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Urban Legends

medicated-gummies-ISP

Halloween

News Outlets Are Increasingly Skeptical of Warnings About Marijuana Edibles in Trick-or-Treat Bags

Although the Halloween scare stories continue, journalists are starting to recognize the lack of evidence to support this mythical menace.

Jacob Sullum | 10.30.2020 2:10 PM

lorenzo

Radio

The Death of a Radio Pioneer

Lorenzo Milam, 1933–2020

Jesse Walker | 7.23.2020 10:53 AM

simpsons911

Television

How Fox's 1997 Sunday Night Lineup Ate the Universe

Our reality is now Fox Mulder, Dale Gribble, Chief Wiggum, and a home movie of a guy getting hit in the groin.

Jesse Walker | 6.11.2020 8:30 AM

minnprotest

George Floyd

The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of the 'Outside Agitator' Story

The perpetual scapegoat for unrest

Jesse Walker | 6.1.2020 9:19 AM

blackdeath

Coronavirus

When an Epidemic Spreads, So Do Rumors

The biggest thing our institutions could do to stop the spread of COVID-19 misinformation would be to spread less misinformation themselves.

Jesse Walker | 3.28.2020 7:00 AM

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Marijuana

Kellyanne Conway Pushes Debunked Myth About Fentanyl-Laced Weed

And no, teens aren't popping random pills at "Skittles parties" either.

Joe Setyon | 3.1.2019 12:45 PM

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Urban Legends

Knock It Off, Lazy News Outlets. 'Momo' Isn't Telling Kids To Hurt Themselves.

When absurd ghost stories are passed off as actual journalism

Scott Shackford | 2.28.2019 3:00 PM

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Marijuana

The Year's Best Drug Scares

Killer weed redux, pimple-faced potheads, vapin' in the boys room, Halloween high horror, and a crazy kratom crackdown

Jacob Sullum | 12.28.2016 7:00 AM

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Marijuana

Sheriff Admits He Issued a False Alarm About THC-Tainted Halloween Treats

He still implies that strangers with candy are trying to get kids high.

Jacob Sullum | 11.11.2016 6:30 AM

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Marijuana

Prohibitionists Say Bogus Candy Scare Proves Legal Pot Endangers Trick-or-Treaters

The Drug Free America Foundation claims an imaginary prank "highlights the very real dangers legal marijuana has on children."

Jacob Sullum | 11.3.2016 6:30 AM

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Marijuana

Illinois Sheriff Passes Off Japanese Candy As Marijuana-Infused Halloween Treat

Warnings of pot in trick-or-treat bags still have no basis in reality.

Jacob Sullum | 11.2.2016 7:02 AM

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Halloween

The Great Halloween Clown Purge of 2016

This year's baseless Halloween-mayhem rumor hasn't picked up as much steam as last year's baseless Halloween-mayhem rumor.

Jesse Walker | 10.27.2016 4:15 PM

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Marijuana

Florida Prohibitionists Fight Medical Marijuana With Halloween Legend

Cannabis candy in trick-or-treat bags is "a very real scenario," they warn. It's not.

Jacob Sullum | 10.26.2016 9:15 AM

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Terrorism

'The Gullible Man's Shortcut to a Nuclear Bomb'

The legend of red mercury

Jesse Walker | 11.19.2015 12:19 PM

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Halloween

The Halloween Hoaxes Keep Rolling In

Yet more tales of tampered candy are exposed as frauds.

Jesse Walker | 11.11.2015 2:05 PM

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Halloween

Another Halloween, Another Crop of Tampered-Treat Hoaxes

Halloween is over. Time for the annual Unraveling of the Tampered-Candy Pranks.

Jesse Walker | 11.4.2015 8:17 AM

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Halloween

So Much for That 'Halloween Revolt'

Another scare story fails to come true.

Jesse Walker | 11.2.2015 11:13 AM

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Halloween

Friday A/V Club: Vintage Halloween Safety Films

From 1953 to 1977 to 1985 to today

Jesse Walker | 10.30.2015 12:15 PM

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Halloween

Anarchists! Militias! The War on Cops! Halloween! It's All Connected, Sheeple!

