Paul Bateson murdered well-known journalist, Addison Verrill, but that may not have been his 1st or only murder. Oh and he was in The Exorcist, no big deal.
The Murder of Addison Verrill
On September 14th, 1977, film critic for Variety, Addison Verrill was out for the night. Verrill was a gay man and was out at a local gay bar called Badlands. While he was there he offered to buy the man a drink. The man would introduce himself as Paul Bateson. Verrill and Bateson drank beer and snorted cocaine. Smoked weed and inhaled amyl nitrite (a medication prescribed for hypertension and to relieve the pain of angina attacks – chest pain as symptom of coronary artery disease, but it is frequently abused as an inhalant in an attempt to get high by causing a psycho active affect and improve sex – called “poppers”).
The men left the Badlands bar together around 3 am and took a taxi to another bar called Mine Shaft. Bateson was surprised that people were coming up to Verrill like he was a superstar. He liked Verrill and wanted to leave Mine Shaft. He wanted to go home with him and have “more than unilateral sex at the Shaft.” Verrill was a little reluctant only because he knew he had to get up early and work, but eventually, at about 5 am the pair got a taxi and headed to Verrill’s studio apartment on Horatio Street. Once they were inside the 17th-floor apartment, the men drank 2 bottles of Scotch and did some more coke before having sex at around 7:30 am.
When they finished, Bateson realized that while he hadn’t wanted just one-way sex, that’s all Verrill wanted. He realized that this wasn’t going to be a relationship beyond this point and that was something Bateson desperately wanted (according to him). Once it occurred to Bateson that he isn’t going to get a relationship out of this, he got mad. Instead of taking his rage and doing the walk of shame like most people, Paul Bateson took a heavy iron skillet and, like something out of Looney Tunes, bashed Addison Verrill in the head.
Once Verrill was unconscious and his head was sufficiently caved in, Bateson got a kitchen knife and stabbed Verrill in the chest. Then, Bateson went through Verrill’s things and stole $57, Verrill’s Mastercard, his passport, and some clothes. He left the apartment and spent the money on booze and drugs. Bateson would spend that entire day drunk and high, but Bateson was used to this. He might also not have been a stranger to murder. You may not know his name and you may not realize you’ve seen him before, but since most of us true crime fans are also fans of horror movies, you’ve probably seen him. See, Paul Bateson happened to have been an extra in a little film…don’t know if you’ve heard of it? The Exorcist?
Paul Bateson
There really isn’t a great deal of information on Paul Bateson. He was born on August 24th, 1940 in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. Sources say that he was the “son of a metallurgist” – an engineer who studies metals and then uses their knowledge of the metals to find practical applications for them. However, Bateson later told a reporter that his dad had been an orchestra leader. Maybe mom was a metallurgist and was just really ahead of her time for being in this field? And, shocker, in the 60s Bateson joined the army. He was stationed in Germany during part of his time and was apparently not very busy with military work because he became an alcoholic “out of boredom.”
Once he was discharged from the military, Bateson went home to Lansdale and stopped drinking. That is until he moved to New York in 1964. Once there, he began drinking again and started a relationship with a man who, according to Bateson, was “involved in music.” During this musical relationship, Bateson experienced a few tragedies. First, his mom suffered a massive stroke and died. Then, Bateson’s brother committed suicide.
4 years after his mom’s death, Bateson’s relationship with the musician ended and he moved to Borough Park in Brooklyn. He got a job in Manhattan at New York University Medical Center (NYUMC). Bateson was working as an x-ray technician there in 1972 when a director named William Friedkin came to the hospital doing research for his current project; The Exorcist.
The movie was to be based on a book of the same name that was actually based on a true story of a little boy who was said to be possessed by a demon. The boy was changed to a girl for the book to protect the family. Freidkin needed the lead actress, Linda Blair playing Regan to undergo a medical procedure to rule out medical causes for the things that were going on with her and he needed to find a procedure fitting for a horror movie.
