There are millions of occasions when reality is stranger than fiction. The horrors of evil and the darkest areas of the human heart seem to be the best inspiration for horror movies that in the cinema get on our nerves. For this, today in Supercurioso we will talk about a terrible case, the Candy Man on Halloween.
On other occasions we tell you about the true history of Halloween, its very distant origin that we find in the Celtic tradition of thousands of years ago, or the curious custom of arming oneself with costumes and makeup to go trick-or-treating from house to house.
But this night, in which the living and the dead seem to coincide in a common place, has also been the scene of hideous crimes. Precisely one of the most notorious occurred on the night of witches of 1974…. Let’s see.
Candy Man on Halloween: A story that surpasses fiction
The Candy Man case on Halloween was a real revolution. An impact that shook the media and society in general, in the middle of the night of witches of 1974. In Pasadena, Texas, Ronald Clark O’Bryan and one of his neighbors decide to walk around the neighborhood with their four children, so that they carry out the classic “trick or treat”.
Everything goes well, until they call a house where they don’t open. They try several times and nothing happens, so the children, frustrated, run for more candy, followed by O’Bryan’s neighbor, leaving O’Bryan behind, in front of the door.
Shortly after, O’Bryan manages to find the group, with a smile: he said that the house was occupied, that he insisted on knocking on the door and got five Pixy Stix candies.
The delighted children share the sweets. Two of them are kept by the neighbor’s children and two others by O’Bryan’s: Elizabeth and Timothy. On the way home, laden with candy, they come across a boy they know from church. O’Bryan hands him the fifth piece of candy from the house that seemed empty. Just those candies would give rise to the nickname of Candy Man on Halloween.
Upon returning home, everything seems to be going well. The family has finished dinner and little Timothy is going up to bed. So, he asks his father if he can eat any of the candies they have obtained and he agrees. Timothy chooses the Pixy Stix and his father helps him open it.
It is very bitter and O’Bryan prepares the little boy a juice to remove the bad taste. What happens then?
Timothy is not feeling well. He goes up to the bathroom and vomits non-stop. Finally, he convulses. O’Bryan and his wife, horrified, watch as the little boy faints in his father’s arms.
The ambulance arrives, but the boy dies on the way to the hospital. It hasn’t even been an hour since he tasted the candy.
1. Some poisoned candy?
The nickname of Candy Man on Halloween seems like it would come in handy for the sinister protagonist of this case.
The news of little Timothy’s death shocks the neighbors. Panic spreads in the community and all the families take away from their children the candies obtained on Halloween, to give them to the police, believing that they could be poisoned.
And, indeed, The autopsy on the body of the deceased child reveals that the candy he ate was mixed with a lethal dose of potassium cyanide. The remaining four candies that O’Bryan had received from the vacant house were examined and it was found that they were also they contained poison.
Fortunately, they had not yet been opened by the children to whom they had been given. Police questioned O’Bryan and his neighbor. Where did they get the candies? They checked the road and Timothy’s father himself led them to the empty house.
Apparently her owner hadn’t responded right off the bat, but after the kids left, he’d opened the door, without turning on the lights, and handed her the candy. He could only see his arm: it was very hairy.
The owner of the house, and allegedly the arm, was Courtney Melvin, air traffic controller, who claimed not to have returned home from work until 11:00 p.m. on Halloween night. His alibi was confirmed. Who the hell wanted to poison the children? Apparently Candy Man’s identity on Halloween would end up being much more sinister.
2. A single suspect
The police continued to investigate and, little by little, their sights were focusing on O’Bryan: He had tons of debt, had worked more than 20 different jobs in just a decade, had been accused of theft at his current job, and, in fact, the bank had recently repossessed his house. What did that have to do with candy and the terrible case of Candy Man on Halloween? Much…
A few months before the boy’s death, O’Bryan had taken out several life insurance policies of considerable value for his children, behind his wife’s back. Worst? After Timothy’s death, she had hurriedly called all the insurers asking when she was going to get paid.
The icing on the macabre cake was put by one last detail: O’Bryan had recently visited a chemical supply store, where he asked how much cyanide they could sell him.
Knowing that it was very small, the man simply left. Can you imagine what the police thought?
3. Candy Man’s Halloween ending
The punishment for Candy Man on Halloween, the terrible man capable of killing his own son for money, could not be light. After his arrest, O’Bryan he confessed innocentMoreover, he never admitted his guilt. But, in the trial process, several testimonies were presented that would be definitive.
First, a chemist known to O’Bryan claimed that the defendant had called him to ask how much cyanide would be fatal. His friends also claimed to have perceived strange attitudes in the man, a few weeks before the event.
Lastly, his own sister-in-law declared having heard O’Bryan comment at Timothy’s own funeral that he would use the money from the child’s policy to go on vacation and buy some things he needed.
On June 3, 1975, he was sentenced to death and baptized, by the media, as Candy Man, the Halloween killer.
His death would be postponed several times, until he was executed in March 1984 at the Huntsville Unit, by lethal injection. While that was happening, a crowd outside the place did not stop shouting: “Trick or treat”.
We can tell many fictional stories that we find chilling, but unfortunately, sometimes the real horror is found in real life. And you, Did you know the case of Candy Man on Halloween? Leave us all your opinions in a comment. We will be looking forward to reading you! And if you count yourself among the lovers of the night of witches, do not miss this selection of the best books to read on halloween.