A Gen X After School Special: The Halloween Candy Panic of the 70s & 80s

This episode was recorded remotely and there are changes in sound quality. We will be back in our usual digs next time!

Megan and Lesley unpack the “poisoned candy” panic of the 70s & 80s , track its roots in one tragic crime and the Tylenol tampering case, and explore how fear reshaped Halloween traditions. We trade haunted house confessions, Irvington lore, Disney delight, and a saving-ghost story.

• Irvington’s festival and neighborhood Halloween culture
• Disney’s Haunted Mansion and safe scares
• The myth of stranger-poisoned candy debunked
• 1974 pixie stick murder and its ripple effects
• 1982 Tylenol tampering and safety seals
• Why homemade treats disappeared from Halloween
• Trunk or Treat and mixed safety messages
• Social anxiety, Watergate, and horror’s rise
• Personal trick-or-treat memories and haunted houses
• Local legends, friendly ghosts, and community lore

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Chapters

• 0:00 Irvington’s Halloween World
• 4:55 Disney Trip And Haunted Mansion Joy
• 6:15 A Shorter Show For Festival Week
• 6:28 The Poisoned Candy Panic Question
• 8:35 What Really Happened In The 70s
• 11:38 Tylenol Tampering And Seals Everywhere
• 15:12 Why Homemade Treats Disappeared
• 17:03 Trunk Or Treat And Mixed Messages
• 20:06 Horror Trends And Social Anxiety
• 24:05 Trick-Or-Treat Memories Across Decades
• 31:07 Haunted Houses We Love And Hate
• 36:05 Local Legends And Friendly Ghosts
• 43:36 Wrap-Up And Halloween Festival Plans
• 45:42 Where To Find Us And Share Stories

Transcript

Megan: 0:00

I'm Megan Bennett.

Lesley: 0:01

I'm Lesley Meier.

Megan: 0:02

And this is Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit. Hi, Leslie.

Lesley: 0:12

Hi, Megan.

Megan: 0:13

How the heck are you on this almost Halloween?

Lesley: 0:19

I know it is almost Halloween. Spooky season is officially here. Weather is getting colder. There's a smell of pumpkin spice on the air. From the Starbucks on the corner. From the Starbucks.

Megan: 0:35

Or the Starbucks on the other corner of wherever it is.

Lesley: 0:39

It's like the competing drugstores on different corners. Yep. It's everywhere. That's the truth. I'm doing excellent. Yeah, really well. Fabulous. Um it has, I, as you know, because you used to live there. I live in a spooky neighborhood. I love it. They capitalize on spooky. And so the um the Halloween decor competition wrapped up, and all those winners were announced. Nice. That was really cool. And we've had there's like spooky movies, spooky shorts. There's a stories on the circle tonight.

Megan: 1:24

Oh, nice. The windows are getting painted. Yeah, I love that. That was my mom talks about that and how as a kid she would paint a window. And then when my daughter was little, we used to have her paint a window. And I suspect that your kiddos were window painters as well.

Lesley: 1:41

They were window painters.

Megan: 1:43

Yeah. So basically, for those of you who are not familiar with Irvington and the way that it works, but Halloween is just, it is the holiday, and the whole neighborhood gets involved. All of the commercial area of town with the little shops, they all segment off their windows and let kids paint Halloween-themed scenes on the windows. So and boy, you have to get in line quick if you want a prime spot. You've got to be like Johnny on the spot to get your window.

Lesley: 2:16

Yep. And there is like a contest, they all get judged. We are so good. And they have moved it, as with most things, online. So you can sign up online. Oh, well, that's that's humane. Because it would, you're right. The line of the library would be hugely long.

Megan: 2:36

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Missed it. You missed it. The I do miss it. I will say that. And the I love the haunted tour. There's a ghost tour that happens like every Friday and Saturday night throughout the entire month, which is amazing. And we have, or you, I guess I'm not a part of it anymore, some wildly good haunted stories, just of houses and murders and oh my gosh.

Lesley: 3:06

Yes. I feel like Irvington, I don't know if this is true, but the urban legend or the tale is that we had like the highest number of serial killers like stop by a pass through or temporarily stay. And it it makes some sense because Indianapolis is the crossroads of America, like it was road through from one big town to another big town.

