All That's Interesting

For decades, rumors of poisoned Halloween candy have frightened children and parents alike. In reality, there have been no recorded cases of a trick-or-treater dying because of candy received from a stranger — but one young boy was killed by poisoned candy given to him by his own father. On Halloween night in 1974, eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan was trick-or-treating with neighborhood children in Deer Park, Texas when his father, Ronald, ran up to the group with several large Pixy Stix, claiming one of the neighbors had asked him to hand them out. When Timothy got home later that night, he asked to eat the sugary treat, and Ronald helped him open the straw.⁠
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Upon eating the candy, Timothy immediately started vomiting and convulsing, and soon died. Police then confiscated the Pixy Stix that Ronald had given to the other children and discovered that the top two inches of the treat were actually pure powdered cyanide. They also discovered that Ronald O'Bryan had recently taken out a $20,000 life insurance policy on each of his children — and had called to collect on it just hours after Timothy died. Ronald was ultimately executed in 1984, and when the crowd that had gathered outside the prison was informed that he was dead, they cheered, "Trick or treat!" ⁠
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Click the link in our profile to learn more about the murder that started a persistent Halloween myth and eight other horrific killings that took place on the scariest night of the year.