10 Halloween Facts with a Dark Side

As October draws to a close, Halloween brings costumes, candy, and decorations designed to make everyday things feel frightening. Some of the holiday’s darker stories, though, aren’t make-believe. Discarded pumpkins can harm wildlife, trick-or-treating carries real risks for children, and one notorious crime helped fuel decades of fears about poisoned candy. Here are ten unsettling facts and stories from Halloween.

Related: 10 Families Whose Houses Scared Them to Death

10 Jack-o’-Lanterns Can Harm Hedgehogs

After Halloween, leaving a carved pumpkin in the woods might seem like a kind way to feed wildlife and keep it out of the trash. But pumpkins aren’t a natural food source for many wild animals, and eating large amounts can cause digestive problems and spread disease.

Hedgehogs are especially vulnerable. In autumn, they’re building up fat reserves for hibernation, and an easily available pumpkin can lead them to gorge on a food their bodies aren’t suited to digest in quantity. Diarrhea can leave them dangerously dehydrated, and that illness can be fatal at a time when they need to prepare for winter. Carved pumpkins may also contain candles or decorations that could harm an animal that eats them.^[1]

9 Halloween Can Frighten Young Children

Halloween’s skeletons, tombstones, and monsters are meant to be fun, but young children don’t always experience them that way. In research conducted across three Halloweens, psychologist Cindy Dell Clark interviewed children ages six and seven and their parents, and observed Halloween events.

Clark found that children and adults could interpret the holiday’s frightening imagery quite differently. Some children connected Halloween directly with death and were unsettled by decorations their parents regarded as playful. The research didn’t measure lasting trauma, but it suggests that parents may underestimate how frightening the holiday can feel to children encountering these images for the first time.^[2]

8 Pumpkin Carving Sends People to the ER

Carving a jack-o’-lantern can turn a kitchen knife into a Halloween hazard. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that 4,500 Halloween-related injuries were treated in hospital emergency departments during October and November 2018. Forty-four percent were related to pumpkin carving.

Pumpkins have tough, uneven rinds, so a knife can slip when someone presses hard to cut through them. A study of pumpkin-related knife injuries found that most affected the hands, especially the thumb and index finger. The highest number of cases occurred in the final week of October, just before Halloween.^[3]

7 Anonymous Trick-or-Treaters Steal More Candy

In a study conducted in suburban Chicago, researchers observed 1,039 children trick-or-treating alone or in groups. Children accompanied by adults weren’t included. Some were asked for their names and addresses, while others remained anonymous. Each child was told to take one piece of candy from a bowl before the researcher stepped away.

Among children who were alone, those who remained anonymous took extra candy 14% more often than children who had identified themselves. Anonymous groups took extra candy more than twice as often as identified groups, with stealing occurring 36% of the time. In groups, children often followed the lead of whoever reached for more candy first. Psychologists call the effect deindividuation: anonymity and group behavior can make people more likely to break rules they would usually follow.^[4]

6 Halloween Brings a Spike in Peanut Anaphylaxis

For children with food allergies, Halloween treats can pose a serious risk. A study of pediatric emergency department cases in four Canadian provinces found an 85% increase in the average daily number of peanut-triggered anaphylaxis cases during Halloween, compared with the rest of the year.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can become life-threatening. The researchers examined peanut- and tree-nut-related reactions, but the 85% figure specifically applies to peanut-triggered cases. The seasonal rise makes Halloween treats an important concern for children with known allergies—and for families who may not yet know a child has one.^[5]

5 The Halloween Candy Murder That Fueled a Myth

Fears about strangers poisoning trick-or-treat candy are widely known, but one of the most notorious real Halloween poisonings involved a child’s own father. On October 31, 1974, eight-year-old Timothy O’Bryan went trick-or-treating with his father, Ronald, and other children. Back at home, Timothy ate a giant Pixy Stix contaminated with cyanide. He became violently ill and died within an hour.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals opinion described evidence that Ronald O’Bryan had bought life insurance policies on his children without his wife’s knowledge. Investigators recovered five candy sticks; four others were found to contain fatal doses of cyanide. O’Bryan was convicted of capital murder for killing his son for the insurance proceeds and sentenced to death.^[6]

4 The FDA Once Detained Halloween Contact Lenses

Decorative contact lenses can make a costume’s eyes look monstrous, but they’re medical devices that need a proper prescription and fit. In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers about lenses sold without the involvement of an eye-care professional. The agency had examined and detained numerous shipments at U.S. ports and refused them entry because they did not meet federal safety requirements.

The FDA cited reports of corneal ulcers, infections, swelling, allergic reactions, and corneal abrasions caused by poor fit. In severe cases, ulcers can lead to scarring, blindness, or loss of an eye. The agency urged consumers to get an eye exam, a prescription, and instructions from an eye-care professional before using decorative lenses.^[7]

3 Halloween Raises Pedestrian Fatality Risk

A study of U.S. traffic data from 1975 to 2016 compared pedestrian fatalities between 5 p.m. and midnight on Halloween with fatalities during the same hours on the evenings one week before and after. Researchers found that the risk of a pedestrian dying in a traffic collision was 43% higher on Halloween than on those control evenings.

The risk was especially high for children ages four to eight, who faced ten times the pedestrian fatality risk on Halloween compared with the control evenings. The study estimated an average of four additional pedestrian deaths per Halloween. The absolute risk remained small, but the results highlight the danger of children walking near traffic after dark.^[8]

2 Black Licorice Can Cause Heart Problems

Black licorice is a familiar Halloween candy, but eating too much over time can affect the heart. The Food and Drug Administration warned that people ages 40 and older who eat two ounces (57 grams) of black licorice daily for at least two weeks could develop an irregular heartbeat.

The candy contains glycyrrhizin, a compound from licorice root that can lower potassium levels. Low potassium can lead to abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, swelling, and, in severe cases, heart failure. The risk comes from sustained heavy consumption, rather than eating a few pieces from a trick-or-treat bag.^[9]

1 A Halloween Egging Turned Fatal

Egging cars or houses may seem like a prank, but one Halloween night in 1990, it ended in a fatal assault. A group of young people was throwing eggs near a park in Malden, Massachusetts, when an egg apparently struck a passing car. The driver stopped, returned, and confronted the group.

Eighteen-year-old Timothy Doucette wasn’t throwing eggs, but he stepped in to help a friend the driver had already attacked. The motorist punched Doucette and slammed his head against a signpost. Doucette suffered a fractured skull and died at the hospital. The assault shows how a Halloween prank can spiral into lethal violence—and how a person trying to help can become the victim.^[10]