Posted on 10/31/2017 1:01:18 PM PDT by TBP
Timothy O'Bryan's name may have faded from popular memory, but 30 years ago this Sunday his death shocked the country and earned the culprit the nickname "The Man Who Killed Halloween."
The 8-year-old Deer Park boy died Oct. 31, 1974, after eating trick-or-treat candy laced with cyanide. Within days, his father, Ronald Clark O'Bryan, stood accused of staging the crime as part of a life insurance scheme.
With his wife testifying for the prosecution, O'Bryan was convicted and sentenced to death. Dubbed the "Candy Man" by fellow prisoners, he was executed by lethal injection in 1984.
Halloween has lived on. But not the way it was. The case horrified parents and helped usher in an era in which carefree costumed trick-or-treating has given way to X-rayed candy bags and tightly controlled Halloween parties and festivals.
The decades-old idea that depraved strangers are targeting children with tainted Halloween candy, however, is more fiction than fact, says a sociologist who has studied the phenomenon for 20 years. University of Delaware Professor Joel Best said he has yet to find a case in which a stranger deliberately poisoned trick-or-treaters.
"This is a contemporary legend that speaks to our anxiety about kids," Best said. "Most of us don't believe in ghosts and goblins anymore, but we believe in criminals."
Thirty years ago, after Timothy's death, the idea of a madman poisoning children with Halloween candy was all too real.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Ever have to get Halloween candy x-rayed at a hospital? It's all the fault of one man.
We lived down in Pasadena, TX, next to Deer Park in the 70’s, and, yes, people were very cautious about Halloween. Lots of festivals, little trick/treating.
I remember it caused panic all across the USA
Big Media uses three names for this murderer, Ronald Clark O’Bryan, but prefers to use the Fraud’s pet name for Robert Bowdrie Bergdahl.
and only reports the WOUNDED soldiers looking for him.
Bad Media, Bad!
Fascinating. Had no idea X-Rays can reveal cyanide!
Isn’t untainted Haloween candy bad for you?
This guy was also a Deacon of his Church!
I used to be a firefighter just outside of DC. One house fire where 2 children died, both under 8 yo. It was detrrmined that the parents put the kids down for a nap and set the house on fire, then walked to the corner store. All for $100,000.00 insurance.
There was the heated penny scare, and the needle in the candy bar scare. Thankfully I lived when it was still safe to Trick-or-treat.
Me, too... but it’s one holiday I’d be glad to see die.
You forgot the razor blades in the apples scare.
I got a rock.
I’ll never forget that sweet little boy and that murdering monster Timothy called dad. You bet he was the man who killed Halloween........for generations of trick or treaters. Thank God O’Brien was given some good ol’ Texas justice but it’s too bad his death wasn’t anywhere close to what that little boy went through.
No it’s nit. Folks in California were putting razor blades and needles in apples before1974
There are sick people out there
I didn’t see one trick or treater tonight
I enjoy halloween. My wife liked to set out a table and chairs on the driveway and invite the neighbors over as a one stop shop for the kids. I’ve continued the tradition since her passing. It’s much more fun to sit outside to see the little ones, and chat up their parents a bit. In years past we’d have water for the kids and adult beverages for the parents as well. I love it when the parents get into it. My favorite this year was a dad in a full-on Tin-Man suit, his wife was Glenda the Good Witch, and Dorothy was a tiny little girl that was a bit on the shy side. It was too cute.
Feh. It was cyanide. It was the razor blade in the apples that started the x-ray craze. Whether or not there has been a recorded instance, parents are smart to be cautious as it is such a fat target and the world is so evil now.
>>>I didn’t see one trick or treater tonight<<<
You left the Home Depot Rental Truck in the Driveway?
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