Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Candy man
snopes.com ^ | Oct 20 | Snopes.com

Posted on 10/20/2001 3:26:18 PM PDT by earaiak

I called the Hackensack location (because I grew sick of the false alarms and rumors) and this information is true. Guys be careful a notice just came to me from someone that works in Costco. 2 Arabic guys bought more than $35,000.00 dollars worth of candy, in Wayne $15,000.00 & in Hackensack $20,0000.00. After they left they found out their Costco i.d was fake, & they paid the whole thing cash. The F.B.I. was notified just be careful with your kids for trick o' treating on Halloween!!! i just thought u wanted to know that. DON"T LET THOSE KIDS GO OUT FOR HALLOWEEN!


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-40 next last
No kneejerking allowed. So far it hasn't been unsubstantiated. Check out the snopes site for more info: The Candy Man
1 posted on 10/20/2001 3:26:19 PM PDT by earaiak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: earaiak
Thank goodness my kids are too old to trick or treat... but sad if that tradition dies off due to anthrax/terrorism scares. But in our neighborhood, we all know each other. Lived in same house since 1987. The kids are wild, and known to throw eggs at, and T P a house, but they aren't terrorists.
2 posted on 10/20/2001 3:30:03 PM PDT by NEBO
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: earaiak
But then a boy was killed in Houston many years ago by his own father, who poisoned a Pixie stix. The guilty dad was finally executed years later. O'Bryan was the last name. http://www.snopes2.com/horrors/poison/hallowee.htm

By far the most famous case was the murder of eight-year-old Timothy Mark O'Bryan at the hands of his father, Ronald Clark O'Bryan, in Houston, Texas. The child died at 10 p.m. on 31 October 1974, as a result of eating cyanide-laced Pixie Stix acquired while trick-or-treating.

To make it appear more like the work of a random madman, O'Bryan also gave poisoned Pixie Stix to his daughter and three other children. By a kind stroke of fate, none of the other children ate the candy.

The prosecution proved the father had purchased cyanide and had (along with a neighbor) accompanied the group of children on their door-to-door mission. None of the places visited that night were giving out Pixie Stix. Young Mark's life was insured for a large sum of money, and collecting on this policy has always been pointed to as the motive behind this murder.

Though the case was circumstantial (no one saw the father poison the candy or slip the Pixie Stix into the boy's bag), Ronald O'Bryan was convicted of the murder in May 1975. He received the death sentence and was executed by lethal injection on 31 March 1984 (not on the poetically-just 31 October as is often recounted in off-the-cuff retellings of the case).

The O'Bryan murder was an attempt to use a well-known urban legend to cover up the premeditated murder of one particular child. (Note that for this explanation of the boy's murder to have been believed, the legend had to have been in widely circulation by 1974.) Though cold-blooded and horrible to contemplate, this crime still does not qualify as a genuine Halloween poisoning because there was nothing random about Timothy O'Bryan's death.

(The spectre of the mad poisoner from the 1982 Tylenol murders was similarly employed by various murderers attempting to cover their tracks.)

3 posted on 10/20/2001 3:34:09 PM PDT by NEBO
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NEBO
My kids are of the age of easter bunny, santa clause, and halloween. It's not my neighbors that I fear, it's some whacko in some other part of the world tainting bags of candy and then injecting it back into the distribution. So not only do my kids get sick, but so do the people handing it out.
4 posted on 10/20/2001 3:35:29 PM PDT by earaiak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: earaiak
How are 2 arabic guys going to hand out $35,000 of candy?
5 posted on 10/20/2001 3:35:30 PM PDT by Tarakotchi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NEBO
I have to ask you about your name...Nebo.That was my father's nickname ...I have never seen the name before...How did you come up with it? Thanks
6 posted on 10/20/2001 3:38:23 PM PDT by woofie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Tarakotchi
right...see #4 above
7 posted on 10/20/2001 3:39:28 PM PDT by earaiak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: NEBO
Awwww... Now I miss Sammy Davis, Jr.
8 posted on 10/20/2001 3:39:35 PM PDT by StoneColdGOP
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: crystal55t
like I said, no knee jerking. But unless I hear something from dubya or one of his cabinet members, we may be doing something else this year.
10 posted on 10/20/2001 3:43:58 PM PDT by earaiak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Tarakotchi
By donating it to an organization who would then dispense it through their own trustworthy networks.
11 posted on 10/20/2001 3:45:34 PM PDT by VideoDoctor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: earaiak
I'm originally from Hackensack, so I spotted this story earlier today on The Record's site at http://www.bergen.com/bse/candy1200110207.htm.

Large candy purchases investigated by FBI


Saturday, October 20, 2001

By MITCHEL MADDUX and PETER POCHNA
Staff Writers

The FBI said Friday that it is investigating the cash purchase of "large quantities" of candy from Costco stores in Hackensack and Wayne.

