Anastasia Blazhenko ‘30, Feature Editor
For decades, parents have likely ended their evening after inspecting all of the trinkets and treats their kids brought home on the night of Halloween. For years, it has been rumored that their kids’ sweet treats were laced with drugs, weapons, and cannabis edibles. This concept has haunted parents for decades; however, where did this idea come from?
To understand the origin of tampering with Halloween candy, it all goes back in time to the early 1970s. Mrs. Melissa Bewersdorf said, “I remember my parents always looking through my candy when I was in elementary school, but it was usually because they wanted to steal my Snickers bars. As a parent, I’m probably not as concerned as I should be.”
The first major incident that sparked the rumors was in 1970, when a child in New York City found a razor blade hidden inside of an apple. While this case was isolated and not repeated, it was publicized throughout the world. This resulted in the rumor extending throughout newspaper articles and television. Parents began to worry what kind of things their kids would get trick-or-treating on the night of Halloween.
With the increasing number of rumoring stories about things like needles in candy bars or poison in candy treats, the panic grew exponentially. Freshman Scarlett Chacon said, “When I was a kid, my mom always annoyed me by checking my candy before eating.” Halloween is a night for fun, costumes, and the most important part, candy. However, being safe makes sure everybody has an enjoyable Halloween.
Kids have the joy of looking forward to Halloween each year since they only ever have occasional moments where they get to have additional amounts of sugar. Children see Halloween as the one day a year where they can eat candy without too many consequences.
Panic escalated across communities as an increasing amount of stories came up. Parents began to be more suspicious of homemade treats and candy given out by strangers; some families even started checking every piece of candy before letting their kids eat it.
The fear grew even more serious in 1974, when a young boy in California died after eating poisoned candy. It was found out by investigators that the boy himself poisoned the candy with cyanide. The boy’s father was suspected of committing the murder by poisoning the candy to collect life insurance money. While this was a real and true case of a child being poisoned, it was not an accidental Halloween candy attack by a stranger. Yet, this story did add to the fear that was growing around the holiday.
The media played a huge role in fueling everything. Newspapers and television focused more on the scary parts of the stories, making the dangers seem bigger than they really were. It was easy to get scared by stories and articles of poisoned candy and hidden objects when, in reality, confirmed stories of strangers randomly tampering with children’s candy were few and far between.
Over time, parents developed traditions to keep their children safe. Checking their candy before eating became a popular tradition that was made as a result of the history of Halloween. Some families threw away candy with open packaging or damaged candy wrappers to be safe.
Even to this day, the idea of scary Halloween candy and tampering with it is still widely known and shared. Every year on Halloween, parents warn their kids to check their candy before eating it. This tradition comes from a long line of tradition that started decades ago. While the idea might make sense, it is the logical aspect on which we need to focus. Parents do not need to worry that the random stranger is going to hurt their kids on Halloween because it is rare. It is a dark part of Halloween history that one family’s tragedy made a fear that fueled a nation for decades.
