page_title: Poisoned candy myths
section_title: Effects
hierarchical_section_title: Poisoned candy myths / History / Effects
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a photograph of a Halloween trunk-or-treating (Halloween tailgating) event held at St. John Lutheran Church &amp; Early Learning Center in Darien, IL. This particular automobile trunk has a jack-o'-lantern theme. The lower right hand side of the boot has a large jar of Halloween candy, as well as pencils, for the trunk-or-treaters.
context_page_description: Poisoned candy myths are urban legends about malevolent strangers hiding poisons or sharp objects such as razor blades, needles, or broken glass in candy and distributing the candy in order to harm random children, especially during Halloween trick-or-treating. These stories serve as modern cautionary tales to children and parents and repeat two themes that are common in urban legends: danger to children and contamination of food.
  No cases of strangers killing or permanently injuring children this way have been proven. Commonly, the story appears in the media when a young child dies suddenly after Halloween. Medical investigations into the actual cause of death have always shown that these children did not die from eating candy given to them by strangers. However, in rare cases, adult family members have spread this story in an effort to cover up murder or accidental deaths. In other incidents, a child who has been told about poisoned candy places a dangerous object or substance in a pile of candy and pretends that it was the work of a stranger. This behavior is called the copycat effect.
context_section_description: Due to their fears, parents and communities restricted trick-or-treating and developed alternative "safe" events, such as trunk-or-treat events held at Christian churches.  This collective fear also served as the impetus for the "safe" trick-or-treating offered by many local malls.
  This story also promoted the sale of individually wrapped, brand-name candies and discouraged people from giving homemade treats to children.
caption: An automobile trunk at a trunk-or-treat event at St. John Lutheran Church and Early Learning Center in Darien, Illinois
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