He was wandering the hospital in a time when privacy and HIPAA weren’t a thing, and he came across the radiology department where someone was undergoing an angiogram. This is a diagnostic test where an x-ray takes pictures of the blood vessels and in this test, a needle and long flexible catheter are inserted into the main artery in the leg (femoral) or arm (radial or ulnar) generally and threaded to the aorta and dye is injected into the patient’s artery so that an x-ray can be done and doctors can clearly see the blood vessels. Friedkin walked up on this as the needle was going into the patient and arterial blood shot out. He knew this was the procedure he needed.
In this wandering of the hospital, he gained at least 1 extra; Paul Bateson. Bateson would have a small, minimal speaking role in what is called one of the most famous scenes from the “greatest horror movie of all time”.
A Quick Look at The Exorcist and it’s “Curse”
Ellen Burstyn (also starred in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood as Sidda’s mom, among other things) played the mother of Regan (played by Linda Blair); a young girl who was demonstrating symptoms of demonic possession. In the movie, the actresses and actors are often in very physically demanding situations. Burstyn suffered a permanent spinal injury during a scene where she gets thrown from her bed, and her actual screams of pain can be heard in the movie. Linda Blair also received a back injury when she was thrown from her bed and the rigging broke.
The home where the movie was set caught fire and was destroyed when a pigeon got into the circuit box. And yet oddly, the room that was Regan’s was almost completely untouched. 9 people involved with the making of the move died during or slightly after the movie was filmed. This included Linda Blair’s grandfather who had worked security on the set and as a special effects expert. Also, actor Jack McGowran who played Burke Dennings and actor Vasiliki Maliaros who played the mother of Father Karras (“Why you do dis to me Demi?”) both died while the movie was in post-production. Their characters also died in the movie.
The man who played Father Merrin, Max von Sydow’s brother, died on Max’s first day of shooting the movie. Also, the man who played Father Karras, Jason Miller’s son was almost killed when a motorcycle hit him. The actress who played the demonic voice of Pazuzu, had a family tragedy when her son killed his wife and children and then himself. Needless to say, the fact that Paul Bateson was an unknown murderer was just another drop in the bucket for The Exorcist.
Back to Paul Bateson
Unfortunately, this role didn’t mean that Paul Bateson’s life was turning around. In fact, his drinking increased after and it became such a significant issue that he was fired from his job at NYUMC in 1975. Bateson began working odd jobs, but couldn’t keep any of them for very long. He worked cleaning apartments, repairing lighting, running messages for a liquor store as well as working at a pornographic theater called Big Top.
Bateson was a regular on Christopher Street where the majority of gay bars were apparently. He also marched in the Gay Pride Parade. He held a big sign that said “Anita Sucks.” Bateson didn’t hide his sexuality and was very aware of the political issues regarding homosexuality as well as the people in politics who were for and against these issues. While he worked at the Big Top he was reportedly “tender, warm, and loving,” but he had serious issues that would end up causing him to get fired. He would find pills on the floors of the theater and take them. A colleague said that ultimately he was fired because he couldn’t seem to handle directions and that anything he started, he would get distracted and lose focus on the task. Then once he got back to the task, he couldn’t remember how to finish it.
He tried to stay sober and attended AA meetings for a time (he even carried a card saying he was an alcoholic – not sure why, but he did), but by 1977, Bateson said that he was drinking a quart of vodka a day. His drinking got so out of hand that his social life took a real hit and he became pretty isolated except for when he was out at bars at night. Which is how he met Addison Verrill on September 14th, 1977.
After Verrill’s Murder
8 days after Bateson murdered Verrill, he called The Village Voice to talk to Arthur Bell., a journalist and gay rights activitist However, Bell wasn’t there, but Bateson called a few times that day trying to catch him. Finally, he annoyed the lady who had been taking the calls enough that she called Bell herself to let him know that “this nut called the office twice claiming he killed Verrill.” She told him that the man was calling back in about 5 minutes and asked Bell if she should give the man his number. Within 10 minutes Bell received a call from an anonymous man who said he had read the story Bell had written for The Village Voice about the murder of Addison Verrill and he liked it, but there was one issue he had. The front page article had said that the killer was a “psycho.” The caller insisted that he was not a psycho. He told Bell, “I’m gay and I needed money and I’m an alcoholic, but I’m not a psychopath.”
