Have you ever actually heard first hand, not friend of a friend, of a

[hedgehog]

child being hurt by a stranger on Halloween?

I'm 53 and the only case I know of is a girl who was killed by a hit and run driver in my town about 20 years ago. I have never heard of an authenticated case of pins or razors in treats except by people who put them there themselves for publicity.

[tekisui]

1. A five year old boy was killed by a driver whilt trick-or-treating

about 4 or 5 years ago, but that's all I've known.

[yardwork]

29. Traffic accidents - that's all I've ever heard about.

Every year, a few children get hit by cars by accident.

I've never even seen a credible news story about a child being hurt by strangers on Halloween, and I've certainly never personally known anyone who experienced something like that.

These are urban myths.

[Virginia Dare]

2. No. Never.

I've seen news reports, that's about it.

[EFerrari]

3. Nope. Although, the first year I lived in Berkeley, I took a bunch of

kids out and the next day caught a bunch of criticism from my friends. Apparently, I didn't know that the neighborhood was "dangerous".

We did it again the next year and every year we lived there. :)

[WCGreen]

4. It's all Urban Myths....

[daninthemoon]

5. It's just a horrible urban legend designed and disseminated to keep

Americans afraid of each other.

[proud patriot]

12. Bingo

[ChickMagic]

6. The doctors where I work

have always had to do pro bono work by xraying childrens' Halloween candy.
They moan and complain about it because they have never, ever found anything
in it. More to the point, no radiologists have ever found anything like that
according to them.

[Javaman]

18. You know why that is right?

because it's candy made in china!!! LOL

think about it. LOL

[ChickMagic]

39. Got it!

:rofl:

(I also work in Radiology)

[Javaman]

41. Touche' LOL nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. It's kind of like the Salem Witch Hunts.

I guess people get in the spirit of things and jump at every shadow.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp

[Richard Steele]

8. Nope. It's just an urban legend. nm

[InternalDialogue]

9. I knew people who actually gave away raisins or apples.

There was nothing wrong with the treats per se, but still, that's pretty bad, no?

[izquierdista]

10. A long, long time ago

Back in the middle of the last century, you might even get home-baked cookies or popcorn balls. :popcorn:

The only bad thing I saw first-hand was when Beldar and Primat gave out fried eggs and beer to the trick-or-treaters.

[daninthemoon]

17. My folks used to make and give away popcorn balls. Most kids

today probably don't even know what they are.

[Javaman]

19. Loved the popcorn balls!

damn, now you got me thinking about them.

[Atman]

23. I'd dig fried eggs and beer!

Did they hand out Tabasco sauce with those eggs?

[AnneD]

11. No but we had the infamous case of the ...

Dad that put cyinide poison in his son's pixie stick halloween candy in 1974. Really sent shock waves in the community. Son was 8yrs old-Tim O'Bryan and dad was Ron O'Bryan. He gave 4 other kids the poison candy too. As luck would have it they didn't eat it. We remembered it because it was our fav candy at the time and we had eaten some. It killed Halloween here for years. Ron was found guilty and died by lethal injection. Few tears were shed.

[Javaman]

21. Mmmmm, pixie sticks!!!

man talk about a sugar fix!!

[unpossibles]

34. right but that is more akin to the Tylenol thing

where most of the people who died were an attempt to cover up a specific murder, to make it look more general.

[hedgehog]

13. So the lesson is... don't take candy from your parents? nt

[AnneD]

14. Not if they take....

out insurance policies on your life.

[Javaman]

22. Johnny, just sign on the dotted line, it will make mommy and daddy really happy! nt

[emilyg]

15. Yes.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

16. Could you elaborate?

I'm interested and I'm sure others are also.

[emilyg]

36. My daughter found needles in her boys candy.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

37. When? In what type of candy?

[mwb970]

20. We heard about it all the time, but it never actually happened.

Kind of like bush's "progress" in Iraq.

[ThomWV]

24. 60 years old, lived in a dozen states, not once.

[Javaman]

25. We had a nut in my neighborhood that gave out hot pennies. lol nt

[seabeyond]

26. exactly. i am not afraid. and like seeing halloween come back.

so many people stop doing because of a what if.... that hasnt even happened. i saw the thread about watchng out for pedophiles. we have them in our neighborhood (registered). we have a high concentration in an ajoining low income neighborhood. and halloween night there are tons of people out on our street and lots of adults, my kids familiar with a lot of them. there is simply not a chance i will instill fear into my children tonight. it is a night to play and have fun. and us adults will do our job.

[Beausoleil]

27. The Pixy Stix killer was real

1974, Deer Park, TX
Killed his own son on Halloween.

http://rvrcheshire.blogspot.com/2005/10/killing-of-halloween.html

[Lone_Star_Dem]

28. He was also targeting his own kid for the insurance money

And using his kid's friends as a cover up of his crime.

Yep he was a sick bastard, but it wasn't what it was originally reported to have been.

[Breeze54]

30. Pins & Needles found in candy is TRUE! - The guy was arrested.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp

[yardwork]

32. Yes, but Snopes also points out that most of these were hoaxes as well.

[Breeze54]

33. Yeah, the poisoned candy and the razor blades stories came from this incident.

;)

[Evoman]

31. No never. Although I do personally know a couple of people when I was a kid that were assaulted

and had their candy stolen. Although, they were never hurt.

[unpossibles]

35. I heard Satan was out to collect children tonight

that's what I hear anyway.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

38. The possible origins of "tainted Halloween candy"

The idea of tainted candy from a stranger may have started with a 1964 incident involving a New York homemaker named Helen Pfeil. Irritated at the idea of handing out free candy to older kids, Pfeil gave out packages of steel wool pads, dog biscuits and poison ant buttons. Although she made it clear that her "goodies" were inedible, Pfeil was charged with endangering children.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/candy-tampering.htm

I don't know if that's true or not, but it's interesting. Damn you Helen Pfeil for spoiling a good racket for generations to come!

[Midlodemocrat]

40. Nope, not one.

[Bandit]

42. When I was a child I was mugged by teen-agers for my candy

I was hit in the face and made to give up my candy. Yes I would say that was a painful and lasting experience. I know of the same thing happening to other children as well. No I don't know of any children hurt by the candy itself though..