't need to have your candy x-rayed at the local hospital or airport and many of them offer the service , you should throw out any candy that's unwrapped, homemade unless you know the person who made it or has a torn wrapper, just to be on the safe side.
For more information about candy, Halloween and other related topics, check out the links on the next page. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. One of the first widely reported Halloween candy scares was in The New York Times published an article suggesting the possibility of strangers using Halloween candy to poison children. It mentioned two unconfirmed incidents in upstate New York.
Two days later, a 5-year-old in Detroit died on Halloween from a heroin overdose. His uncle claimed the boy was exposed to the drug in tainted holiday treats. Read more about: Calgary , Edmonton , Halloween. Report an error. Journalistic Standards. About The Star. More Edmonton. Top Stories.
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