Bell spoke to the man for 20 minutes and the caller told Bell that one day he’d be able to write a book called “I Talked to a Killer.” The caller told Bell everything what happened the night of Verrill’s murder and explained that he had wanted a real relationship and hated to be rejected. He told Bell that he had also needed money. The caller would tell Bell about the wife he has in Berlin who has “very low mentality and doesn’t understand about [his] being gay” and a 14-year-old son.
Bell said that the caller was “eager to talk” and was “boastful, but showed remorse.” The caller also said that he couldn’t tell Bell his name or anything because he wouldn’t be able to practice any more and he’d lose his license. When Bell got off the phone with the supposed killer, he went straight to the police. He spoke to Lieutenant John Yuknes who believed that this might be the most credible lead they had. The caller knew things that only the killer would know like what kind of credit card was stolen and he cleared up something that was confusing the police. At the scene, there was a white substance on the floor that actually wasn’t what you would have thought. The caller told Bell that this was Crisco which turned out to be true. The detectives hadn’t been able to identify it until the caller told them.
Bell was given emergency numbers to call and was told that a patrol car would drive by his house every 30 minutes. Bell even had a neighbor come spend the night. 4 detectives took him home around 7 pm and the editor of The Village Voice, Marianne Partridge came as well.
Then the phone rang around 11:30 pm.
This wasn’t the original caller though. In his article, Bell referred to this caller as “Mitch” to protect his identity. “Mitch” told Bell that he had a friend that he’d met at St. Vincent’s Hospital that past July. He told Bell that this friend was an alcoholic who he thought was trying to get sober.
“Mitch” said that this friend was an unemployed x-ray technician and that he called “Mitch” the morning after Addison Verrill’s murder. The man told “Mitch” what he’d done and gave him details. “Mitch” gave Bell the friend’s name; Paul Bateson, but he thought that this might not be his real name. He said that Bateson had used the name Johnny Johnson.
“Mitch” also said that he’s not surprised that Bateson would call to confess. He said that Bateson was like a schoolboy who would go directly to the teacher when he did something wrong to get his hand slapped. “Mitch” said that Bateson enjoyed punishment. He also said that Bateson was involved in S&M and that his favorite topic of conversation was himself. When Bell told the police about the call with “Mitch,” but they said that he’d already spoken with them. Because of “Mitch”’s visit, the police had gone to Paul Bateson’s home, but he wasn’t there at the time.
They were unsure if Bateson was really their man, because he didn’t have any criminal record. “Mitch” was brought in and questioned regarding what he knew and then released. Police were finally able to catch up with Bateson at his home and brought him in. When they showed up to his house and asked him if they knew why they were there to which Bateson said “for killing that guy in the village.” Bateson gave a full, hand-written confession. He was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder.
Lt. Yuknes made sure to call the Verrill family to let them know before it got out in the press. Verrill’s little sister answered. She told the lieutenant that the “arrest was small consolation.” Bateson would plead not guilty despite having confessed in full. He spent his time between arrest and trial at Rikers Island.
The Bag Murders
While we’re generally basically finished at this point and just waiting to hear the verdict, that’s not the case with Paul Bateson.
While at Rikers, Bateson was apparently eager to get more things off his conscience. He confessed to killing other men purely for fun. Bateson also claimed to have dismembered these men. While it might seem like crazy talk or like he’s trying to sound like a badass to people in prison, there were actual cases that were unsolved that sounded eerily similar.
At this same time, police were investigating a string of murders that were being called “Bag Murders” or “CUPPI Murders” (CUPPI stands for circumstances undetermined pending police investigation) or, the much less PC, “Fag in a Bag Murders.” Between 1975-76, there had been at least 6 homosexual men murdered. These men were unidentified, but were all found in similar circumstances. All 6 men were murdered in an unknown manner and then dismembered after they were dead. Their body parts were put in black trash bags and dumped in the Hudson River. These bags washed up on shore near the World Trade Center and on the Jersey shore.
