I've heard stories about this since I was a teenager.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...1020-Weekender

or

http://tinyurl.com/18r

I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
blades and needles.

Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
process. He didn't get away with it.

Jill

On 2013-10-20 6:59 PM, jmcquown wrote:

> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
> blades and needles.
>
> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
> process. He didn't get away with it.
>


I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
candy was very, very low. Over dinner tonight my wife and I were
wondering whether to bother to get anything for trick or treaters this
year, since we have not had any kids come around in about 20 years.
There are a couple of families with young kids but they have been here
for a few years and never came

I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that
came were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found
out that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were
caught up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.

On 2013-10-20 22:59:15 +0000, jmcquown said:

> I've heard stories about this since I was a teenager.
>
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...1020-Weekender
>
>
> or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/18r
>
> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
> blades and needles.
>
> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
> process. He didn't get away with it.

Yeah, they are all lies and bunk. Spreading fear and loathing is a way
of life for some, particularly as part of an all-consuming world view
shared by Christianists and "conservatives". Fear is a goal.

Halloween is my birthday and the "war on Halloween" by Christianists is
a real one in the same way that the "war on Christmas" was enver one.

On 2013-10-20 23:09:15 +0000, Dave Smith said:

> I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
> candy was very, very low.

You can't get any lower than zero.

> Over dinner tonight my wife and I were wondering whether to bother to
> get anything for trick or treaters this year, since we have not had any
> kids come around in about 20 years. There are a couple of families with
> young kids but they have been here for a few years and never came

Where we live, all the lower-income hispanic folk across a main street
near our home flood the neighborhood. Mostly they are on their way a
few blocks further west where the rich folk live.

I try to get out for the evening, as it's my birthday, but I usually
buy candy for the first hour or so. I was thinking about getting bags
of Japanese candy, but imagine their parents will gather them up and
throw them away out of ignorance.

Then I pondered getting some of those oddball Japanese packets of
stickers that kids seem to love. I figure they love them because they
sure stock a boatload of them near the checkout counters at the local
Japanese stores. I just *know* the kids will remember them much longer
than they do the regular reeses/m&m's/hershey/ products.

> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc.

I think that's totally cool and among the booty I scored as a kid, the
rice-crispy squares and the popcorn balls were the *best*!

> The only kids that came were the local kids, and they were all friends
> of my son. I found out that their parents were throwing out my home
> made treats. They were caught up in the paranoia of those rare
> incidents.

And this is how traditions die: Paranoia.

On 10/20/2013 7:53 PM, wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 19:09:15 -0400, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
>> On 2013-10-20 6:59 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>>
>>> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
>>> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
>>> blades and needles.
>>>
>>> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
>>> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
>>> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
>>> process. He didn't get away with it.
>>>
>>
>>
>> I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
>> candy was very, very low. Over dinner tonight my wife and I were
>> wondering whether to bother to get anything for trick or treaters this
>> year, since we have not had any kids come around in about 20 years.
>> There are a couple of families with young kids but they have been here
>> for a few years and never came
>>
>> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
>> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that
>> came were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found
>> out that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were
>> caught up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.
>
> It's the same story with kids not playing out anymore - in case a
> stranger in a van grabs them. That has not happened even once here
> but kids are kept indoors only going on organised 'playdates' their
> parents arrange. I think it must be really tough (and boring) to be a
> kid today !
>
It would bore the heck out of me if I was a kid. I loved to play
outside. Of course we didn't have video games or computers. We played
inside mostly when it was raining.

When Halloween came around, we'd go to every house in a two or three
block radius. We'd bring home tons of candy and homemade treats. No
one was afraid of it. We'd even go *into* people's houses to see the
decorations. I remember one guy and his wife rigged up a talking
jack-o-lantern pumpkin at the top of the steps to the basement. He was
downstairs, she was upstairs dressed as a witch. He talked to us via a
microphone. What fun! I was about eight years old at the time and
still remember it. I'm sure kids these days don't have nearly as much
fun with Halloween due to the paranoia.

Jill

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2013-10-20 6:59 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
>> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
>> blades and needles.
>>
>> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
>> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
>> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
>> process. He didn't get away with it.
>>
>
>
> I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
> candy was very, very low. Over dinner tonight my wife and I were
> wondering whether to bother to get anything for trick or treaters this
> year, since we have not had any kids come around in about 20 years. There
> are a couple of families with young kids but they have been here for a few
> years and never came
>
> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that came
> were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found out
> that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were caught
> up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.
>


I live on a very dark street across from a high school, so haven't had kids
around for awhile now. Up until a year or so ago we gave the neighborhood
kids 5 dollars each and called it good. There weren't that many, 6 or 7
kids, so it worked well.

Cheri

On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 18:59:15 -0400, jmcquown >
wrote:

> I've heard stories about this since I was a teenager.
>
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...1020-Weekender
>
> or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/18r
>
> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
> blades and needles.
>
> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
> process. He didn't get away with it.
>
I am so tired of hearing those urban/suburban legends roll out ever
year! Thanks for heading it off at the pass.


--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> I've heard stories about this since I was a teenager.
>
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...1020-Weekender
>
> or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/18r
>
> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in my
> 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
> blades and needles.
>
> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the process.
> He didn't get away with it.

