The Dangers of Taking Candy from Strangers on Halloween

By: Deborah Robinson

On Halloween, it is traditional for little children (and some older children) to go trick or treating. People find joy in dressing themselves and/or their children up in fun costumes, then going out to get free candy. People also enjoy buying candy to hand it out to children and commenting on the various costumes they see. All of this seems fun  —but no one realizes how dangerous it can be for young children, who will eat just about anything sweet.

There are many parents who inspect their children’s candy before they eat it, but many parents don’t. Also, children sometimes eat their candy before their parents have a chance to look at it. There have been many speculations about children dying because of poisoned candy. Parents should inspect all of their children’s candy before allowing them to eat it.

Back in October of 2014, there was a case where police in Denver discovered treats that looked very similar to popular candies. These treats were laced with marijuana. There was another case similar to this where marijuana was wrapped in a popular candy wrapper and was handed out to children. Of course a parent found it while looking through her child’s candy and she notified the police. Police investigated and were led to a homeowner who liked Halloween and enjoyed handing out candy to children. It turns out the homeowner wasn’t the one who put the marijuana in the candy wrappers. The homeowner worked in a post office and he found a sealed bag of candies left in a package and decided since it was sealed that he would give them out for Halloween. He didn’t think much of it. When he was questioned by the police he was very confused. It turns out that the marijuana in the candy wrappers was someone’s attempt to smuggle illegal drugs into the country.

Many reports of tainted or poisoned candy have been proven to be hoaxes. There are many stories about a little girl who bit into a candy and was killed because it was poisoned and a little boy who bit into an apple because there was a razor blade inside of it. Neither of these stories is true. Until 2000 there weren’t any proven cases of altered candy. A man from Minneapolis named James Joseph Smith had put needles inside candy bars and handed them out to children. Although none of the children were seriously injured from the needles, they did get minor cuts from biting into the candy. Smith was charged with one count of “adulterating a substance with intent to cause death, harm, or illness.”

Parents’ fear of letting their children take candy from strangers may have started in 1964 when a homeowner named Helen Pfeil handed out steel wood pads, dog biscuits, and poison ant buttons out to children. Her reasoning for this was because she was upset that she had to hand out free candy to older children. Before handing it out, she notified the children that her handouts were inedible. She was still arrested and charged with endangering children.

Although many parents are afraid that strangers will lace their children’s candy with harmful drugs, there are cases where the deaths of children by Halloween candy were caused by family members. There was a case in 1970 where a young child had gotten into his uncle’s heroin stash. To prevent the police from finding out that there were drugs in the house, family members sprinkled some of the heroin on the child’s candy to make it look like it was a stranger who laced the candy with drugs.

There was another case in 1974 where a man laced his child’s candy with cyanide. Of course the child died after ingesting the cyanide. The father’s purpose for this was to get money. He had recently opened up a life insurance policy on his son. To make it look like the doing of a stranger, the man also poisoned his daughter and three other children. Luckily none of the other children ate it. The man was charged and convicted of murder and received the death sentence.

There are many myths and urban legends about children who die after eating candy on Halloween, but there are also very real cases or sick people tampering with the candy of little children. It is recommended that parents throw away any candy that is either unwrapped or homemade and children should remain cautious when accepting candy from strangers, whoever it may be.