Another Halloween is here. For the past three or four weeks we have noticed the homes and businesses decorated with spooky, frightening characters. Spider webs adorn many homes and in yards creepy monsters shout out as if they were real. Most of our communities hold traditional trick or treat night, they also sponsor parades, haunted trails and free candy giveaways in the city parks. Some churches and schools even get involved with truck or treat events in an effort to make the season a safe and fun experience for kids and adults.

In years past Halloween was somewhat different. Kids went around dressed in their best costumes and knocked on doors for treats and if none were given a small trick like soap on the windows or a busted egg here or there happened. It was all in fun and never or hardly ever was there any real danger. As time went on Halloween’s scariest threats became worse and in some cases very dangerous. Reports each year were of candy with razor blades or some type of dangerous drug laced in the treats, causing parents to worry when the kids went out alone. Times used to be dark until porch lights all went out. Today many communities limit the actual trick or treat to an hour or two and some go as far as having it during daytime hours. Parents normally go along to provide extra protection and security for the younger kids.

But, like roller coasters and horror movies, Halloween ups the fun to another level by throwing in a dose of fear. Wicked witches don’t scare us like they used to, there is much worse on TV every day. Much of the hype over drug injected treats or razor blades or children snatched away by perpetrators is just fake fear to convince people of false made up threats. We know these things have happened, however they are very rare and often just another way for weirdo’s to up the excitement and draw attention.

We watched this past week as nearly 2,000 people crowded into Paden City for the Park and Pool Commission’s annual Haunted trail. Kids and adults of all ages took part. With stations run by local businesses and organizations, every one who stood in line for up to an hour to get in received plenty of candy and a frightful time. Can you recall being a child again, and how excited you were to wear your costume? Maybe you wanted to wear it year-round, you just loved it so much, you just wanted to have fun and look cool.

A big hit as always was the Haunted hayride. Many hours of work went into preparing for a great time. The weather was as perfect as the event itself.

It’s community events like this one that can erase the false notions that drug kingpins are planning to drop candy boxes filled with synthetic opioid poisons disguised as multicolored Halloween candies into trick-or-treat bags or sharp objects hidden in candy, or of molesters grabbing the neighbor kids at their front doors on Halloween night. There is no evidence that these things happen. Witches and goblins of years past never stuck needles into candy bars. They didn’t lace Halloween candy with drugs in the 1960’s, 1970s, 1980s or the 2000s. It’s basically urban legend, keeping parents on edge.

We do however live in a different time and weird things do happen, on Oct. 31, hundreds of thousands of people undergo a complete metamorphosis, and no one bats an eye, but rest assured law enforcement has more tricks up their sleeves than evil people can imagine. The horror for those involved in hurting young people with their hate will be a long term in prison.

Even in the largest cities in the country it’s been declared safe to Trick or Treat in neighborhoods. Feel free to allow your young ones to enjoy the evening and make sure to take precaution for safety’s sake and check their candy.

Have a safe, spooky and happy Halloween!