Megan: 3:33

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I know where one of the houses stood where bad things happened. So yeah, wow. Well, I enjoy all of the Irvington-ness that Halloween brings because it is so fun. Or I guess Halloween-ness that Irvington brings.

Lesley: 3:51

So shenanigans, major shenanigans. As of the day that we are releasing this, releasing this episode. So when it goes live, it will be the day of the 79th annual Irvington Halloween Festival, which, as far as I understand, it is the longest running festival that closes down a major highway. We are the only festival that closes down a major highway left in the United States. Yep.

Megan: 4:19

Yep. And it's what, like 20,000 of your closest friends, maybe more than that, even. I don't even know.

Lesley: 4:26

Between 80 and 100,000 people. I grossly underestimated that. We'll descend upon our neighborhood this weekend.

Megan: 4:35

That is a that's a lot of people and not very much parking, folks.

Lesley: 4:39

So that's what's happening right now, as you're listening.

Megan: 4:44

Oh, so so fun. So fun. Well, here's to to good weather because that's the other issue that happens. Oh shit.

Lesley: 4:52

Yes. And you went on a little Halloween adventure. Like you just got back.

Megan: 4:57

I did. I did a quick Disney World trip with my daughter. It was great fun. We went to the the not so scary Halloween party at Magic Kingdom. Super, super fun. I hesitate to tell everybody to go do it because I don't want any more crowds, but you all know about it anyway, so blah. Yeah, super fun. The there are special things that happen to some of the rides. All the villains are out doing their villainy things. The Haunted Mansion is just like the spot. And I it's the spot for me anyway. But then you layer on, you know, some spooky extra music and soundtrack and fog effects and the occasional character actors that hang out in the graveyard and talk to people while they're in line. So nice.

Lesley: 5:48

Oh, that's great. Awesome.

Megan: 5:50

I'm glad you're super nerdy. I loved it. It was, yeah. So and I miss the warm weather.

Lesley: 5:57

Uh true. It has gotten cold like in a snap.

Megan: 6:03

Yep. So wherever these, wherever you find folks are, I hope it's still a little bit warm for you because boy, it turned on a dime here. Mm-hmm.

Lesley: 6:11

So we're doing a little bit of an afterschool special this weekend.

Megan: 6:15

Yeah, I think just a slightly more abbreviated podcast. Uh, because we want people to go out and have fun with their Halloween-ess. Yes.

Lesley: 6:23

So they should the theme, what's the topic?

Megan: 6:28

Well, so I was thinking about Halloween and it made me think of Halloween as a kid when in the 80s, kind of late 70s and 80s, I remember parents starting to really freak out about poison in our candy or tampered with or razor blades in apples and all kinds of things that I just I needed to know if it was real. Sure. Yeah, yeah. I hear that. Am I crazy?

Lesley: 7:04

What is this something we just made up as kids? I have memories of that too.

Megan: 7:10

Yeah, yeah. And and you know, I I was like, when did when did it stop being okay to give a kid an apple? Right? Like, right. Why don't we give homemade treats or homemade treats? Right. Yeah. Because I remember as a little little kid, I feel like the lady down the street made chocolate chip cookies and put them in little baggies, and you got a cookie.

Lesley: 7:35

Yes, homemade caramel apples.

Megan: 7:37

I remember that for sure. Yep. And and then suddenly it was not a thing anymore. Yes, yeah. And there were like candy inspections. Right, right. Yeah. Like, yeah. So I did a little bit of research, and here I'm I will tell you what I what I learned and see if this kind of tracks with what you remember growing up. So, you know, of course we had the the ritual at the kitchen table where you dump all of your candy haul and your mom and dad go through and inspect everything, right? Now, previous when you were younger, it was probably mom and dad just pulling out the things that they really liked, and you're stuck with some of the crap candy, but right, yes, jerks. Yeah, but like as a kid, there was a a moment where all the homemade stuff just went in the trash, like the the transition, right? From like if it wasn't fully wrapped or it was homemade, it went in the you know, in the shit can. Oh yeah, yeah. So yeah, so so what I learned was like news anchors warned about razors and poison all of a sudden. Dear Abby was actually warning people about you know, about candy tampering. Hospitals, hospitals and fire departments started x-raying Snickers bars and candy bars, and it kind of like it felt like it, you know, made sense, maybe like parents were like all on board about it. Uh-huh. But if you do the research and you go back and you look through like actually what happened and or did anything actually happen, stranger danger candy problems and the like the stranger danger danger candy killer was completely made up. There was literally nothing, like it never happened.

