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All reports agree that Timothy O’Bryan had enough potassium cyanide in his system to kill two adults. Īn autopsy determined that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. He was pronounced dead at 10:30 PM, ninety minutes after just one taste of the candy. He was bent over vomiting, and I was holding him when he just went limp.”Īccording to Skal, Timothy O’Bryan died on his way to the hospital. According to Bovsun, O’Bryan told the Associated Press, “It seems like it wasn’t long before he was up and complaining his stomach hurt and he didn’t feel good. Not even one minute later, Timothy called out for his father and told him that his stomach hurt. So, O’Bryan gave Timothy a glass of sugary Kool-Aid to wash the bitter taste away. After Timothy tasted the candy, he told his father that it was bitter. O’Bryan reportedly had to roll the sugar between his fingers to loosen it up for Timothy to eat. Not only that, the candy inside, which was simply flavored sugar, had an odd, clumpy consistency. For example, the straw was stapled together at the bottom. There were some odd things about the Pixy Stix that any conscientious parent would have noticed. His sister, Elizabeth, passed on the bedtime treat.

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“Pixie Stix at Epicurean Umbrella” by TheDeliciousLife is licensed under CC BY 2.0Īccording to Mara Bovsun’s 2016 Daily News article ,”‘Candy Man’ killer dad serves his own son a poisoned treat on Halloween in 1974,” Ronald Clark O’Bryan gave the Pixy Stix to his children and the two Bates children, plus a trick or treater who O’Bryan recognized from his church.Īccording to David Skal’s book, Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween, Timothy wanted just one piece of candy before bed-the Pixy Stix. O’Bryan told them that wealthy neighbors gave them special treats-five large, 22-inch Pixy Stix, which are straw-like tubes filled with flavored sugar. When he caught up with the group later, he had some extra treats for the children. No one answered.Īs Bates and the children continued trick or treating, O’Bryan stayed behind.

Although it looked as though no one was home, the children rang the bell anyway. An optician who worked for Texas State Optical, Ronald O’Bryan was an estimated $100,000 in debt.Īfter the Bates family treated them to supper, both fathers took their children trick or treating. He had been fired from 21 jobs over the past year and was about to lose his current job.

They had recently lost their home and had to relocate to an apartment. Thirty-year-old Ronald Clark O’Bryan and his wife were going through a rough patch. On October 31, 1974, the O’Bryan family, Ronald, his wife, Dayenne, and children, Timothy and Elizabeth, age five, had a roast pork supper with family friend Jim Bates and his family in Pasadena, Texas. In particular, the widespread fear of poisoned or booby-trapped candy is an urban legend without a real basis.” Unfortunately, the urban legend became reality on Halloween in 1974 for eight-year-old Timothy O’Bryan in Deer Park, Texas.

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One year, I did get the dreaded apple, which was thrown away, along with a very suspicious homemade cookie.īesides having a scene dedicated to it in the classic slasher film series Halloween, is there any truth to Halloween horror tales of poisoned candy and razor blades hidden in apples to slice up the mouth of a trusting trick-or-treater? According to more than one source, these stories are, for the most part, urban legends.Ĭrystal Ponti quotes writer David Skal in her article in her 2020 A&E article, “The Haunting Legacy of Ronald Clark O’Bryan, the Man Who Killed Halloween”: “There is no general correlation in America between the holiday and increased crime. Our mother was usually with us, and when we got home, we didn’t touch any candy until she checked both bags. We left after school when it was light and returned home after dark with two heavy bags of candy. We also went to the stores along the main shopping center.

Every year, I went trick or treating with my brother up and down our long block. I remember the flyers on Halloween safety given out at school every year that urged parents to check their children’s candy. During my childhood, I heard stories about razor blades being put in apples and given to trick or treaters on Halloween.

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