There have been some who did it themselves to attract attention. They put a
needle in a candy bar or apple then took it to the hospital to be X Rayed.
But they didn't hand that stuff out to anyone.

As children, we lived in fear of these things. We were never allowed to eat
apples that we were given because even if we cut them up to check for stuff,
we still couldn't be sure of poison. And one year there was some rumor
going around that something was put in the Clark bars. I can't remember
what it was. It wasn't true but I never ate a Clark bar because of it. My
dad would believe these things and made sure that we kids were equally
terrified.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2013-10-20 6:59 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
>> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
>> blades and needles.
>>
>> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
>> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
>> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
>> process. He didn't get away with it.
>>
>
>
> I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
> candy was very, very low. Over dinner tonight my wife and I were
> wondering whether to bother to get anything for trick or treaters this
> year, since we have not had any kids come around in about 20 years. There
> are a couple of families with young kids but they have been here for a few
> years and never came
>
> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that came
> were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found out
> that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were caught
> up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.

I would never do homemade stuff unless I walked it over to their house
myself. That's what the wife of the Seventh Day Adventist preacher who
lived next door did. She made "butterscotch" icebox cookies every year.
Not sure what all went in there except for some kind of nuts. They were dry
and not sweet.

We were never allowed to keep any homemade stuff that went in our bags. My
dad surmised that we might think we remember who gave it to us but we could
be wrong.

> wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 19:09:15 -0400, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
>>On 2013-10-20 6:59 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>>
>>> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
>>> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
>>> blades and needles.
>>>
>>> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
>>> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
>>> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
>>> process. He didn't get away with it.
>>>
>>
>>
>>I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
>>candy was very, very low. Over dinner tonight my wife and I were
>>wondering whether to bother to get anything for trick or treaters this
>>year, since we have not had any kids come around in about 20 years.
>>There are a couple of families with young kids but they have been here
>>for a few years and never came
>>
>>I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
>>apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that
>>came were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found
>>out that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were
>>caught up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.
>
> It's the same story with kids not playing out anymore - in case a
> stranger in a van grabs them. That has not happened even once here
> but kids are kept indoors only going on organised 'playdates' their
> parents arrange. I think it must be really tough (and boring) to be a
> kid today !

My daughter's life bears no resemblance to mine. We were allowed to go all
sorts of places by ourselves and even as little kids, we had no adult
watching us when we played outside.

Daughter did play outside in CA and NY as we lived on military bases. They
had plenty of play areas for kids. But there was always at least one adult
watching them.

After we moved here, there was generally no playing with other kids. We did
have one girl for a time who lived down the street from us but my daughter
was so busy with dance that she didn't have a lot of time for play. They
did play some but soon the girl was not allowed at our house any more
because she was doing lots of bad things and would not listen to what I
said. Her mom caught her lipping off to me and her mom was the one who said
she should not come over any more. I agreed! Heh.

Other than that, it was just sporadic arranged playdates or parties. It was
not just my daughter who was busy. All of the kids either were loaded up
with activities like sports, clubs or music or their parents worked and they
went straight to daycare after school or to a babysitters house.

And then the homework! They pile so much on, the kids have little time to
do anything else. And now thanks to turnitin.com, they have stuff due on
the weekends!

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> It would bore the heck out of me if I was a kid. I loved to play outside.
> Of course we didn't have video games or computers. We played inside
> mostly when it was raining.

Not me! We did play outside some and not usually by choice. Our parents
would just tell us to go out there to get out of their hair. Mostly when we
did go out it was during the summer and we were always looking for berries
or other fruit or vegetables to scrounge up to make something out of.
Either sun jam or some sort of stew on my friend's toy stove. It wasn't an
Easy Bake oven but a Suzy Homemaker stove with burners that worked!

Mostly I preferred to be inside, reading a book or doing arts and crafts, or
dancing. My mom used to have to stop me from dancing because I would wear
myself out. Of course I could do some of that outside. We did Chinese
jumprope or some sort of dance whose name escapes me. Used two long bamboo
poles that were held by a person at either end and banged up and down in a
pattern, also moving them together and apart. The others took turns dancing
in and out of them. We learned to do this in PE and were thrilled when my
friend's dad got us two poles. I also loved to cook and bake using the real
stove.
>
> When Halloween came around, we'd go to every house in a two or three block
> radius. We'd bring home tons of candy and homemade treats. No one was
> afraid of it. We'd even go *into* people's houses to see the decorations.
> I remember one guy and his wife rigged up a talking jack-o-lantern pumpkin
> at the top of the steps to the basement. He was downstairs, she was
> upstairs dressed as a witch. He talked to us via a microphone. What fun!
> I was about eight years old at the time and still remember it. I'm sure
> kids these days don't have nearly as much fun with Halloween due to the
> paranoia.

Not us. We were only allowed to go to our street, the next one over and the
next one going the other direction but not all of the houses. We could only
go to houses of people that we knew and a parent had to go with us. We
weren't allowed to eat any of the candy until we got home and my dad could
go through it. I always hated Halloween because my mom made me wear a
stupid coat over my costume. I always thought someone should invent
costumes that includes a coat!

I never made my daughter wear a coat although if it were cold, she did have
to wear a leotard and tights under the costume for extra warmth. She's
still alive!

"gtr" > wrote in message news:2013102016561510205-xxx@yyyzzz...
> On 2013-10-20 23:09:15 +0000, Dave Smith said:
>
>> I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
>> candy was very, very low.
>
> You can't get any lower than zero.
>
>> Over dinner tonight my wife and I were wondering whether to bother to get
>> anything for trick or treaters this year, since we have not had any kids
>> come around in about 20 years. There are a couple of families with young
>> kids but they have been here for a few years and never came
>
> Where we live, all the lower-income hispanic folk across a main street
> near our home flood the neighborhood. Mostly they are on their way a few
> blocks further west where the rich folk live.
>
> I try to get out for the evening, as it's my birthday, but I usually buy
> candy for the first hour or so. I was thinking about getting bags of
> Japanese candy, but imagine their parents will gather them up and throw
> them away out of ignorance.
>
> Then I pondered getting some of those oddball Japanese packets of stickers
> that kids seem to love. I figure they love them because they sure stock a
> boatload of them near the checkout counters at the local Japanese stores.
> I just *know* the kids will remember them much longer than they do the
> regular reeses/m&m's/hershey/ products.
>
>> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
>> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc.
>
> I think that's totally cool and among the booty I scored as a kid, the
> rice-crispy squares and the popcorn balls were the *best*!
>
>> The only kids that came were the local kids, and they were all friends of
>> my son. I found out that their parents were throwing out my home made
>> treats. They were caught up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.
>
> And this is how traditions die: Paranoia.

I prefer to do toys. The kids here seem to like stuffed animals and rubber
ducks. They remember our house and I've had them come up to me and thank
me, telling me that they remembered.

This worked very well for me when daughter was younger. I'd just keep any
extras and they could be used for prizes at school or for birthday treat
bags. I always made sure to get plenty that were not necessarily Halloween
related.

But now that she's too old for toys, we are back to boring old candy. I
didn't even go all out with the decorations this year. I think I was done
in about 10 minutes.

On 2013-10-20 23:53:26 +0000, said:

> On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 19:09:15 -0400, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
>> On 2013-10-20 6:59 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>>
>>> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
>>> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
>>> blades and needles.
>>>
>>> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
>>> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
>>> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
>>> process. He didn't get away with it.
>>>
>>
>>
>> I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
>> candy was very, very low. Over dinner tonight my wife and I were
>> wondering whether to bother to get anything for trick or treaters this
>> year, since we have not had any kids come around in about 20 years.
>> There are a couple of families with young kids but they have been here
>> for a few years and never came
>>
>> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
>> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that
>> came were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found
>> out that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were
>> caught up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.
>
> It's the same story with kids not playing out anymore - in case a
> stranger in a van grabs them. That has not happened even once here
> but kids are kept indoors only going on organised 'playdates' their
> parents arrange. I think it must be really tough (and boring) to be a
> kid today !

All humans are preditors if you have a child.

On 2013-10-21 04:18:14 +0000, The Other Guy said:

> On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 20:37:37 -0700, sf > wrote:
>
>> I am so tired of hearing those urban/suburban legends roll out ever
>> year! Thanks for heading it off at the pass.
>
> Actually, events like this HAVE happened.

That's a relief. You can post a link to an authoritative source and we
can all put our children in prison until the next great Christian/GOP
makes our streets safe again.

> But the chance of it happening to someone is about
> as likely as getting hit by a meteor.

On Sunday, October 20, 2013 6:09:15 PM UTC-5, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2013-10-20 6:59 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>
>
>
> > I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
>
> > my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
>
> > blades and needles.
>
> >
>
> > Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
>
> > collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
>
> > order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the
>
> > process. He didn't get away with it.
>
> >
>
>
>
>
>
> I read some time ago that the actual incidents of sabotaged Halloween
>
> candy was very, very low. Over dinner tonight my wife and I were
>
> wondering whether to bother to get anything for trick or treaters this
>
> year, since we have not had any kids come around in about 20 years.
>
> There are a couple of families with young kids but they have been here
>
> for a few years and never came
>
>
>
> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
>
> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that
>
> came were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found
>
> out that their parents were throwing out my home made treats.

Well, *duh*!

"Julie Bove" > wrote in message
...
>
> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
> ...
>> It would bore the heck out of me if I was a kid. I loved to play
>> outside. Of course we didn't have video games or computers. We played
>> inside mostly when it was raining.
>
> Not me! We did play outside some and not usually by choice. Our parents
> would just tell us to go out there to get out of their hair. Mostly when
> we did go out it was during the summer and we were always looking for
> berries or other fruit or vegetables to scrounge up to make something out
> of. Either sun jam or some sort of stew on my friend's toy stove. It
> wasn't an Easy Bake oven but a Suzy Homemaker stove with burners that
> worked!
>
> Mostly I preferred to be inside, reading a book or doing arts and crafts,
> or dancing. My mom used to have to stop me from dancing because I would
> wear myself out. Of course I could do some of that outside. We did
> Chinese jumprope or some sort of dance whose name escapes me. Used two
> long bamboo poles that were held by a person at either end and banged up
> and down in a pattern, also moving them together and apart. The others
> took turns dancing in and out of them. We learned to do this in PE and
> were thrilled when my friend's dad got us two poles. I also loved to cook
> and bake using the real stove.
>>
>> When Halloween came around, we'd go to every house in a two or three
>> block radius. We'd bring home tons of candy and homemade treats. No one
>> was afraid of it. We'd even go *into* people's houses to see the
>> decorations. I remember one guy and his wife rigged up a talking
>> jack-o-lantern pumpkin at the top of the steps to the basement. He was
>> downstairs, she was upstairs dressed as a witch. He talked to us via a
>> microphone. What fun! I was about eight years old at the time and still
>> remember it. I'm sure kids these days don't have nearly as much fun with
>> Halloween due to the paranoia.
>
> Not us. We were only allowed to go to our street, the next one over and
> the next one going the other direction but not all of the houses. We
> could only go to houses of people that we knew and a parent had to go with
> us. We weren't allowed to eat any of the candy until we got home and my
> dad could go through it. I always hated Halloween because my mom made me
> wear a stupid coat over my costume. I always thought someone should
> invent costumes that includes a coat!

We were allowed to go wherever we could walk to, but we did have to be home
at a certain time. We were allowed to eat all of our candy and nobody ever
considered going through it...unless they were trying to snag some of the
good stuff. In those days people gave really nice things like popcorn balls
and big homemade sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins, black cats etc., and a
5 cent candy bar was huge back then. :-)

Cheri

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> I've heard stories about this since I was a teenager.
>
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...1020-Weekender
>
> or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/18r
>
> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in my
> 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
> blades and needles.
>
> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the process.
> He didn't get away with it.
>

When I as around 10 my neighborood was rocked with several cases of broken
glass in candy. They caught the guy. He was just a random maniac who
really hated kids.

So it does happen.


> Jill

On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:06:16 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> wrote:

>
> As children, we lived in fear of these things. We were never allowed to eat
> apples that we were given because even if we cut them up to check for stuff,
> we still couldn't be sure of poison. And one year there was some rumor
> going around that something was put in the Clark bars. I can't remember
> what it was. It wasn't true but I never ate a Clark bar because of it. My
> dad would believe these things and made sure that we kids were equally
> terrified.

How sad! I lived in a small town where one house gave out big popcorn
balls and another gave caramel apples. They were the modern day
equivalent of getting a full sized candy bar, so we trick r treated at
those houses early enough to make sure they hadn't run out of "the
good stuff".

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 22:17:27 -0700, "Cheri" >
wrote:

> big homemade sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins

Yes! I forgot about the cookies.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:06:16 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> > wrote:
>
>>
>> As children, we lived in fear of these things. We were never allowed to
>> eat
>> apples that we were given because even if we cut them up to check for
>> stuff,
>> we still couldn't be sure of poison. And one year there was some rumor
>> going around that something was put in the Clark bars. I can't remember
>> what it was. It wasn't true but I never ate a Clark bar because of it.
>> My
>> dad would believe these things and made sure that we kids were equally
>> terrified.
>
> How sad! I lived in a small town where one house gave out big popcorn
> balls and another gave caramel apples. They were the modern day
> equivalent of getting a full sized candy bar, so we trick r treated at
> those houses early enough to make sure they hadn't run out of "the
> good stuff".

Unfortunately when people live in fear like that, it becomes more pronounced
as old age sets in. Thankfully I came to realize as an adult that a lot of
my dad's fears were unfounded. Now he gets into a terrible state of panic
when he hears so much as a siren. Thankfully where he is living now is no
longer near the fire dept. His former house was just down the street from
one.

I think most people have some sort of a fear and in some cases a somewhat
unreasonable one. A typical one would be spiders. I know tons of people
who freak when they see a spider, even though few species are deadly. I was
actually bitten by a deadly one and my mom was too, both different kinds but
neither of us has a spider phobia. I don't like them but I won't freak when
I see one.

I can't imagine living when pretty much anything and everything could
provoke the sense of fear. Sadly, I do know such people.

On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 22:39:59 -0700, sf > wrote:

>On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:06:16 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> wrote:
>
>>
>> As children, we lived in fear of these things. We were never allowed to eat
>> apples that we were given because even if we cut them up to check for stuff,
>> we still couldn't be sure of poison. And one year there was some rumor
>> going around that something was put in the Clark bars. I can't remember
>> what it was. It wasn't true but I never ate a Clark bar because of it. My
>> dad would believe these things and made sure that we kids were equally
>> terrified.
>
>How sad! I lived in a small town where one house gave out big popcorn
>balls and another gave caramel apples. They were the modern day
>equivalent of getting a full sized candy bar, so we trick r treated at
>those houses early enough to make sure they hadn't run out of "the
>good stuff".

I lived in a small town too and we could go most anywhere we wanted if
we were willing to walk. We also knew who almost all of the people in
town were. We soon learned who gave out the best stuff and much of it
was homemade.

By the time my kids came along we had to give up on the popcorn with
our name on the bag and buy something from the store. I bet we got
food that was better for us than most of the junk that gets given out
now. It may have been a brownie but it was made with flour, eggs and
chocolate. No preservatives.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

> wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:15:22 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>My daughter's life bears no resemblance to mine. We were allowed to go
>>all
>>sorts of places by ourselves and even as little kids, we had no adult
>>watching us when we played outside.
>>
>>Daughter did play outside in CA and NY as we lived on military bases.
>>They
>>had plenty of play areas for kids. But there was always at least one
>>adult
>>watching them.
>>
>>After we moved here, there was generally no playing with other kids. We
>>did
>>have one girl for a time who lived down the street from us but my daughter
>>was so busy with dance that she didn't have a lot of time for play. They
>>did play some but soon the girl was not allowed at our house any more
>>because she was doing lots of bad things and would not listen to what I
>>said. Her mom caught her lipping off to me and her mom was the one who
>>said
>>she should not come over any more. I agreed! Heh.
>>
>>Other than that, it was just sporadic arranged playdates or parties. It
>>was
>>not just my daughter who was busy. All of the kids either were loaded up
>>with activities like sports, clubs or music or their parents worked and
>>they
>>went straight to daycare after school or to a babysitters house.
>>
>>And then the homework! They pile so much on, the kids have little time to
>>do anything else. And now thanks to turnitin.com, they have stuff due on
>>the weekends!
>
> That is part of kids problems today - even back in the 80s when I had
> two of my grandsons for the March Break it was apparent. I asked
> them what we would do for the week - listed off movies and museums etc
> and after a pause the elder one asked if it would be okay to take a
> break and just stay home, watch some movies, loaf about, do nothing.
>
> We had a generous snowfall during the week and they wanted to toboggan
> - didn't have toboggans so I gave them trays and they hurtled down a
> steep slope onto the beach at the bottom of the garden and
> occasionally into the water a bit. My daughter wasn't happy, she
> thought it was 'reckless' but they had a March Break they still
> remember.
>
> Kids are too organised, their own individual sense of fun and
> adventure have been eliminated. They seem almost like Victorian kids
> who were basically little miniature adults.

Oh! I witnessed the saddest thing when we lived in NY. This was the year
following 9/11 and pretty much all of NY was still on high alert. As such,
the kids were never allowed to go outside at school even though there was a
park next door that used to be used for recess. And even at recess and in
gym glass they were resigned to playing duck, duck goose, but had to walk
and not run. Or freestyle dancing. Running was not allowed even in gym
because they were afraid someone might get hurt.

Towards the end of the year, they had a class picnic, outside at the park.
Parents were allowed to come although not all did because some were working.
The poor kids did not know what to do and spent the time clinging either to
each other or the few parents that were there. The teachers kept pointing
to the park and telling them to go play over there but they would not. Most
likely because of all the dire warnings given to them on a daily basis on
the PA system. They're out there! They're watching us! Be on alert! We
don't want anything bad to happen again!

Finally this one mom gave her daughter a boom box. She turned it on and the
song Cotton Eyed Joe came on. This was not the first time I'd heard it
although I don't think I'd ever heard it prior to moving to NY. Apparently
this song is very popular at parties, weddings, etc. Once the kids heard
it, they broke into this weird dance as if by rote. None of them seemed to
be enjoying the dance but they all did it. My daughter did not because I
don't think she knew it. She and the other kids who were not from NY all
held back. But the others all knew it.

> wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 20 Oct 2013 22:17:27 -0700, "Cheri" >
> wrote:
>
>>
>>We were allowed to go wherever we could walk to, but we did have to be
>>home
>>at a certain time. We were allowed to eat all of our candy and nobody ever
>>considered going through it...unless they were trying to snag some of the
>>good stuff. In those days people gave really nice things like popcorn
>>balls
>>and big homemade sugar cookies shaped like pumpkins, black cats etc., and
>>a
>>5 cent candy bar was huge back then. :-)
>>
>>Cheri
>
> lol had a good laugh over that ! Our kids went out, harvested, came
> back to dump the bag and back out for refills. We would be home
> handing stuff out and indulging in a sugar excess.

I think we were "allowed" to eat two pieces that night but I always ate
more. Actually I'd go through mine and discard all that I didn't like,
which usually was most of it. My parents took some and I'd give the rest to
my brother, perhaps swapping him for some of his. He didn't like dark
chocolate or mint.

Although it seemed like I had a lot of candy at the time, I doubt that it
really was. We didn't have plastic bags in those days but I'm sure it
wouldn't have filled a gallon sized bag and perhaps not even a quart sized
bag. Mine was always gone in about two weeks but I also shared it with my
friends. I would keep things that I knew they liked. Mostly what I got rid
of were those Mary Janes. I really hated those. Plus my dad surmised that
they might not be safe because they could be opened and rewrapped. I also
knew that my mom loved them so she was probably eating them.

When Halloween would roll around again, my brother always still had some of
his candy. Plus Christmas and Easter candy which my mom would insist that
he get rid of. It wasn't that he didn't like candy. He did. But he would
only eat his favorites and save the rest of what he considered to be
mediocre candy because he could perhaps use that throughout the year to
trade for things with the other kids.

Me? If I considered it to be mediocre like Pixie Stix, Sweet Tarts or a Mr.
Goodbar, I would just dispose of them down the hatch as many at time as I
could until I sickened myself. But only after eating my allotted two per
day until all of the good stuff was gone.

On 2013-10-20 7:53 PM, wrote:

>> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
>> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that
>> came were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found
>> out that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were
>> caught up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.
>
> It's the same story with kids not playing out anymore - in case a
> stranger in a van grabs them. That has not happened even once here
> but kids are kept indoors only going on organised 'playdates' their
> parents arrange. I think it must be really tough (and boring) to be a
> kid today !
>


I feel sorry for kids these days. They are missing out on a lot of fun
and god exercise. We were sent out of the house in the morning and
expected to be back for meal times. If we wanted to go off an adventure
my mother would pack a lunch for us.

We would head off on our bicycles and never worried about abductions or
perverts. We used to be dropped at the CNE to spend a day there. When I
was about 9 or 10 my mother dropped me and my younger brother off at the
street car terminal in the far west end of Toronto and we rode the
street car and bus to the east end to visit with my grandparents. During
my teens we hitch hiked everywhere. My best friend's family moved to a
small town north of where were grew up and my family moved 70 miles the
other way. We used to hitch hike back and forth almsot every weekend.

On 2013-10-20 8:57 PM, Cheri wrote:
>
>
> I live on a very dark street across from a high school, so haven't had
> kids around for awhile now. Up until a year or so ago we gave the
> neighborhood kids 5 dollars each and called it good. There weren't that
> many, 6 or 7 kids, so it worked well.

We live in a rural area. There aren't many kids around, and the few
there are don't trick or treat here because they go into town where they
don't have to walk as far between houses. My brother lives in the
subdivision in town. There are not many children in the subdivision or
even in the who town, but he gets hundreds of kids. They flock in from
the country.

In article <201310202214185714-xxx@yyyzzz>, says...

> All humans are preditors if you have a child.

what rubbish.

Janet UK

In article >, says...

> As children, we lived in fear of these things. We were never allowed to eat
> apples that we were given because even if we cut them up to check for stuff,
> we still couldn't be sure of poison.

and look at the result of being taught to live in fear. You're still
obsessed with and paranoid about food and its "hidden dangers to you".

Janet UK

> wrote in message
...

> lol had a good laugh over that ! Our kids went out, harvested, came
> back to dump the bag and back out for refills. We would be home
> handing stuff out and indulging in a sugar excess.


LOL, those were the days!

Cheri

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2013-10-20 7:53 PM, wrote:
>
>>> I used to always make something special for Halloween. I made candy
>>> apples, marshmallow squares, popcorn balls etc. The only kids that
>>> came were the local kids, and they were all friends of my son. I found
>>> out that their parents were throwing out my home made treats. They were
>>> caught up in the paranoia of those rare incidents.
>>
>> It's the same story with kids not playing out anymore - in case a
>> stranger in a van grabs them. That has not happened even once here
>> but kids are kept indoors only going on organised 'playdates' their
>> parents arrange. I think it must be really tough (and boring) to be a
>> kid today !
>>
>
>
> I feel sorry for kids these days. They are missing out on a lot of fun and
> god exercise. We were sent out of the house in the morning and expected to
> be back for meal times. If we wanted to go off an adventure my mother
> would pack a lunch for us.
>
> We would head off on our bicycles and never worried about abductions or
> perverts. We used to be dropped at the CNE to spend a day there. When I
> was about 9 or 10 my mother dropped me and my younger brother off at the
> street car terminal in the far west end of Toronto and we rode the street
> car and bus to the east end to visit with my grandparents. During my teens
> we hitch hiked everywhere. My best friend's family moved to a small town
> north of where were grew up and my family moved 70 miles the other way.
> We used to hitch hike back and forth almsot every weekend.
>


We lived in the country when I was a kid and we hitchhiked everywhere. I
will say my parents were not good with the idea of hitchhiking, but once we
were out of sight, our thumbs were out.

Cheri

Cheri

"gtr" > wrote in message news:2013102016513199009-xxx@yyyzzz...
> On 2013-10-20 22:59:15 +0000, jmcquown said:
>
>> I've heard stories about this since I was a teenager.
>>
>> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...1020-Weekender
>> or
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/18r
>>
>> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in
>> my 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
>> blades and needles.
>>
>> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
>> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
>> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the process.
>> He didn't get away with it.
>
> Yeah, they are all lies and bunk. Spreading fear and loathing is a way of
> life for some, particularly as part of an all-consuming world view shared
> by Christianists and "conservatives". Fear is a goal.
>
> Halloween is my birthday and the "war on Halloween" by Christianists is a
> real one in the same way that the "war on Christmas" was enver one.
>
Some Canadian schools are changing Halloween to "Spirit Day" so that all
kids can be included. Such nonsense!
Graham

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> I've heard stories about this since I was a teenager.
>
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...1020-Weekender
>
> or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/18r
>
> I even remember reading articles in the Memphis newspaper when I was in my
> 20's about hospitals x-raying candy and apples for things like razor
> blades and needles.
>
> Apparently no one has actually done this, except for one guy trying to
> collect life insurance he'd taken out on his son to pay off debts. In
> order to get the payout he had to poison a few other kids in the process.
> He didn't get away with it.
>
> Jill
Of course Cadbury, Hershey et al. all benefit from these rumours!
Graham

On 10/21/2013 8:43 AM, Dave Smith wrote:

