The Halloween Candy Meme That Has Twitter In Stitches
As Halloween approaches each year, myths surrounding poison candy and ads warning you to check your children's treats are liable to spread. Realistically, only four cases of candy tampering have been reported from 2008 to 2019, according to CBC and the CFIA. Luckily, nobody was injured in any of the incidents. However, the belief that Halloween candy is dangerous isn't completely unjustified. In 1974, an 8-year-old child named Timothy O'Bryan died when his Pixy Stix candy was packed with cyanide, per Vice. As it turns out, this wasn't a random event of candy tampering — his father served both his son and daughter the cyanide to cash in on their life insurance policies.
In 1964, a grandmother named Helen Pfeil claimed she was "annoyed by the Halloween custom," per the Milwaukee Journal, so she handed out dog treats, ant traps containing arsenic, and "metal mesh scrubbing pads" (via CBC). Though these incidents did, in fact, occur in the past, "Halloween Sadism" is not actually very common at all, per Verify. Joel Best, a professor at the University of Delaware, described this "contemporary legend" as "...the idea that there are maniacs who try to harm children by passing out contaminated treats — razor blades in apples, pins in candy bars, poisons in treats, and so on." Because very few children have ever been injured in this way, it's no surprise that the internet is having a little fun with it.
Social media poked fun at checking children's candy
Twitter users are finding humor in the myth that Halloween candy is packed with unknown substances. According to Daily Dot, the fun began after news reporter Jaclyn Lee advised on Twitter that the Bensalem, Pennsylvania police force was worried children would receive THC-laced goodies in their Halloween buckets. She then posted photos of numerous candies which were packaged in a way that indicated the presence of THC. Twitter users were quick to post hilarious comments under the post. "Please, for the love of god, tell me where they're giving out free weed," one comment read. Another user pointed out that realistically, the cost of edibles would prevent malicious adults from passing them out to kids. "That s*** is expensive," they wrote.
After the initial tweet went viral, the internet poked fun at the possibility of all things unknown that could be lurking inside candy packaging. One tweet read, "Please be sure to check your kid's candy this year—I just found the entire state of Ohio in a Snickers bar." Another user wrote, "Be diligent and check your child's candy this year, just found a negroni sbagliato with prosecco shoved inside a Twix. No words." So, as a rule of thumb, it's never a bad idea to check your children's candy, but you can likely rest assured that everything will turn out okay.