While the police didn’t know who these men were or how they were murdered, they were all identified as homosexual based on clothing and tattoos. No, they weren’t dressed in shirts that said, “I’m gay,” but the clothes they were wearing were linked back to a specific clothing shop in Greenwich Village that, apparently, catered specifically to gay men. At least one of the men had a specific tattoo that tied him to the gay S&M scene.
There was a report that the bags the men were found in were traced back to NYUMC by writing on the bags. However, there was never any solid proof of this and more recent research has shown that this is untrue. The police had suspected that the murderer might have medical expertise based on the way the men were dismembered. Bateson would have medical training as an x-ray technician.
Paul Bateson’s claim of being the murderer of these 6 men was investigated and the investigators publicly suggested that Bateson was the serial killer. But since there was little evidence and all they had was his confession, Paul Bateson was never charged with these murders. In fact, they are still considered unsolved.
Arthur Bell came to visit Bateson in prison. He reported that Bateson said that jail was at least helping to keep him sober, and he regretted missing the new season of the Joffery Ballet in New York. Another visitor was director William Friedkin who had employed Bateson as an extra on The Exorcist. Friedkin said that Bateson confessed to Verrill’s murder and that he was thinking about confessing to the “bag murders” to reduce the penalty. However, no record of this deal exists and there is no proof that the police ever made such a deal with Bateson.
Trial and Conviction
During Paul Bateson’s trial, his attorney tried to have the confession he gave suppressed. He claimed that Bateson’s confession had been given while he was drunk, and that Bateson had not been read his Miranda rights. Prosecutor William Hoyt called Bateson a psychopath and made sure to slip in that he believed Bateson to be guilty of the “bag murders.” He claimed that Bateson confessed this to his friend Richard Ryan. Bateson publicly denied being the murderer and the judge said that the connection to the “bag murders” was “too ephemeral to have any connection to this case.”
On March 5th, 1979, Bateson’s trial ended in a conviction. He was given 20 years to life in prison. He became eligible for parole in 1997 and in 2003, after 24 years and 3 months, Paul Bateson was released from prison and placed on parole. In 2008, his parole ended.
Paul Bateson seemingly vanished. He disappeared into obscurity upon his release and no one knows where he lived from there on or if he was, or is, even alive. It’s thought that he is most likely dead. He’d be 80 by now which isn’t ridiculous, but there was a reported death of a Paul F. Bateson in the Social Security Death Index. This Paul Bateson was born August 24, 1940 with a Pennsylvania social security number. He was reported to have died on September 15, 2012.
mindhunter
In 2017, Netflix released the show “Mindhunter” that covers the FBI profiling unit and the birth of criminal psychology and profiling. In the show the FBI agents interview serial killers and Charles Manson to gain a better understanding of the criminal mind. On Season 2 Episode 6 that was released on August 15th, 2019 the agents interview “Paul Bateson” to look into the relationship between sex and violence. It’s not a long scene or hugely significant – much like his appearance The Exorcist.
Sources for Paul Bateson
Ronald Clark o'bryan -- The Candyman
It was Halloween night, 1974 in Pasadena, Texas. Ronald Clark O’Bryan and a neighbor took their four children out for a night of trick or treating. Eight-year-old Timothy O’Bryan was dressed in his Planet of the Apes costume and eager to gather as much candy as possible. When the rain began, the families decided to head back to their separate homes and prepare for bed. Timothy asked his father if he could have some of his candy before bed. Ronald told Timothy that he could pick one piece.
Timothy picked his big Pixy Stick, a 21 inch long straw filled with sweet and sour powdered candy. His father helped him open it and he washed it down with Kool-Aid. Soon after, Timothy was dead. Investigators believed that he’d ingested poisoned Halloween candy. The community and police were stunned, wondering how someone could intentionally poison an innocent child. Within a week, Timothy’s father was arrested and charged with capital murder of his son and the attempted murder of four other children.
Let’s go back…HOW DID THIS SHIT HAPPEN.
Who was Ronald Clark O’Bryan?
Ronald Clark O’Bryan was born on October 19, 1944. Not very much is published regarding his childhood, however O’Bryan was just 30 years old when his son died. O’Bryan lived in Deer Park, Texas with his wife, Daynene and his two children, Timothy, eight-years-old, and Elizabeth, five-years-old. O’Bryan worked as an optician at Texas State Optical in Houston. He was also a deacon at the Second Baptist Church, where he sang in the choir.
