The rumors and advice in the media, as silly as they were, were better than the home-grown advice that was passed from parent to parent. Don't let your kid eat

The rumors and advice in the media, as silly as they were, were better than the home-grown advice that was passed from parent to parent. Don't let your kid eat fruit -- it's too hard to to see where the razor blade went in! Tell every parent on your block to pass out sealed candies only, not candy with wrappers that can be put back on after they're taken off! (Seriously, there were parents who thought it was irresponsible for honest people to pass out Tootsie Rolls and Brach's candies on Halloween, because it made it easy for killers to pass out re-wrapped poison candy.) And, of course, there were the various numbers (all made up) about what percentage of your kid's body it was safe to paint before the kid would suffocate and die. Contrary to current stereotypes, anybody taking their kids trick-or-treating in a car was assumed to be poor, and an uncaring parent, because they were forcing their kids to trick-or-treat in "better" neighborhoods so they would get more candy.