"Halloween is a time for spooky stories, ghosts and goblins abound! But a far more realistic halloween scare is the threat of spiked halloween candy." --Alice stewart, 6th grade
Halloween is a time for spooky stories, ghosts and goblins abound! But a prevalent scary story that appears every Halloween has nothing to do with monsters. This far more realistic scare is the threat of spiked Halloween candy.
What Is Spiked Halloween Candy?
The phrase “spiked Halloween candy” refers to candy believed to contain foreign, harmful substances. Some examples of spiked candy include not only poisoned Pixy Stix and chocolate bars with needles in them, but also drug edibles being handed out by mistake and even metal objects in Reese's Cups.
Some Examples of Spiked Halloween Candy
The first known case of Halloween candy tampering was in 1959. William Shyne, a California dentist, gave out 450 candy-coated laxatives to children, resulting in 30 falling ill. He was charged with multiple crimes, including “unlawful dispensing of drugs,” according to Trick or Truth? The real story behind Halloween candy tampering | CBC News.
In 1964, Helen Pfeil, a 47-year-old mother from Long Island, New York, handed out ant buttons, steel wool scrubbing pads, and dog biscuits to children she thought were too old to be trick-or-treating. According to Trick or Truth? The real story behind Halloween candy tampering | CBC News, by Adam Miller, “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 young boy died after accidentally ingesting some of his uncle’s heroin, a drug that, in high doses, can be fatal. His family then sprinkled the drug on his Halloween candy to deflect suspicion from themselves.
In 1990, a seven-year-old girl died after eating candy. People thought the candy might have been poisoned, but after investigating they found that the candy was not spiked and the girl had died of a previously existing heart condition.
Sayuri Espinoza, a 6th-grade Literary Arts student, said that their friend Liliana’s younger cousin “got candy in her Halloween basket, and it was open…after eating it she felt sick and threw up, and she had to stay in bed for a week.” They also added, “I think I remember this one time that candy was called back for being infected with rat poison, and people weren’t allowed to eat Snickers for a while until they fixed it.”
According to Psychology Today, “[in] the year 2000 when James Joseph Smith was arrested after sticking needles in the Snickers bars he handed out… the only injury was a slight prick to one teenager’s mouth.” Smith was “deemed unfit to stand trial,” according to Trick or Truth? The real story behind Halloween candy tampering | CBC News.
There was also a famous case involving a Mr. O’Bryan, but it deserves its own section.
Ronald O’Bryan: The Candyman Murder
One Halloween in 1974, two neighbors, O’Bryan and Jim Bates, both from Deer Park, Texas, took their children trick-or-treating. At one point, Mr. O’Bryan produced five large Pixy Stix. After eating one, his son Timothy O’Bryan became violently ill. He died later that night. An investigation concluded that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. O’Bryan had poisoned him with the Pixy Stix. Mr. O’Bryan had decided to murder his son in exchange for $40,000 in life insurance. He also passed out the poisoned Pixy Stix to four other children, including his daughter, but fortunately, none of them ate it. He believed that since Halloween sadism was so common (spoiler alert: it isn’t) nobody would suspect him. People began to grow suspicious, however, when O’Bryan couldn’t remember which house gave him the Pixy Stix. He was arrested, charged with murder and attempted murder, and executed.
Debunking the Spiked Candy Myth
While these cases all have to do with Halloween candy and poison, only a few of them fit the definition of spiked Halloween candy. Why? Spiked candy, as stated earlier, is candy believed to contain foreign, harmful substances.
Therefore, handing out poison on Halloween, like in the cases of Pfeil and Shyne, is not spiked candy because laxatives were never candy. O’Bryan’s case is spiked candy, but is not what parents are scared of because it was the parent hurting their child. The case of the young boy who ingested his uncle’s heroin was not true spiked candy because he did not ingest the heroin. After all, it was on the candy, he ingested heroin, and then his family sprinkled it on the candy. Smith’s and Espinoza’s cases both fit this definition. However, Espinoza’s case has not been backed up by other sources. That makes Smith’s case the only confirmed case of the kind of stranger-hurting-trick-or-treater candy tampering people are worried about.
What Is Spiked Halloween Candy?
The phrase “spiked Halloween candy” refers to candy believed to contain foreign, harmful substances. Some examples of spiked candy include not only poisoned Pixy Stix and chocolate bars with needles in them, but also drug edibles being handed out by mistake and even metal objects in Reese's Cups.
Some Examples of Spiked Halloween Candy
The first known case of Halloween candy tampering was in 1959. William Shyne, a California dentist, gave out 450 candy-coated laxatives to children, resulting in 30 falling ill. He was charged with multiple crimes, including “unlawful dispensing of drugs,” according to Trick or Truth? The real story behind Halloween candy tampering | CBC News.