Lesley: 9:41

Not one single incident.

Megan: 9:43

No, not once. So the there's so I shouldn't say not anything. There were two things that kind of made maybe made this urban legend a thing. In 1974, there was a Texas man, his name was Ronald Clark O'Brien. Okay, and Ronald Clark O'Brien murdered his son with a cyanide laced pixie stick in order to cash in on a life insurance policy. So it didn't work. Clearly, it didn't work. I mean, right. Like he didn't know about it. So he but he disguised it as like Halloween candy sabotage. So he told people this was like, you know, this his kid got tired of his pixie stick. Right? What the fuck? I know, super bad dad, right? Not not a good not a good person. Ruined it for all of us, ruined it for everybody. Local, the the local parents in that area were like, holy shit, and they all rushed, you know, to the police station, like, we need you to test our kids candy. And but then that, of course, like the way things do, that story spread. And so that whole idea of poison candy was kind of born that way. Oh my gosh. Nobody actually tried to poison somebody else's kids, it was some shitty dad that poisoned his own kid. Poisoned his own kid. That's horrible. I know, I know, awful, awful. So there's that. So that was one piece of of it. And like I said, that was like 1974. So it probably took some time back then. Sure. I was like one. Yeah, right. It but it probably took some time for all of that to kind of grow and become a thing. Absolutely. So in 1982, there was the Chicago Tylenol murder murders, if you recall. Yes, yes, I do. So seven deaths, all from cyanide that were put into store shelf Tylenol capsules. Okay, yeah, I totally remember. Yeah, right. Like I I remember this, and it was wasn't Halloween, but it was like product tampering, right? So, like immediately you're like, ooh, product tampering, and so everybody's out to get us. And that ultimately led almost immediately into this idea of tamper-proof packaging. Okay, sure. So now you have like three layers of stuff you have to get through if you have a headache.

Lesley: 12:26

Tons of like little bits of plastic and oil and seals and and all of that stuff.

Megan: 12:32

And if you have a headache, you just want to pill and maybe a cyanide pill. I don't know. I don't know how bad the headache is.

Lesley: 12:42

Okay, so those two things together.

Megan: 12:47

Yeah, yeah. So that like there's a sociologist named Joel Best, and they went through a ton of different press reports all the way from 1958 to 1983 and found zero verified cases of a child killed by a stranger's tainted Halloween candy. There was nothing.

Lesley: 13:13

Nothing actually happened. So we like put the equivalent of the like the content warning on CDs on Halloween, like the explicit lyrics warning. It's just like Halloween is so dangerous. Watch out, kids. Like dudes. I mean, we already talked about satanic panic, but no, I'm thinking of that, like satanic, like this is an extension of that. Like it's just another reason to like be afraid and ruin something for kids.

Megan: 13:48

We have to ruin something good. But like think now of like, I don't know if I've I feel like now if I opened a bottle of literally anything and it didn't have some sort of inner seal on it, I don't I don't think I'd use it, right? I'd be like, sure, this feels weird.

Lesley: 14:07

Right. Because now it's so normalized that everything has like a label on it and that kind of thing, or it has the like seal on it. Yeah, I think like occasionally, like I still get like bottles of lotion. They don't always have like sure, but definitely on your medications, always like you're buying an off-the-shelf medication. And I'm wondering, I always made the assumption that like at least for my kids, like you couldn't bring home-baked treats because of allergies, you know, it was like like an allergy-based thing, but also like a board of healthy kind of thing. Like you can't, you don't know how clean everybody's kitchens are and that kind of stuff. 100%. But do you think that like there's some like, you know, we have to switch to all packaged treats, no more homemade anything? Like, I don't know when that happened in school. Did that happen?

Megan: 15:00

I mean, I think it's probably I think it probably happened about the same time where you know everybody was like, ooh, you know, we can't we we can't do that because we don't know if Timmy's mom is a serial killer.

Lesley: 15:13

I just sticking razor blades in salad in her like homemade moon pies, and now we just have like little Debbies, and that's it, nothing else.