The dubious tale of the "Halloween Revolt"

Jesse Walker | 10.28.2015 12:05 PM

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Urban Legends

An Urban Legend Evolves: First Pot, Now MDMA in Trick-or-Treat Bags

There's no evidence anyone has ever passed off marijuana edibles or Molly tablets as Halloween candy.

Jacob Sullum | 10.28.2015 7:30 AM

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Cuba

The Castro Quote That Wasn't

Urban legend of the month

Jesse Walker | 9.21.2015 4:48 PM

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Vietnam

What If Someone Crossed the Razor-Blades-in-Halloween-Candy Rumor with the Injecting-Babies-with-AIDS Rumor?

Decoding a Vietnamese urban legend

Jesse Walker | 3.5.2015 1:38 PM

Meth

New Halloween Menace: Meth in Your Kid's Candy Bag

Jacob Sullum | 11.4.2014 11:04 AM

Marijuana

Police Warnings Save Children From Pot-Laced Halloween Treats Once Again

Jacob Sullum | 11.3.2014 1:37 PM

Marijuana

Tykes Taking THC-Treated Treats From Tricksters on Halloween May Be an Urban Legend, but the Times Still Leads With It

Jacob Sullum | 10.31.2014 11:55 AM

Marijuana

Worried About Marijuana-Infused Halloween Candy? There's a Kit for That.

Jacob Sullum | 10.29.2014 2:48 PM

Marijuana

Are People Really Trying to Drug Kids With Marijuana-Laced Halloween Candy?

While media outlets and law enforcement officials warn that pot-infused edibles could end up in kids' treat bags, evidence suggests there's no reason to worry.

Jacob Sullum | 10.20.2014 8:30 AM

Marijuana

The Mythical Menace of Marijuana-Infused Halloween Candy

Jacob Sullum | 10.16.2014 7:00 AM

Urban Legends

I think I accidentally started an urban legend. My bad.

The book ban that never was

Jesse Walker | 10.8.2014 11:18 AM

Media

Slender Man Now Linked to Ludicrous Media Hysteria

The creepypasta panic of 2014

Jesse Walker | 6.10.2014 10:08 AM

Journalism

How Candy Snorting Went From a Joke to an Epidemic (Yet Remained a Joke)

Jacob Sullum | 1.23.2014 8:55 PM

North Korea

North Korea, Gullible Reporters, and a General Theory of Rumors

Kim Jong-Un did not feed his uncle to 120 dogs. Why did so many people believe he did?

Jesse Walker | 1.6.2014 1:05 PM

Civil Rights

Vampires and Cannibals in American History

Jesse Walker | 6.22.2012 11:36 AM

Urban Legends

"Those MLK and Mark Twain Quotes You're Spreading on Facebook and Twitter Are Fake"

Matt Welch | 5.3.2011 10:29 AM

Conspiracy Theories

The Devil Went Down to Tokyo

Jesse Walker | 9.1.2010 10:08 AM

History

Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears, But It Is A Little Worried About Syphilitic Jeans

Jesse Walker | 4.27.2010 1:33 PM

Urban Legends

The Folklorist-Detectives

Jesse Walker | 4.10.2010 9:50 AM

China

The Amazons of Scandinavia

Jesse Walker | 10.8.2009 11:45 AM

Corruption

Reason Writers Around Town: Shikha Dalmia on Detroit's Illusory Renaissance

Reason Staff | 9.9.2009 10:34 AM

History

It's Always The End of the World Around Here

Brian Doherty | 3.10.2009 1:28 PM

Urban Legends

Maoist Village Embraces GMOs

Kerry Howley | 4.21.2008 3:20 PM

Pornography

It Isn't Really Porn, But We're Putting It Online Anyway

Jesse Walker | 2.15.2008 10:58 AM

AIDS

Chasing the Bug Chasers

Tim Cavanaugh | 1.25.2003 12:48 PM

Urban Legends

Viewpoint: The Things That Don't Die

James Davidson | 7.1.1983 12:00 PM

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