"We have been advised and we are looking into the incident of a gentleman buying large quantities of candy," said Sandra Carroll, an FBI spokeswoman in Newark.

Carroll declined to identify the purchaser, but indicated that he is in federal custody for immigration law reasons not related to the purchase of the candy.

"I cannot comment on INS detainees," Carroll said.

Carroll said it would be premature to draw conclusions about the purchaser's intent for the candy, which agents had not found by Friday night. She declined to describe the candy.

"We have no evidence or information for us to suspect there is any reason to cancel scheduled events," Carroll said when asked if the FBI had concerns about the safety of Halloween. "However, the public is encouraged to remain alert but calm."

Hackensack police took a report from Costco about the candy purchase at the Hackensack store at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday. The police then contacted the FBI.

"They told us to stay out of it," said Hackensack Police Chief Charles "Ken" Zisa.

Zisa said the FBI had already learned about the purchase. A local Costco manager had reported the incident to corporate headquarters, near Seattle, and had sent a videotape from a store security camera, Zisa said.

An official at Costco's corporate headquarters said Friday night that no one was available to comment on the matter. Another Costco official, who declined to be identified, said such large purchases from the chain of wholesale grocery and household goods stores are not uncommon.

Kerry Gill, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Newark, said he could not discuss the case because of confidentiality policies.

12 posted on 10/20/2001 3:59:40 PM PDT by buickmackane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: buickmackane
Maybe there is something to this story. When I first read the first post, I thought that it was just another hoax. The FBI is investigating so it must be serious. Bless that Costco manager for reporting it and not giving in to the PC police. I wonder if there are anymore incidents around the country similar to this one? If those terrorist creeps were trying to poison or infect children with anthrax or something far worse like smallpox, I say hang 'em high! I want these fiends to die before they kill me, my family, friends and other innocents.
13 posted on 10/20/2001 4:19:23 PM PDT by demnomo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: earaiak
This seems credible enough to generate real concern, unlike the media hysteria we are currently seeing 24/7 relating to anthrax, smallpox, gas masks, etc. etc. etc. etc.......so why aren't we hearing ANYTHING about it if the FBI is investigating?

What could the terrorists do to us that would be more horrific than what they did on September 11? How about attacking millions of innocent children? And I wouldn't be so naive as to think that because you know your neighbors you are less vulnerable. These people aren't going to hand it out. They will get it into retail outlets. (Who runs a large number of this nations convenience stores?) Anybody remember the Tylenol scares that prompted the extra protection sealing of over the counter medicine bottles? We really don't know how far the reach of these monsters extends. Why take that chance? Take the kids to a fair or something else fun instead, and don't apologize for putting their safety first.

14 posted on 10/20/2001 4:47:39 PM PDT by sweetliberty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VideoDoctor
donating to organizations to hand out??? I have a difficult time thinking any organization or group would accept donations of candy from any one. Advantage to small town- you take your kids to your neighbors that have their porch light on- or- in our area, nursing homes that fix great 'haunted' houses for kids to go through then visiting residents of the nursing home that wish to hand out candy bought from the local Pamida store etc-- or the churches that have trunk or treats, or decorate class room doors like homes and kids go where they know and are known. Nobody surely nobody just turns their kids loose- not for what thirty years at least??
15 posted on 10/20/2001 4:56:58 PM PDT by footstomper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: buickmackane
I thought it sounded like a hoax. Then I saw the notation at the bottom of the page.

Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2001 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson This material may not be reproduced without permission

Just remember anyone can put anything up on the internet and someone is going to believe it. You say you never heard of Urban Legends? haha

16 posted on 10/20/2001 5:00:24 PM PDT by CometBaby
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: CometBaby
urban legens and snopes tells you whether they are true or false. The status of this story on snopes is true.
17 posted on 10/20/2001 5:19:35 PM PDT by TheLurkerX
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: sweetliberty
after thinking about it further with the wife (should we take our kids out trick-or-treating), the thought occured to us what's stopping someone from tainting _anything_ that gets distributed to the grocery stores? If holloween candy is specifically targeted, I'm with someone else on this thread--where do I sign up to kill. Still got a little time left. We'll be watching this closely.
18 posted on 10/20/2001 5:29:05 PM PDT by earaiak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Tarakotchi
"How are 2 arabic guys going to hand out $35,000 of candy?"

Better question: "How are blown to sheet dead arabic guys going to service 72 virgins?"

19 posted on 10/20/2001 6:05:35 PM PDT by APBaer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: footstomper
Nobody surely nobody just turns their kids loose- not for what thirty years at least??

When I was probably ten or so (around 1980) I was going trick-or-treating by myself. Just was told to stay within a two-block radius. Not quite thirty years ago, though admittedly getting distressingly-close to it.

20 posted on 10/20/2001 6:15:48 PM PDT by supercat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-40 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson