Killer Legends Page #4

anyone could ever imagine.

Rachel:
We've all heard the

same story about Halloween.

Little Johnny had been warned

never to go trick-or-treating

at any house he didn't know,

but he didn't listen.

Instead, he convinces

his friends

to go get candy

from this one weird house.

Later that night,

as they're all digging

through their loot,

there's this scream.

All the kids

are rushed to the hospital,

but it's too late.

Johnny's dead from eating

candy laced with poison,

and all the other kids

had their mouths ripped open

from swallowing

razor blades and glass.

They never did catch

the person who did it.

Turns out, Halloween

really comes from

the ancient custom of druids

collecting kids for sacrifices,

and apparently these murders

were committed by those

who still carry on

that evil tradition.

Joshua:
So does our modern-day

custom of trick-or-treating

really stem from evil druids

and child sacrifices?

It's highly unlikely,

but there's no denying

that something very sinister

is out there

instilling panic and inciting

fear every Halloween.

Female narrator:

There's one magical,

haunted evening each year

when all the scary creatures

come out to prowl through

every neighborhood.

Most people enjoy having

trick-or-treaters

come to their doors,

but there are a few people who

will do things to hurt kids.

Joshua:
The first documented

case of tainted candy

happened on long island in 1964

when a housewife

named Helen pfeil,

upset with older kids

for trick-or-treating,

handed out dog biscuits,

steel wool,

and poison ant buttons.

Although pfeil testified

that it was just a joke,

she was still found guilty

of endangering children.

This fear really took root

in the 1970s

when outlets like newsweek

were reporting

that several children had died

from poison or tainted candy.

Some schools stopped

celebrating Halloween.

They stopped using the word

"Halloween",

and they start talking

about having a fall festival.

New Jersey passed a law of

specifying penalties for people

who were caught contaminating

Halloween treats.

In the 1980s, hospitals

began offering X-ray treats.

Announcer:
All nextcare urgent

care locations

are offering free candy x-rays

through tomorrow.

where we found

any tampered candy,

and you see all of these

crazy pictures online,

and so, you know,

if I were a parent,

I would be a little bit

concerned as well.

Joel:
We don't worry about

ghosts and goblins anymore,

but we fear this maniac,

this anonymous person

who is so crazy

that he presumably poisons

little children at random.

I think about how much fun

Halloween is.

I also worry a little bit

about the things

that can spoil

the fun of Halloween.

Those kinds of things scare me,

too, but in a different way.

Joshua:

The one case of tainted candy

that seemed to bring

this nightmare to life

happened on a rainy Halloween

night in Pasadena, Texas.

The perpetrator

of this evil crime

is known to some

as the man who killed Halloween

and to others as simply

the candy man.

On October 31, 1974,

after trick-or-treating with

their friends, the bateses,

Ronald o'Bryan let his son

Timothy, age 8,

and his sister Elizabeth, 5,

each pick out a piece of candy

before bed.

Timothy, still wearing his

planet of the apes costume,

chose a giant pixy styx,

one of five

that his father had gotten

from a neighborhood house

that night.

Ronald had divvyed up

the other styx to his daughter,

one of the bates' kids,

and a local boy

named Whitney Parker.

The sugar inside

had clumped together,

so Ronald rolled the styx

in his hands

before pouring the powder

down his son's throat.

Minutes later,

Timothy was violently vomiting,

and after being rushed

to the hospital,

he was pronounced dead.

The cause...

cyanide poisoning.

I was off duty at the time

on Halloween night

when I received a call

from one of my detectives.

I drove to southmore hospital,

and what I saw

was very, very disturbing...

not only because there was

a child there that was dead

that had cyanide foam

coming out of his mouth,

but it was a small,

blond-headed young boy,

and I looked at this child...

and I had at the time

a small, blond-headed,

eight-year-old son

lying in a bed in my home...

and it absolutely

just almost destroyed you

to see something like that.

Joshua:
Had you ever heard

of the idea of

candy tampering before that?

Ed:

I had heard about it...

I had never seen it personally,

but you know, you're always

concerned on Halloween,

and the next night

we had a grieving father,

a grieving mother,

and a grieving little sister.

I put my arm around

Mr. o'Bryan's shoulder

and I promised him,

"I promise you we will catch

this individual

that did this to your son. "

Joshua:
Timothy's death

was a terrible blow,

not just for the family,

but for many in Pasadena.

As crowds of o'Bryan's

fellow churchgoers

flooded the cemetery,

Timothy's father quickly

reduced the mourners to tears

as he sang a hymn for the boy

who was now in heaven.

I introduced myself

to Mr. o'Bryan

and said I'm a reporter

for the Houston chronicle.

Is Mrs. o'Bryan

available to talk?

He said, you know,

she's really, as we all are,

just torn up about this,

but if you want to talk,

come on in,

and I'll try to talk to you.

And he said, you know,

I held my son in my arms

while he died, and I cried.

I thought

that they had been victimized

by a random crazy man, lunatic.

The original suspects

were people in Pasadena

who were living inhabitants

of the homes

where they did

the trick-or-treat.

Rachel:

4108, 4106,

-102.

Joshua:

Right here.

4102.

So right here

is the bates' house

from where o'Bryan

and the bateses

both went trick-or-treating.

Joshua:

After the funeral,

the police took o'Bryan around

the bates' neighborhood,

but he couldn't

remember the house

where he had gotten

the pixy styk.

Finally, he ID'd a neighbor

named Courtney Melvin.

Ten, right here

where this blue car is.

This is Courtney Melvin's place,

so basically Courtney

was out on his lawn.

O'Bryan was driving by,

fingered this guy

as being the person

where he got the pixy styx.

The only problem being

Courtney Melvin

had an airtight alibi.

As the killer continued

to elude police,

only seemed to confirm

everyone's worst fears...

a fear that still

resonates today.

Do you know about the crime

that happened?

Oh, yes, you're talking about

the candy man.

Joshua:

Yeah.

Uh-hm.

It was the first time

that I heard of people

doing that...

And then I heard of them

putting more cyanide

and razor blades.

I've heard fish hooks.

The way society is getting

right now, I mean,

I'm like, nope, no candy until

I look, you know, through it.

Rachel:

What are you looking for?

You know, an open wrapper,

just seeing if anything

has a hole in it.

You don't trust nobody.

- Joshua:
Yeah.

- Can't.

I actually heard

about some guy doing it

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