What People Get Wrong This Week: Four Halloween Myths (and One Real Danger)
Halloween is our darkest holiday, so it naturally gives rise to dark misinformation, whether it’s the famous myth of the blade in the apple, persistent rumors of a black cat being massacred, or the specter of arsonists of a “night of mischief.” At the risk of dulling the mystique of Halloween, here are four things people get wrong about Halloween and one new fear that may actually be true.
Do people put drugs and razors in Halloween candy?
I check my child’s candy for foreign substances every Halloween even though I know I won’t find anything; The thought of him biting into an apple with a razor blade hidden inside is so terrifying that it defies logic. But that’s not really something to worry about. Despite warnings from the federal government and countless anecdotal reports, there has never been a case of a drug dealer putting LSD, fentanyl or any other illegal drug in children’s Halloween candy. (There was one close call: back in 1959, Dr. William Shine , a Long Island dentist, gave out candy-covered laxatives to children on Halloween for reasons he never explained.) Same with needles and razor blades. There was one case in 2000 of a man hiding needles in Halloween candy, but the trick or treat has been around for over 100 years, so this is an extremely isolated incident.
Don’t animal shelters allow people to adopt black cats in October?
Many people think that animal shelters are refusing to allow black cat adoptions in October. Some link the proposed ban to the belief that evil occultists value black cats for the horrific rituals they perform at this time of year. Some say the practice comes from people adopting black cats as spooky holiday decorations and then abandoning them on November 1st. But there are no confirmed reports that any of this actually happened. However, this has become a self-fulfilling prophecy in some places that don’t actually allow black cats to be adopted in October. However, other animal shelters encourage the adoption of black cats during Halloween (October). After all, the 27th is National Black Cat Day.
Is Halloween an American holiday?
Halloween predates the United States by hundreds of years. This was probably due to the Celtic harvest festivals that took place around November 1st in Ireland and Scotland. As Catholicism took hold, the pagan holiday was “catologized” as “All Hallows’ Day” or “All Hallows’ Day.” The day before became “Halloween Eve” and eventually “Halloween”. The holiday was not widely celebrated in the United States until the mid-1800s, when a large wave of Irish immigrants brought Halloween with them. The first recorded case of children in costumes going door-to-door for Halloween candy is also not from America. This happened in Canada in 1911 . The phrase “trick or treat” also comes from Canada.
Were the Devil’s Night fires caused by child misbehavior?
In some parts of the country, Halloween Eve is still considered “Prank Night” or “Cabbage Night,” a night when children play pranks, commit vandalism, or commit crimes. The unofficial holiday was most popular in the mid-1980s in Detroit. They called it “Devil’s Night” and celebrated it by burning buildings – or so the story goes. The fires were real—in 1984 alone, 810 fires were reported in Detroit in the three days before Halloween—but whether they were largely the result of Devil’s Night pranks or insurance fraud remains an open question. Arson is a difficult crime to solve, especially when only one in five fires is investigated. Detroit has bucked the Devil’s Night trend with hard work, but arson remains a huge problem in the city.
Should you decorate your artificial spider web?
The new Halloween warning is illustrated by a headline from House Beautiful: ” Here’s Why You Should NEVER Decorate for Halloween with Fake Spider Webs .” The idea is that artificial webs strung across your trees and doorways will trap native birds, insects and other wildlife. This seems to make sense, but other than a few scattered reports and occasional warnings from a wildlife center, there is no widespread evidence that fake webs are catching birds or other animals. More research is needed. However, faux spider webs are usually made from acrylic, which is definitely flammable and especially nasty when burning, so decorating a faux web is probably a bad idea. If necessary, at least know where you’re placing it—don’t install a bird net or place it near a heat source.