The way Americans celebrate Halloween began to change irrevocably in the late 1970s, after a well-publicized incident in which a Texas man gave cyanide-laced pixie sticks to a group of children including his own eight-year-old son, who died soon afterward.
Although confirmed instances of random candy tampering were (and still are) uncommon, such stories did circulate and understandably struck fear into the hearts of parents, who took not only to monitoring what their children collected while trick-or-treating, but to accompanying them as door-to-door chaperones, as well.
With Halloween 2019 fast approaching, we’ve put together a collection of fact-checked tales involving dangerous (or supposedly dangerous) confections. Enjoy, and remember to always look before you eat!
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