In 1964, Helen Pfeil, a 47-year-old mother from Long Island, New York, handed out ant buttons, steel wool scrubbing pads, and dog biscuits to children she thought were too old to be trick-or-treating. According to Trick or Truth? The real story behind Halloween candy tampering | CBC News, by Adam Miller, “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 young boy died after accidentally ingesting some of his uncle’s heroin, a drug that, in high doses, can be fatal. His family then sprinkled the drug on his Halloween candy to deflect suspicion from themselves.
In 1990, a seven-year-old girl died after eating candy. People thought the candy might have been poisoned, but after investigating they found that the candy was not spiked and the girl had died of a previously existing heart condition.
Sayuri Espinoza, a 6th-grade Literary Arts student, said that their friend Liliana’s younger cousin “got candy in her Halloween basket, and it was open…after eating it she felt sick and threw up, and she had to stay in bed for a week.” They also added, “I think I remember this one time that candy was called back for being infected with rat poison, and people weren’t allowed to eat Snickers for a while until they fixed it.”
According to Psychology Today, “[in] the year 2000 when James Joseph Smith was arrested after sticking needles in the Snickers bars he handed out… the only injury was a slight prick to one teenager’s mouth.” Smith was “deemed unfit to stand trial,” according to Trick or Truth? The real story behind Halloween candy tampering | CBC News.
There was also a famous case involving a Mr. O’Bryan, but it deserves its own section.
Ronald O’Bryan: The Candyman Murder
One Halloween in 1974, two neighbors, O’Bryan and Jim Bates, both from Deer Park, Texas, took their children trick-or-treating. At one point, Mr. O’Bryan produced five large Pixy Stix. After eating one, his son Timothy O’Bryan became violently ill. He died later that night. An investigation concluded that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. O’Bryan had poisoned him with the Pixy Stix. Mr. O’Bryan had decided to murder his son in exchange for $40,000 in life insurance. He also passed out the poisoned Pixy Stix to four other children, including his daughter, but fortunately, none of them ate it. He believed that since Halloween sadism was so common (spoiler alert: it isn’t) nobody would suspect him. People began to grow suspicious, however, when O’Bryan couldn’t remember which house gave him the Pixy Stix. He was arrested, charged with murder and attempted murder, and executed.
Debunking the Spiked Candy Myth
While these cases all have to do with Halloween candy and poison, only a few of them fit the definition of spiked Halloween candy. Why? Spiked candy, as stated earlier, is candy believed to contain foreign, harmful substances.
Therefore, handing out poison on Halloween, like in the cases of Pfeil and Shyne, is not spiked candy because laxatives were never candy. O’Bryan’s case is spiked candy, but is not what parents are scared of because it was the parent hurting their child. The case of the young boy who ingested his uncle’s heroin was not true spiked candy because he did not ingest the heroin. After all, it was on the candy, he ingested heroin, and then his family sprinkled it on the candy. Smith’s and Espinoza’s cases both fit this definition. However, Espinoza’s case has not been backed up by other sources. That makes Smith’s case the only confirmed case of the kind of stranger-hurting-trick-or-treater candy tampering people are worried about.
The Real Halloween Danger
While people are worrying about spiked Halloween candy, they are overlooking the most serious October 31st threat. “I can’t say it’s not something we should be worried about, because clearly it’s happened in the past before, I just don’t think some people should be so paranoid about it,” says 8th-grade Literary Arts student Ruby Deetz. It turns out that spiked Halloween candy is not the most serious Halloween threat—it’s cars. According to the Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool (FIRST), a tool that collects data about car crashes and uses that data to give you the results for specific queries, from 2018 to 2022 11 pedestrians ages 0 to 15 were hit by cars on October 31st—as compared to 3 in the entire month of September.
While people fear the danger of spiked Halloween candy, there has only been one confirmed case. However, checking children’s candy hauls is still a good idea (even if just to remove the candy bars that were not prepared for California’s 80-degree October and melted!).
While people are worrying about spiked Halloween candy, they are overlooking the most serious October 31st threat. “I can’t say it’s not something we should be worried about, because clearly it’s happened in the past before, I just don’t think some people should be so paranoid about it,” says 8th-grade Literary Arts student Ruby Deetz. It turns out that spiked Halloween candy is not the most serious Halloween threat—it’s cars. According to the Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool (FIRST), a tool that collects data about car crashes and uses that data to give you the results for specific queries, from 2018 to 2022 11 pedestrians ages 0 to 15 were hit by cars on October 31st—as compared to 3 in the entire month of September.
While people fear the danger of spiked Halloween candy, there has only been one confirmed case. However, checking children’s candy hauls is still a good idea (even if just to remove the candy bars that were not prepared for California’s 80-degree October and melted!).