Oct 22, 2026 · 37 min · 12 segments
On Halloween night in 1974, an eight-year-old boy in the Houston suburbs got a Pixy Stick laced with cyanide. He wasn’t the only one. So did four other kids who were trick-or-treating that night. It…
He's retired now, but most recently, he was a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware.
You know, it used to be that what scared us was witches and goblins and things like that.
And by and large, we don't believe in witches and goblins anymore.
And so they aren't scary.
In fact, they're kind of fun and funny.
If I tell you that you really want to check your treat for goblins, it's not going to Get much for
Yeah, I'm gonna let the kid eat the candy or I'll eat it later after they've gone to bed.
When I was a kid, sure, the witches and skeletons and spooky stuff were definitely scary.
Once you live through enough Halloweens, the glowing eyes and fog machines and green colored witches are less killer and more kitsch, right? It's like, blah, blah, blah, this is just the aesthetics of consumerism.
He's retired now, but most recently, he was a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware.
You know, it used to be that what scared us was witches and goblins and things like that.
And by and large, we don't believe in witches and goblins anymore.
And so they aren't scary.
In fact, they're kind of fun and funny.
If I tell you that you really want to check your treat for goblins, it's not going to Get much for
Yeah, I'm gonna let the kid eat the candy or I'll eat it later after they've gone to bed.
When I was a kid, sure, the witches and skeletons and spooky stuff were definitely scary.
Once you live through enough Halloweens, the glowing eyes and fog machines and green colored witches are less killer and more kitsch, right? It's like, blah, blah, blah, this is just the aesthetics of consumerism.
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