Pages 5-6 of “Death Makes A Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween” by David J. Skal
Since demonic possession was never much of a real issue in mainstream American life, the extraordinary success of “The Exorcist” might be best explained as a veiled self-recognition by the public in a time when many families were indeed being torn apart, if not by psychokinesis and the corrosive effects of green vomit, then by political acting-out and violent disagreements with children over the war, politics, and culture. To many parents, Linda Blair’s spook-house persona may have been hardly distinguishable, at least on a gut level, from the matted-haired, obscenity-spouting war protestors and hippies who were taking up an increasingly disturbing amount of cultural time in the early 1970s. Like Linda Blair’s levitating Regan, they seemed to operate on a different moral plane entirely- just like the insidious, invidious, elusive-but-omnipresent Halloween-candy tamperer.
It was during this tumultuous period that the New York Times gave its distinguished imprimatur to the Halloween terrorist legend:
Those Halloween goodies that children collect this weekend on their rounds of “trick or treating” may bring them more horror than happiness. Take for example that plump red apple that Junior gets from a kindly old woman down the block. It may have a razor blade hidden inside. The chocolate “candy” bar may be a laxative, the bubble gum may be sprinkled with lye, the popcorn balls may be coated with camphor, the candy may turn out to be packets containing sleeping pills.
The Times reflected the sociopolitical overtones of the legend in quoting Dr. Reginald Steen, a Hempstead, Long Island, psychiatrist who had strong, right-leaning ideas about the possible cause of sadistic Halloween incidents. It was “the permissiveness in today’s society” that was responsible. “People who give harmful treats to children see criminals and students in campus riots getting away with things... they think they can get away with it, too.”
Within a few years of the New York Times’s authoritative warning piece, newspapers everywhere routinely warned parents to guard against Halloween sadists, giving the danger equal footing with more sensible concerns about flammable costumes. There was, however, one problem with the media’s uncritical acceptance of the reportings: a report is a very different thing from a confirmed tampering, much less an actual injury or death. In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, hoaxes were afoot, too- lots of hoaxes, as it turned out.
Most of the reports involved only the alleged discovery of pins, needles, and razor blades in treats, with no follow-ups or arrests, much less physical harm done to anyone. Joel Best and Gerald T. Horiuchi, researchers at California State University, concluded, “Children who go trick-or-treating know about Halloween sadism; they have been warned by their parents, teachers and friends. A child who ‘discovers’ an adulterated treat stands to be rewarded with the concerned attention of parents, and, perhaps, police officers and reporters.” Similarly, parents who claim to have discovered hidden dangers receive positive attention from peers and public authorities.
Actual cases involving minor injuries do occasionally occur, but they are so rare and scattered that they do not constitute a significant pattern. Best and Horiuchi examined seventy-six cases of Halloween sadism reported by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Fresno Bee between 1958 and 1984. The found “no reports where an anonymous sadist caused death or a life-threatening injury,” and that “there is no justification for the claim that Halloween sadism stands as a major threat to U.S. children.” A decade earlier, Editor and Publisher had reached the same conclusion.
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