Halloween 1974
The O’Bryan family traveled the short distance to Pasadena, Texas to have dinner at a family friend’s home. The Bates and the O’Bryans were friends from church and had arranged for the fathers to take Timothy, Elizabeth, and the two Bates children, Mark and Kimberly out to trick or treat after dinner. They set out that evening, hoping to avoid the rain and have a fun evening.
As the group made their way around the neighborhood, Jim would stand on the sidewalk, while Ronald would escort the children up to each door to retrieve their candy. At 4112 Donerail, there was a wall that made it difficult to see the front door from the sidewalk. There were no lights on at the house. Ronald, still in his white optician lab coat, walked with the children to the door and waited while they rang the doorbell. The children grew impatient as no one answered the door, and quickly scurried down the driveway and onto the next house. Jim Bates recalled that Ronald came out from behind the wall and down the driveway a few minutes later, carrying 5 large Pixie Stix.
“You’ve got rich neighbors. Look what they’re giving out,” said Ronald as he showed Jim the candy.
He held onto the candy until they finished trick or treating, and headed back home.
Once home, he gave each of the four children a Pixy Stick, leaving one remaining. Another group of children from church knocked on the door of the Bates’ house. Ronald gave the last Pixy Stick to an eleven-year-old boy, Whitney Parker. Finally home and ready for bed, Timothy begged his parents to let him have some of his candy before going to sleep. They relented, letting him choose one piece of candy. Timothy chose his Pixy Stick. He had trouble getting the small staple out of the top of the straw and getting the powder to come out. Ronald rolled the straw in his hands to loosen the powder, and instructed Timothy to lean his head back and open his mouth. Ronald poured the powder into his son’s mouth. Normally a sweet, slightly sour treat, Timothy complained that the powder tasted bitter. Ronald brought him a glass of kool aid to rinse the taste out of his mouth. With that, Timothy went to bed.
Within a few minutes, Timothy raced to the bathroom and began vomiting violently, crying out in pain, and convulsing on the floor. 911 was called immediately. A rookie police officer, Jesse Zesiger, made it to the O’Bryan’s house before Timothy was rushed to the hospital. He remembered seeing him laying on the bathroom floor, dry heaving. Timothy died en route to the hospital that evening.
What Happened Next?!
It was quickly found that Timothy had died from cyanide poisoning. Being that the Pixy Stick was the last thing that he consumed, investigators were able to conclude that the candy had been laced with cyanide. The pathologist who tested the candy found that it contained enough cyanide to kill two adults. Once Timothy had eaten the candy, his fate had been sealed. Cyanide blocks the body’s ability to produce a source of energy that’s used to perform natural functions. Muscles, like your diaphragm and your heart, cannot work very long without this source of energy. This eventually leads to cardiac arrest. Research says that cyanide poisoning acts very quickly, and that the victim will likely experience a very painful death. Ingestion of cyanide has been reported to leave a bitter taste, which is likely why Timothy thought the candy tasted off.
Investigators knew that they didn’t have time to waste. They needed to find out if any other children had ingested the toxic candy. Police canvassed the neighborhood and streets surrounding the Bates’ house. Knocking on doors and asking parents to bring their children’s candy to the station, police were able to find four more Pixy Stix that had been poisoned: one in the bag of Elizabeth O’Bryan, one in each of the Bates’ childrens’ bags, and one belonging to eleven-year-old Whitney Parker. None had been consumed, however it was reported that Whitney fell asleep with the Pixy Stick in his hand, unable to remove the staple from the straw. On November 2, 1974, Timothy O’Bryan was laid to rest. His father sang a solo at the service, closing it by saying “I have peace in knowing that Tim is in heaven now.”