>
> I feel sorry for kids these days. They are missing out on a lot of fun
> and god exercise. We were sent out of the house in the morning and
> expected to be back for meal times. If we wanted to go off an adventure
> my mother would pack a lunch for us.
>
> We would head off on our bicycles and never worried about abductions or
> perverts. We used to be dropped at the CNE to spend a day there. When I
> was about 9 or 10 my mother dropped me and my younger brother off at the
> street car terminal in the far west end of Toronto and we rode the
> street car and bus to the east end to visit with my grandparents. During
> my teens we hitch hiked everywhere. My best friend's family moved to a
> small town north of where were grew up and my family moved 70 miles the
> other way. We used to hitch hike back and forth almsot every weekend.
>

Same here. We took off int he morning and did not return until dinner
time. Perverts existed back then and we even knew where a couple of
them lived. We h ad no fear and out parents did not worry because they
knew we could fend for ourselves.

To go to my grandparents house, we took one bus, then the El train, then
a trolley car. I was probably younger than 10 when I made my first solo
trip.

Hitchhiking was an accepted practice. I was probably 12 or so when we'd
venture out someplace. Used to hitch a ride to high school most days
too. My mother gave us money for bus tokens, but if e did not use them,
we had money for cigarettes. Very rare to see anyone hitching a ride
today, but in the 60's people crossed the country by thumb.

> wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 21 Oct 2013 07:10:42 -0700, "Cheri" >
> wrote:
>
> wrote in message
. ..
>>
>>> lol had a good laugh over that ! Our kids went out, harvested, came
>>> back to dump the bag and back out for refills. We would be home
>>> handing stuff out and indulging in a sugar excess.
>>
>>
>>LOL, those were the days!
>>
>>Cheri
>
> My last Halloween before I moved to this condo (where's it just
> another day) I lived in the country. There were no kids in the
> vicinity and my neighbour moaned about that fact because he said he
> missed it.
>
> So I borrowed back a Bugs Bunny outfit I had made for a grandchild and
> went and knocked on his door. Didn't say a word and he delivered a
> long, cantankerous speech about it would seem I was maybe a bit old to
> be out t or ting etc. So then I took the head off and we all had a
> good drink and his wife and I never let him live it down.

lol

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

In article >,
says...
>
> On Mon, 21 Oct 2013 07:10:42 -0700, "Cheri" >
> wrote:

> My last Halloween before I moved to this condo (where's it just
> another day) I lived in the country. There were no kids in the
> vicinity and my neighbour moaned about that fact because he said he
> missed it.
>
> So I borrowed back a Bugs Bunny outfit I had made for a grandchild and
> went and knocked on his door. Didn't say a word and he delivered a
> long, cantankerous speech about it would seem I was maybe a bit old to
> be out t or ting etc. So then I took the head off and we all had a
> good drink and his wife and I never let him live it down.

LOL.

Janet UK

"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote in message
...
> On 10/21/2013 8:43 AM, Dave Smith wrote:
>
>>
>> I feel sorry for kids these days. They are missing out on a lot of fun
>> and god exercise. We were sent out of the house in the morning and
>> expected to be back for meal times. If we wanted to go off an adventure
>> my mother would pack a lunch for us.
>>
>> We would head off on our bicycles and never worried about abductions or
>> perverts. We used to be dropped at the CNE to spend a day there. When I
>> was about 9 or 10 my mother dropped me and my younger brother off at the
>> street car terminal in the far west end of Toronto and we rode the
>> street car and bus to the east end to visit with my grandparents. During
>> my teens we hitch hiked everywhere. My best friend's family moved to a
>> small town north of where were grew up and my family moved 70 miles the
>> other way. We used to hitch hike back and forth almsot every weekend.
>>
>
> Same here. We took off int he morning and did not return until dinner
> time. Perverts existed back then and we even knew where a couple of them
> lived. We h ad no fear and out parents did not worry because they knew we
> could fend for ourselves.
>
> To go to my grandparents house, we took one bus, then the El train, then a
> trolley car. I was probably younger than 10 when I made my first solo
> trip.
>
> Hitchhiking was an accepted practice. I was probably 12 or so when we'd
> venture out someplace. Used to hitch a ride to high school most days too.
> My mother gave us money for bus tokens, but if e did not use them, we had
> money for cigarettes. Very rare to see anyone hitching a ride today, but
> in the 60's people crossed the country by thumb.

Aye, they were the days)

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2013-10-21 11:01:02 +0000, The Cook said:

>>> As children, we lived in fear of these things.

Everywhere I ever was had plenty of these kinds of families. I grew up
an Army brat of sorts, and there were always families to terrorized to
eat local food, go to local amusement parks, they more or less lived in
their own US bunkers.

After moving back to the States I found the states were filled with the
same people. And still are!

>>> We were never allowed to eat apples that we were given because even if
>>> we cut them up to check for stuff, we still couldn't be sure of poison.
>>> And one year there was some rumor going around that something was put
>>> in the Clark bars. I can't remember what it was. It wasn't true but I
>>> never ate a Clark bar because of it. My
>>> dad would believe these things and made sure that we kids were equally
>>> terrified.

Sorry to hear it. I knew your dad in myriad guises. I still makes me sad.

