The myth of diabolical fiends putting poison or razor blades in Halloween treats has been around more than 40 years despite a near-complete lack of reality. At the link, a researcher suggests it’s a way to make our bigger fears for our children manageable:
“If you think about it, Halloween sadism is the best thing in the world to worry about,” he says. “There is somebody in your neighborhood who is so crazy, they will poison little children at random. And yet, they’re so tightly wrapped, they’ll only do it one night of the year,” he says. “So on November 1, you wake up, look around the breakfast table and count noses. If everyone’s still there, you can say, ‘OK, we don’t have to worry about this for another 364 days.’”
Fred Clark, who linked to that one, compares our fear of candy to older horrors such as the blood libel, to conspiracy theories and to Job: “Bildad et. al. know the world is a dangerous place and they hope for some secret trick that would enable them to navigate its dangers safely. This is, as Dr. Best suggests, one appeal of urban legends, which tend to offer a moralistic, reward-and-punishment explanation of the world like that sought by Job’s friends.”
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And a couple of comics covers, first by Neal Adams
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JUNK SCIENCE AND THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM by M. Chris Fabricant (who works in his day job as an attorney for the Innocence Project) tackles a topic I’ve read about previously, that forensic evidence is nowhere near as slam-dunk as TV makes it look. Fabricant’s primary focus is forensic dentistry because the idea bite marks can be traced to a single suspect’s mouth has been thoroughly discredited. The book shows how dentists went from identifying corpses by their teeth (which is legit) to the more glamorous but speculative world of identifying rapists and killers from their teeth marks. The rise and fall of forensic dentistry and the many innocent people it convicted form the tentpole of the book though it covers other topics such as hair analysis and partial fingerprints. Grimly depressing about how flawed our legal system is and how easily this kind of bullshit can slip in.
Small wonder that crime flourished. Murder. Robbery, ranging from picking pockets to housebreaking. Forgery. Fraud. Sex work. Public drunkenness. Gambling, which wasn’t illegal but the potential for a businessman or Jewish money-lender to take ownership of an aristocrat’s estate greatly worried the powers that be. And bodysnatching, as personified by Burke and Hare (who appeared on screen in 
Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver and Charles (Steve Martin) are once again investigating a killing but this time they’re friendship’s strained. With Charles working on Oliver’s show, Mabel feels cut out; Oliver and Charles, who’s a TV actor unused to stage, are getting snippy with each other. The results aren’t their best season but still fun, with Meryl Streep as a new love interest and Matthew Broderick playing himself hysterically (even if it’s a shock to see the kid from War Games is now a grandfather type). “When I was dead I saw the light — yes, the dead person light!”
THE OTHER BLACK GIRL (2023) didn’t work for me even though much of it is very good. Nella (Sinclair Daniels) is the sole black face at her publishing company so she’s initially delighted when Hazel (Ashleigh Murray) signs aboard. Only it appears Hazel has an agenda and possibly it’s a dark one. “Your pain is part of who you are? Do you know how pathetic that sounds?”
While down in Florida I used my sister’s Disney + to catch WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, a one-shot MCU (though obviously seeding for the future) horror special, done in b&w like an old Universal film (though not in the same league). On the death of 
— but she hadn’t made much effort to resist when the door was open and I even lightly restrained her. But there she was, on the deck, refusing to come in, even when we offered food. She showed up again later, same result, then vanished most of the day. This left me pretty miserable: sure, she made it five years between when we first saw her and when we finally brought her in this summer, but it’s still a risky life to be an outdoor cat. Plus she’s still limping from her leg injury; what if she thought she still had her old speed and ended up in a coyote or hit by a car?
I didn’t get anything done on Let No Man Put Asunder but overall I’m pleased.
Like a lot of theater groups, they’re having a struggle at times to keep going but they are still going. Makes me glad. I spent a lot of my life there and it’s still very much a part of me.
Then, a couple of hours later, I saw the water.
It was colder than expected so I didn’t spend as much time in the early morning outside as I usually do. But I did get this cool shot.
I took a walk down to the Books a Million (about three miles) and along the way saw a sign store with this lovely wall.
Thursday, Cindy and I hit the beach and looked at the waves. A lot more pigeons out than usual.
Saturday I went home. And Durham is home now, fond though my memories of Ft. Walton Beach are. But I look forward to visiting again in 2024.
I’ve never heard of the author but that’s true of many writers who were big in their day.
A lot of paperbacks used Hitchcock’s name. I don’t know he had anything to do with them otherwise.
And a cool SF one to wrap up with.
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