Giving out candies to kids on Halloween is a well-established custom, usually making October 31 a joyous day for children.
But for eight-year-old Timothy O’Bryan from Texas, USA, Halloween turned into a tragic nightmare. The young boy met a devastating end after consuming a Pixy Stix candy contaminated with lethal potassium cyanide.
The culprit behind this appalling crime? None other than Timothy’s own father, Ronald Clark O’Bryan.
Dubbed as ‘The Man Who Ended Halloween’, Ronald O’Bryan, an optician by profession and a deacon at a local church, committed a heinous offense that forever tainted Halloween’s image, transforming a festive occasion into something sinister.
On that ill-fated Halloween night in 1974, Ronald took his two children, Timothy and Elizabeth, along with their neighbor Jim Bates and his kids, for trick or treating in their Pasadena neighborhood. They visited several houses, collecting candies throughout the evening.
One house didn’t respond, so the eager children moved on to the next one, while Ronald stayed back. When he caught up with the group, Ronald distributed a Pixy Stix to each of the four children – his own and the neighbors’. The straws of the candies had been tampered with, allegedly resealed with staples after being opened. Ronald claimed to have obtained the popular candy from the unresponsive house. He also gave a fifth Pixy Stix to a 10-year-old boy from his church.
Later that night, before bedtime, young Timothy requested some candy. According to Ronald, his son chose to consume the Pixy Stix from the evening’s collection. While struggling to extract the powdered candy, Timothy reportedly sought help from his father to loosen the powder and eat the treat.
After tasting the candy and finding it bitter, Ronald offered his son Kool-Aid to get rid of the unpleasant taste. Timothy soon began to feel unwell, experiencing stomach discomfort and severe sickness, including vomiting and convulsions. Ronald claimed he held his son as Timothy vomited and eventually became unresponsive. The eight-year-old passed away en route to the hospital less than an hour after consuming the poisoned candy, as reported by the Mirror US.
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