Megan: 15:24

And if it tastes like shit, you know, too bad hostess only. Theoretically, it's safe. Yeah, I know, yeah. Well, and even like I mean, I'm even thinking about like like ding dongs used to be wrapped kind of loosely in aluminum foil. Yes, they were and it wasn't real foil, but it was like a it was like a foil, right? Like a plastic foil.

Lesley: 15:49

My mom freaking loved ding dongs. I want them to, like your your mom was spot on. I just love water, and they were definitely wrapped in foil, and they were bigger.

Megan: 16:00

They better, yes, but it was like a loose foil, right? Like it wasn't sealed, it was just like they were just like. Yeah, yeah. So everything's changed, and then you know, yes, yes to medication having that inner seal, but like I'm thinking about like if you buy a big jar of planters' peanuts, there's a maybe it's freshness.

Lesley: 16:28

I don't, you know, I don't like freshness seal, but yeah, the whole idea of like we're sealing everything now to like make sure that nobody gets into it.

Megan: 16:38

Okay, so I just thought that was really interesting. Like, I wanted to know why the hell we were x-raying our candy as games. Sure. And I remember PSAs, like I remember either either radio or television PSAs that would tell you what fire stations had the x-ray machine.

Lesley: 17:00

Yes, absolutely. No, I have a memory of that. You could go to like your community news, so it was early cable, but also like most people absolutely just had network TV in their houses, right? And your local TV stations would say, Don't forget, Halloween's coming up, trick-or-treat. You can go to this police station and this police station, and they'll have x-ray machines set up and you can just run your candy through. Now, like we never did that, but it was a normal thing to hear.

Megan: 17:30

Right, right. Well, and the other thing that became kind of normalized, I think, too, was specialty trick-or-treat nights, like at the mall. Oh, yeah.

Lesley: 17:43

Yes, yes, and like the um, I always thought it was so fucking weird, but the like advent of like trunk retreats. Yes, you like go to a parking lot. Okay, listen to our solution. You can take your children to a parking lot where strangers put candy in their trunks and they decorate their trunks to make them inviting. And then, I mean, I know little kid, the parents were with them. I get it. Lots of them were probably at churches, there were lots of, but let's think about the precedent that we're setting. Right.

Megan: 18:26

Climb into the trunk to walk up to a stranger's vehicle who offers you candy. That is everything I was warned about. Right, right. I am pretty sure when the dude came to our elementary school and said was trying to teach us about street smarts, he was telling us not to get into the van with the with the guy with the treat.

Lesley: 18:51

Yes, yes, no shit, like absolutely. Oh, it's lucky, we're lucky we're alive. So you were you were talking about this, and I had like kind of buzzed through a CNN article really quick. So I was like, okay, I know what we're gonna talk about, and you were doing like the deep dive on it, but I just saw an interesting like sociological perspective on the whole like poison candy thing. Do you want to hear about it? I just read this piece. This, the author of this article on C it's CNN Health, it was published in 2019. You guys can find it. But they were talking about the impact of 1974, the Nixon resignation, and the Watergate scandal. I think this is fascinating. There was a lot to like worry about that time. Like the end of Vietnam was happening. There was the American, he wrote this guy who wrote a book called The American Reckoning. He described the era post-Vietnam, stagnant economic growth, soaring inflation, caused many Americans to see the country itself as a victim of forces beyond its control. Okay. So the social change in the 70s fed the creation of urban legends, argues the sociologist, whose name is Jeffrey S. Victor. Um, a brutal story about strangers with poison candy seemed a preferable national fantasy to historical reality in the 70s and 80s.

Megan: 20:22

Okay. I mean, I, yeah, I could see all of that.

Lesley: 20:26

I can't do anything about where this country is right now. Right. So you know what we're gonna freak out about?

Megan: 20:34

Yeah, yeah. I can't fix the you know situation in Iran. I can't fix the the oil shortages, I can't fix protests about Vietnam. I can't fix, but by golly, I can make sure that my little family is protected from the probably fake boogeyman. Right. It's a thing I can do.

Lesley: 21:00

Yeah, that's fascinating. Yeah, I have agency and it helps like me manage my anxiety.

