31 Days of Halloween | Day 14: The Candy Man — The Murder That Changed Halloween
Haunted American HistoryShow Notes
On Halloween night in 1974, eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan came home from trick-or-treating in Pasadena, Texas, with a giant Pixy Stix.
His father helped him open it.
Timothy complained that the candy tasted strange.
Within an hour, he was dead.
Investigators discovered that the candy contained a lethal dose of cyanide. Four other children had received identical poisoned treats, and police raced to find them before anyone else could be hurt.
The case seemed to confirm one of America's greatest Halloween fears: that a stranger might deliberately poison the candy handed to innocent children.
But the stranger didn't exist.
The killer was Timothy's own father, Ronald Clark O'Bryan, a church deacon drowning in debt who had secretly purchased life insurance policies on his children.
And the story didn't end with his conviction.
Tonight, we're examining the murder that helped transform Halloween, the nationwide panic over poisoned candy and razor blades, and the surprising truth about how often children have actually been harmed by contaminated trick-or-treat candy.
Welcome to Day Fourteen of 31 Days of Halloween.
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