|
The poisoned candy scare, from the 1970s and 1980s, refers to a moral panic in the United States regarding the threat that children could be in danger of ingesting razor blades, needles, or poison introduced to candy by senseless, malicious tampering, especially during traditional Halloween trick-or-treating. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Social mania. ...
Occams Razor or Hanlons razor A razor is a an edge tool (primarily, used in shaving). ...
Look up needle in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The skull and crossbones symbol traditionally used to label a poisonous substance. ...
Halloween is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets, fruit, and other treats. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Snopes.com classifies the panic as "false".[1] It is considered to have been blown out of proportion by the news media. To date there have been several studies by independent and law enforcement agencies to determine the veracity of these claims, none of which have provided any verifiable evidence a child has ever died or been seriously harmed by candy picked up while trick-or-treating, though needles have turned up on an extremely rare basis, and may have been the copycat effect based on the news reportage. The Urban Legends Reference Pages (also known as snopes. ...
The copycat effect refers to the tendency of sensation publicity about violent murder(s) or suicide(s) to cause more of the same. ...
Origins of candy tampering Although the origin of the candy tampering myth is uncertain, there are two events in particular that no doubt played a large role in how the crisis was shaped within the public's mind.
The first event took place in 1964, where an annoyed New York housewife started giving out packages of inedible objects to children whom she believed were too old to be trick-or-treating. The packages contained items such as steel wool, dog biscuits, and ant buttons (which were clearly labeled with the word ”poison”). Though nobody was injured, she was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to endangering children. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...
Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area Ranked 27th - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²) - Width 285 miles (455 km) - Length 330 miles (530 km) - % water 13. ...
Steel wool is a bundle of very fine steel filaments, used in finishing and repair work to polish wood or metal objects, and for household cleaning. ...
Dog biscuits are hard crackers used as dog food. ...
The second milestone in the spread of the candy tampering myths was an article published in the New York Times in 1970. This article claimed that "Those Halloween goodies that children collect this weekend on their rounds of ‘trick or treating’ may bring them more horror than happiness." (10/28/70, pg. 56). The article then went on to give specific examples of potential tamperings. The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...
1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ...
Myths and reality Over the years various experts have tried to debunk the various candy tampering stories. Among this group is Joel Best, a University of Delaware sociologist who is considered the foremost expert on candy tampering. In his studies he researched newspapers from 1958 on in search of candy tampering. Of these stories fewer than 90 instances might have qualified. The University of Delaware (UD or UDel) is the largest university in the state of Delaware. ...
Upon closer examination nearly all of these claims were false or hoaxes created by the child. Within the reports of candy tampering Best has only found five child deaths that were initially thought to be caused by homicidal strangers.
In 1970, a 5-year-old boy died after eating his uncle's hidden heroin stash. The family tried to protect the uncle by creating a story about drugs being found in the child's Halloween candy. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
In a 1974 case, an 8-year-old Houston boy died after eating a cyanide-laced package of Pixy Stix. A subsequent police investigation eventually determined that the poisoned candy had been planted in his trick-or-treat pile by the boy's father, who also gave out poisoned candy to other children in an attempt to cover up the murder. The motive for the murder was an insurance fraud. A cyanide is any chemical compound that contains the cyano group -C≡N, with the carbon atom triple-bonded to the nitrogen atom. ...
A Pixy Stix is a Willy Wonka-brand powdered candy packaged in a wrapper not unlike that of a drinking straw. ...
Ronald Clark OBryan (nicknamed The Candyman) was a murderer in Pasadena, Texas who killed his son Timothy on Halloween, 1974 with cyanide-laced candy in order to claim $30,000 in life insurance money. ...
Media and the myth Despite the falseness of these claims the news media promoted the story continuously throughout the 1980s, with local news stations featuring frequent coverage. During this time cases of poisoning were repeatedly reported based off of unsubstantiated claims or before a full investigation could be completed and oftentimes never followed up on. This one sided coverage contributed to the overall panic and caused rival media outlets to issue reports of candy tampering as well.
By 1985, the media had driven the hysteria about candy poisonings to such a point that an ABC News/Washington Post poll that found 60% of parents feared that their children would be injured or killed because of Halloween candy sabotage. 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ...
Advice columnists entered the fray during the 1980s and 1990s with both Ann Landers and Dear Abby warning parents of the horrors of candy tampering. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
See also 1990s, the band The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, sometimes informally including popular culture from the very late 1980s and from 2000 and beyond. ...
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ann Landers EstherEppiePauline Friedman Lederer, better known as Ann Landers (July 4, 1918 – June 22, 2002), is best known for writing the famous syndicated advice column Ann Landers. Known For some 45 years, it was a regular feature in many...
Dear Abby is the most popular syndicated advice column which was founded in 1956 by Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips and is currently written by her daughter, Abigail Van Buren, also know as Jeanne Phillips. ...
- "In recent years, there have been reports of people with twisted minds putting razor blades and poison in taffy apples and Halloween candy. It is no longer safe to let your child eat treats that come from strangers." –Ann Landers
- "Somebody's child will become violently ill or die after eating poisoned candy or an apple containing a razor blade." –Dear Abby
As recently as 2004, fire departments and hospitals have encouraged parents to bring their Halloween candy to be x-rayed or scanned by metal detectors for inserted razors or needles. [2] 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In the NATO phonetic alphabet, X-ray represents the letter X. An X-ray picture (radiograph) taken by Röntgen An X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength approximately in the range of 5 pm to 10 nanometers (corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz...
A U.S. Army soldier uses a metal detector to search for weapons and ammunition in Iraq Metal detectors use electromagnetic induction to detect metal. ...
Occams Razor or Hanlons razor A razor is a an edge tool (primarily, used in shaving). ...
This collective fear also served as the impetus for the "safe" trick-or-treating offered by many local malls.
Religion and the Myth In order to discourage some people from celebrating the holiday, religious publisher Jack Chick has published Christian comic books that claim that an organized group of satanists place razors and needles in candy to sacrifice children. Some people pass the books out instead of candy. Generally people take these as strange comics and throw them away believing it is adding to the hysteria.[citation needed] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Popular culture In the 1981 horror film Halloween II, a young boy is shown in an emergency room with a razor blade embedded in his mouth. The emergency room workers in the film treat this as a commonplace circumstance. // Events January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. ...
DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ...
Halloween II is the name of different things. ...
The emergency room is the American English term for a room, or group of rooms, within a hospital that is designed for the treatment of urgent and medical emergencies. ...
In the 2005 graphic novel I Luv Halloween, a group of trick-or-treating youngsters seek revenge on an old lady through an intricate plot involving a razor blade and an apple. // Events February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation. ...
Sabre (1978), one of the first graphic novels. ...
I Luv Halloween Vol. ...
In the 1988 film Night of the Demons, a bitter old man places razor blades in apples only to have his plan backfire when his wife serves him a pie with the bladed apples. Night of the Demons is a 1987 horror film. ...
In the song 'Halloween' by Stephen Lynch the poisoned candy scare is mentioned "razor blades hidden in three musketeers". A song of the same title by The Misfits contains the lyric, "Candy apples and razor blades, little dead are soon in graves." Stephen Lynch could refer to: Stephen Lynch (comedian) Stephen Lynch (cricketer) Stephen Lynch (politician) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
The Misfits are a punk rock band formed in Lodi, New Jersey in 1977 and led by singer and songwriter Glenn Danzig (born Glenn Anzalone) and bassist Jerry Only (born Gerald Caiafa). ...
External links | 
Feeds |
Contact