>> How sad! I lived in a small town where one house gave out big popcorn
>> balls and another gave caramel apples. They were the modern day
>> equivalent of getting a full sized candy bar, so we trick r treated at
>> those houses early enough to make sure they hadn't run out of "the
>> good stuff".
>
> I lived in a small town too and we could go most anywhere we wanted if
> we were willing to walk. We also knew who almost all of the people in
> town were. We soon learned who gave out the best stuff and much of it
> was homemade.

I lived in small and medium sized towns as well as cities, in which the
languages weren't always English and STILL had that kind of freedom.
My parents just didn't have that kind of fear for us. Perhaps they
taught us how to run as fast as possible whenever we broke something or
perhaps it was that we traveled in packs of from 2 to 4.

> By the time my kids came along we had to give up on the popcorn with
> our name on the bag and buy something from the store. I bet we got
> food that was better for us than most of the junk that gets given out
> now. It may have been a brownie but it was made with flour, eggs and
> chocolate. No preservatives.

On 2013-10-21 12:43:52 +0000, Dave Smith said:

> I feel sorry for kids these days. They are missing out on a lot of fun
> and god exercise. We were sent out of the house in the morning and
> expected to be back for meal times. If we wanted to go off an adventure
> my mother would pack a lunch for us.

Same here. I remember my childhood with great fondness and a sense of
freedom. I learned some of my best lessons in independence and
things-to-never-do-again this way.

> wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 21 Oct 2013 07:10:42 -0700, "Cheri" >
> wrote:
>
> wrote in message
. ..
>>
>>> lol had a good laugh over that ! Our kids went out, harvested, came
>>> back to dump the bag and back out for refills. We would be home
>>> handing stuff out and indulging in a sugar excess.
>>
>>
>>LOL, those were the days!
>>
>>Cheri
>
> My last Halloween before I moved to this condo (where's it just
> another day) I lived in the country. There were no kids in the
> vicinity and my neighbour moaned about that fact because he said he
> missed it.
>
> So I borrowed back a Bugs Bunny outfit I had made for a grandchild and
> went and knocked on his door. Didn't say a word and he delivered a
> long, cantankerous speech about it would seem I was maybe a bit old to
> be out t or ting etc. So then I took the head off and we all had a
> good drink and his wife and I never let him live it down.


That sounds like fun!!! I like it when people do fun things like that.

Cheri

On 2013-10-21 12:59:51 +0000, said:

> I look back on my childhood days very fondly, lots of fun and 9/10ths
> of it unsupervised. I believe it is how children learn to cope with
> later life, knowing how to deal with other people, how to leave the
> nest when the time comes, even look forward to it.
>
> Nowadays what have we got ? Young adults who claim they are stressed
> out, who are disappointed to find they have to compete for their
> position at work and the boss is not into stroking their egos and
> many, too many, boomerang kids. It's a great shame.

We now have two kids who live on each side of us, where before there
were was one childless couple and one elderly couple that eventually
moved. One of the current families have two kids that stay inside all
day long and I sometimes seem them shuttling back and forth to the
family car with an ipad/gameboy/electronic object in hand.

The kids on the other side have two hobbies that can apparently only be
done in the front yard and in the drive next to my office: 1)
Screaming, 2) Running. They occasionally add fighting and crying, but
it's lower yield.

I use to really hate these kids but every time I get myself into a snit
over the noise I ask myself, "If I was sheriff of the block would I
make them go inside and watch television all day? No. I would ensure
they could run in the yard and scream and the asshole next door (me),
can stuff it."

On 2013-10-21 15:18:20 +0000, Ed Pawlowski said:

> Same here. We took off int he morning and did not return until dinner
> time. Perverts existed back then and we even knew where a couple of
> them lived. We h ad no fear and out parents did not worry because they
> knew we could fend for ourselves.

Isn't that funny! We use to shop for clothes in one department store
where an obviously *** man would help us with fittings and me and my
brother had a running gag that he didn't care anything about the length
or size of anything except how it fit in the crotch and was always
"ensuring" it was okay, while we scrambed to get away from his paws. I
remember us laughing and joking about this guy, imitating him and such.
My mother was laughing too while she kept telling us not to make fun of
others.

Can you imagine?! Nowadays I guess he'd be in leg manicals at Rickers
within the 24 hours.

> To go to my grandparents house, we took one bus, then the El train,
> then a trolley car. I was probably younger than 10 when I made my first
> solo trip.
>
> Hitchhiking was an accepted practice. I was probably 12 or so when
> we'd venture out someplace. Used to hitch a ride to high school most
> days too. My mother gave us money for bus tokens, but if e did not use
> them, we had money for cigarettes. Very rare to see anyone hitching a
> ride today, but in the 60's people crossed the country by thumb.

I remember one summer day when my brother and I, age 10-11, deciding to
hitchhike to Dallas, some 100 miles away. We packed up a lunch and
started hitching. Some guy, probably in his 40's, picked us up and
shortly thereafter we stopped at rest area, ate our lunch and talked
about nothing in particular. He asked if we were ready to get on home.
We said sure, and he drove us right up to our house! We probably
hadn't hitched 10 miles out of town! My parents never knew we'd left.

I ran into that guy downtown a few years later and he remembered me and
kidded me about our "world travels".