The phrase identifies a particular particular person, Ronald Clark O’Bryan, who was convicted of poisoning his son with cyanide-laced Halloween sweet in 1974. The incident led to widespread public worry and altered Halloween traditions in the US. O’Bryan sought to gather life insurance coverage cash on his son’s demise.
The case underscores the potential for remoted acts of maximum violence to impression societal norms and perceptions of security. It resulted in heightened consciousness concerning product tampering and influenced stricter legal guidelines associated to client product security. The occasion stays a major instance in criminology and the psychology of prison habits, displaying the extremes to which people could go for monetary acquire.