The Investigation
Police spent time out walking around the Bates’ neighborhood with Ronald, trying to pinpoint which house distributed the poisoned candy. He initially had a difficult time remembering which house he got the candy from, and after questioning, no neighbors admitted to giving out Pixy Stix on Halloween night. Finally, Ronald brings them to Courtney Melvin’s house. This was the same house that the group visited on Halloween night, that had no lights on. He told police that after the children ran off from the house, a man’s arm reached out and handed Ronald the 5 Pixy Stix. He didn’t recall ever seeing a face. However, after a few phone calls, police were able to confirm that Mr. Melvin was working Halloween night as an air traffic controller, and didn’t return home until 11 PM. At least 200 people were able to corroborate his alibi. In addition, Jim Bates said that he didn’t recall ever seeing or hearing the door open at the Melvin household. As police hit a dead end with Mr. Melvin, they were unsure of where to look next.
On November 4th, an insurance agent contacted the Pasadena police and informed them that on October 3rd, Ronald had paid cash for a $20,000 life insurance policy on each of his children. The agent tried to steer him towards a more appropriate policy, which would yield a smaller death benefit, but would have established a $25,000 cash fund for when the children reached the age of 23. Ronald was extremely adamant that he wanted the initial policy, that yielded a large death benefit, and that it wasn’t necessary for his wife to sign off on. Ronald also requested that the agent store the paperwork at his private office.
Upon further investigation into Ronald’s financials, it was found that he was over $100,000 in debt. His car was close to being repossessed and he had defaulted on several bank loans. Even more disturbing, it was found that Ronald had taken out yet ANOTHER life insurance policy on Timothy and Elizabeth. In January of 1974, he’d taken out a $10,000 policy on each of his children. This brought the grand total of money he’d receive in the event of his children’s death, to approximately $60,000.
Ronald’s wife denied knowing anything about the life insurance policies. On the morning following Timothy’s death, Ronald contacted the insurance companies inquiring about collecting the money owed to him. Police felt confident that Ronald was behind the poisoning of his son, but needed to make sure they had an airtight case. They found that on August 24, he’d attempted to obtain cyanide from his place of business, but was unsuccessful. While taking a class at Harris County Community College, Ronald badgered the chemist about the effects of cyanide and the amount required to kill certain size animals. In early October, Ronald had tried yet again to obtain cyanide at a chemical supply company in Houston. The salesman he spoke with remembered that Ronald left when he told him that the smallest amount they sold was 5 pounds. In a search of Ronald’s house, they found small pieces of plastic from the Pixie Stix, where he had opened them, filled the top 2 inches with cyanide, then resealed them.
On November 5, 1974, just 5 days after his son died, Ronald Clark O’Bryan was arrested and charged with one count of capital murder and four counts of attempted murder. Ronald was held in prison until his trial in June of 1975. He continued to plead not-guilty on all charges. He claimed that because the candy was given to several children, it must have come from somewhere else. It took the jury only 45 minutes to find him guilty, and another 71 minutes to sentence him to death. He spent the rest of his days on death row at O.B. Ellis Unit. Ronalds’s first execution date was set for August 8, 1980. His attorney successfully petitioned for a stay of execution. A second date was scheduled for May 25, 1982. Again, the execution was postponed.
Judge Michael McSpadden scheduled a third execution date for October 31, 1982, the eighth anniversary of Timothy’s death, and he offered to personally drive Ronald to the death chamber. He was going to be the first Texas inmate executed by lethal injection. The Supreme Court then delayed this date in order to give Ronald time to seek a new trial. A new execution date was scheduled for March. His lawyer, of course, appealed the date again, claiming that the death penalty was “cruel and unusual punishment.” Thankfully, a federal judge denied this appeal. On March 31, 1984, just after midnight, Ronald Clark O’Bryan was put to death by lethal injection. At his request, his final meal was a t-bone steak, salad with tomatoes, eggs, and french dressing, iced tea, fries, saltines, boston cream pie, peas, corn, and rolls. These were his last words:
“What is about to transpire in a few moments is wrong! However, we as human beings do make mistakes and errors. This execution is one of those wrongs, yet doesn’t mean our whole system of justice is wrong. Therefore, I would forgive all who have taken part in any way in my death. Also, to anyone I have offended in any way during my 39 years, I pray and ask for your forgiveness, just as I forgive anyone who offended me in any way. And I pray and ask God’s forgiveness for all of us respectively as human beings. To my loved ones, I extend my undying love. To those close to me, know in your hearts I love you one and all. God bless you all and may God’s best blessings be always yours.”
