Debunking The Myths
Over the years various experts have tried to debunk the various candy tampering stories. Among this group is Joel Best, a University of Delaware sociologist who specializes in candy tampering legends. In his studies, and the book "Halloween Sadism: the evidence", he researched newspapers from 1958 on in search of candy tampering . Of these stories, fewer than 90 instances might have qualified as actual candy tampering, Best has found five child deaths that were initially thought by local authorities to be caused by homicidal strangers, but none of those was sustained by investigation.
Read more about this topic: Poisoned Candy Myths
Famous quotes containing the word myths:
“The poets were not alone in sanctioning myths, for long before the poets the states and the lawmakers had sanctioned them as a useful expedient.... They needed to control the people by superstitious fears, and these cannot be aroused without myths and marvels.”
—Strabo (c. 58 B.C.–c. 24 A.D., Greek geographer. Geographia, bk. 1, sct. 2, subsct. 8.