My daughter had a 5th grade friend who has a mother that’s a bit paranoid. When the daughter goes trick-or-treating, daughter is not allowed to eat any of the candy for 48 hours. During those 48 hours, mom checked to see if any child in the neighborhood had been poisoned by their candy.
One year, the daughter received a rather unusual treat: an individual box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. My wife couldn’t resist. “Watch out, Ellen. This might be the work of a cereal killer”. But in all seriousness, Ellen was a bit nuts in more ways than this.
Not only stupid, but really, really not true. I just came across this article today that said they’ve never found ONE case of it happening. He’s been answering this question for 25 years and looked back more 25 years before that so 50 plus years of looking, none, not a one. It’s not taking longer then we thought, it’s taking forever.
Nothing new. When I was very young, in the late cretaceous period, we were warned about razor blades in everything, including packaged candy. We had to inspect each piece on the kitchen table boefore we coulde at any. I think these scary stories are part of the general Halloween scariness tradition.
Funny you bring that up- while channel surfing the other night, I briefly came upon Halloween 2, and there was a scene there of a kid in the emergency room with a razor blade stuck in his mouth.
I first heard those stories around 1969, when I was just 8. But every story was supposed to have happened to “Some guy I know’s brother” or “This friend of my cousin” or…
I volunteer to be the Official Taster for Hallowe’en Candy for anyone who needs it. Just send me the candy, and I’ll eat it. If I die, I will let you know.
How selfish of her to let the other neighborhood kids take all the risk; her daughter should be on the front lines along with her peers.
Actually, the same rationale applies to anti-vaxxers. Vaccines are low-risk, but they aren’t 100% risk-free. Nonetheless, people who get vaccinated are taking that risk so that everyone - even selfish anti-vaxxers - can enjoy the benefits of herd immunity.
It’s the media. They don’t care if stories are true. They don’t get people to watch the news by telling you that Halloween candy is safe. It’s understandable that these rumors get passed around by kids and adults alike, but the media prints these stories and puts them on the air. Because no one is ever identified there’s no need for them to issue a retraction, even though none of these stories have ever turned out to be true. The media pats themselves on the back for informing the public about a serious danger, ignoring the fact that it’s non-existent. Don’t hold your breath waiting for a media expose of bad media practices.
Some weeks ago I needed to take my son to the local urgent care clinic (Just a sprain. He’s fine now). There were fliers posted all over the places saying that to help parents stop worrying about the Halloween candy they offer free candy x-raying the next day.
I found myself wondering how many parents who had not previously been even a tiny bit worried would see that flyer and think “Patient First wouldn’t devote time and resources to this if it weren’t a real threat.”
But apples were *especially *dangerous at the time. It has to be the only time in my life my mother steered me away from fruit.
Also, you could never accept a homemade goodie because obviously the nice old lady next door had planned to poison all the neighborhood kids via popcorn balls.
My point was that her mom was letting all the other kids take the risk (of discovering dangerous candy), and her daughter getting the benefit of threat discovery without bearing her share of the risk.
My wife’s cow-orker told her they go out for trick-or-treating, but after they throw it all out. I think they give the kid some that they bought themselves, but that’s just cruel. Poisoned candy just isn’t a thing.
Why do people allow themselves to live their whole existence in a constant state of fear?
In 1970, there was an episode of The Mod Squad called “A is for Annie,” where a kid tried to get a teacher she didn’t like in trouble by cutting herself on the mouth with a razor blade, then putting it in an apple, and claiming the teacher had given it to her when she went trick-or-treating. I always wondered how much that episode might have contributed to the spread of the rumors.
Don’t forget the little boxes of raisins, root beer barrels, Necco wafers, and the fruit juice-sweetened, carob candy from the health food store. And any non-bubble gum.
Seriously, I understand that the raisin/carob people have an agenda, but have the rest of the people just never been children?
Hmmmm. If my kid gets anything like that, I plan to ingenuously complain to M&M, or Hershey’s, or whatever hapless candy gets stuck with the sticker, about the company promoting an anti-vax message, and then see if Big Candy will throw some weight on the NVIC.