Throughout his imprisonment and up until his execution, Ronald maintained his innocence, never admitting that he was responsible for the death of his son. In an interview prior to his execution, when asked if he would ever change his proclamation of innocence, he said, “No, why should I? It’s the truth. When you consider victims, the victim of this crime actually turns out to be me.”
During his execution, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside, shouting “Trick or treat” and showering anti-death penalty demonstrators with candy. O’Bryan quickly became known as The Candyman. While Ronald’s actions only physically hurt one person, the effects of his actions were felt around the world. “He’s the man that ruined Halloween for the whole world,” said Mike Hinton, one of the prosecutors who helped secure a guilty verdict and sent O’Bryan to death row. “There’s a lot of left over feelings and concerns among parents who were just children then.” Bill Lanier, one of the investigators belonging to the Pasadena police department, who helped bring Ronald to justice, remembers him often. “It affected me. Every Halloween I think about him. He’s a despicable man and his whole life was a lie.”
The Legend of Tainted Halloween Candy
While Timothy O’Bryan’s death was one of the most widely known stories of a child dying from tainted Halloween candy, it was not the first time that communities have been weary of the bags of treats that their children brought home.
On Halloween in 1964, two teenage girls went trick or treating along Salem Ridge Road in Greenlawn, a town in Long Island, New York. The girls remembered stopping at one house, where an older lady joked with them, that they were a bit too old to be out trick or treating. She dumped a handful of candy into the girls’ bags, and they continued on. Later that evening, one of the girls’ mothers spread the candy out onto the kitchen table to survey it, and found several arsenic pellets wrapped in napkins, spread throughout the candy. The teenager would’ve been old enough to read the word “POISON” on the label, however she feared that younger kids would not have. The police were notified immediately, and after combing through other children’s candy in surrounding areas, they found at least 19 of these arsenic pellets. They were quickly able to trace them back to the older lady that the teenage girls had seen earlier in the evening, Helen Pfeil. Helen, a housewife, claimed that it was simply a joke, that she only put them in the teenagers’ bags because she felt like they were too old to be out trick or treating. Pfeil had a 15 and 16 year old son who were also out trick or treating. Pfeil was subsequently charged with two counts of child endangerment. Thankfully, no one ingested the arsenic.
There are millions of other stories, spread from neighbor to neighbor, scaring parents and children alike into being extra cautious with their Halloween treats. A self-help columnist known as “Dear Abby” posted an article on Halloween in 1983 titled ‘A Night of Tricks Not Treats.’ In this article, Abby urged parents to be cautious of letting their children trick or treat: “Somebody’s child will become violently ill or die after eating poisoned candy or an apple containing a razor blade. It is no longer safe to let your child eat treats that come from strangers.” Several years later, Abby’s sister, Ann Landers posted an article titled ‘Twisted Minds Make Halloween a Dangerous Time.’ She echoed her sister’s original post, saying, “In recent years, there have been reports of people with twisted minds putting razor blades and poison in taffy apples and Halloween candy. It is no longer safe to let your child eat treats that come from strangers.”
Local law enforcement offices have offered services after Halloween night where they will x-ray children’s candy to ensure that it hasn’t been tampered with. There were no recorded attempts of sharp objects being placed into candy until the year 2000, when James Joseph Smith of Minneapolis stuck needles into Snickers bars that he handed out to children. Only one child bit into a needle, and the injury was so minor that he didn’t even have to go to the hospital. Many children have had medical emergencies while trick or treating, which initially panicked communities, but these were ultimately attributed to underlying health problems or ingestions of substances at their homes. In fact, there is no other documentation, other than the O’Bryan case, that has shown any instance of Halloween candy being intentionally laced with harmful substances resulting in a child being hurt or killed.
Shortly before he was executed, O’Bryan was interviewed in prison. When told that he was accused of ruining Halloween for everybody, O’Bryan simply responded, “Well that’s a matter of opinion.”
