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 made poisoned candy an overnight terror to parents nationwide.

In this episode, we tell the story that inspired a fear of Halloween candy for decades to come. Along the way, we take a dip into the surprising origins of Pixy Stix, and check in with our host’s family to hear how kids in the Houston area witnessed the candy poisonings change candy’s peak holiday.

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Thanks to Dr. Joel Best & Larry Hysmith for joining us on this episode. Check out Dr. Best’s research at Halloween Sadism: The Evidence, updated through 2025. 

Outlaw’s Digest is a production of KC Hysmith and Good Egg Audio, an independent worker-cooperative.

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