Megan: 21:07

Well, and then it would just, it would just feed on itself, right? Like, because then you've got one stupid urban legend that is gonna feed into another one and another one. And you know, Gladys down the street just heard about the first one, and so it's like this nasty circle that's just gonna continue to build and and and you remember the game that you we like. We probably that you probably played. I know I played it as a kid, that telephone game where like you say something to one person, you share it to somebody else, you share it to somebody else. Yes, by the time it gets to the end, it's completely different from whatever the first thing was.

Lesley: 21:46

Yes, absolutely. Oh, yeah, that is totally that. That's I think that's fascinating. The same sociologist noted that like that was sort of the same era that sparked like the exorcist. Like, there was this like this number of horror films that all came. It's just so interesting to kind of see how like when things are happening that we have no control about, of course, as human beings, like our instinct is to create something that we can control.

Megan: 22:15

Yeah, well, and the horror movie genre that'd be interesting to figure out too. The horror movie genre that deals with children. Absolutely. You've got Rosemary's Baby, you've got The Exorcist, you've got Children of the Corn, you've got you know, Polterweist, all of them where these kids are victims, right? Right, but also terrifying. Like also like the the the damned, the village of the damned, all of those, right?

Lesley: 22:44

Like, yeah, oh it's fascinating. I think that's so interesting. Ugh. So do you remember? Like, did you ever have to take your candy to like get scanned?

Megan: 22:55

Like no, I don't know, I don't think so. I think we probably I remember like the sorting of the candy, right? And I I don't I I don't remember any. I I uh I gotta think about this because I can't remember. I know that there were homemade treats that that would have come from my neighbors when I was little, like super little. Okay. And I but I couldn't tell you when that switch was and if anybody in my house freaked out like about anything. I just I kind of feel like no, but uh you know, I okay maybe we just didn't have the the treats, the homemade treats after a certain time, you know. It just sure. Do you remember trucker treating? I do. I do. When I was when I was really little, we had we were in a a cool, like older neighborhood, and you know, the houses were were kind of they were like tutors and uh you know, kind of like old stately looking houses. And and my mom will tell you that she paid, I think, somewhere like twelve thousand dollars or something for their house in this, which now and I think they sold it for 19 and now it is like an $800,000 house. Some bonkers. Yes. Um, but the but that neighborhood was really cool, had big old trees, had like neighbors who lived in that neighborhood for a really long time, and they would really do up Halloween. They would, you know, like the neighbor across the street had a cool, a cool big old tree, and he would hang a ghost from it, and it would drop down on you as you, you know, walked up the sidewalk kind of. Oh, amazing. Yes. Um, so stuff like that. I remember a we we had moved to a condominium like a few years, number of years later. I remember there was a guy who dressed up like Darth Vader and gave out candy. No shit was like when the move, right? That was like it was probably Empire Strikes Back, but like everybody in the neighborhood was like, Oh, that dude's dressed up like Darth Vader. That's fast. Yes. So those are like the two memories that really come to mind for me. I loved trick-or-treating with my daughter, my husband did it every year. I was I like pretty much stayed back and made chili and handed out candy, but like getting her her outfit together and like sending her off to trick-or-treat, so funny. Doing the costuming part, of course. Okay, girl. Yeah. How about you? Do you remember it? And and what because I know you weren't in a neighbor, like you were out a little bit.

Lesley: 25:50

Yeah. So that as you were talking, I was thinking about that. I was like, what did we do? Because I think up until five, I lived in like we had a ton of close neighbors. Uh-huh. So I'm sure that I did, but I have no memories of truck or treating at that age at all, up to five. And I was thinking, like, there were probably eight houses. So I know that, and it was a walk to like even in our close area, like for me as a tiny child. So I know that we had to have walked to those houses, but I don't have like really specific memories of it. My two specific Halloween memories, one of them was, and it's based on a picture. Like, I don't really have a sensory memory, but the picture has built a memory. I think before my folks had my brother, so I was probably four. Okay. We were actually in Florida for Halloween. Oh. And we would stay at this hotel. It was in the Tampa area. It was called the Wits End Motel. And I think it's still there. It was like a motor, a motel. You would drive in, and it was two stories, and all the doors to the rooms opened inward, like towards the pools, and there was like this little grotto. It was very successful. Very Florida. That sounds very old Florida. Okay. And I definitely had on like you remember the like plastic sheet costumes. Yes, ma'am. There's just like plastic mask. And I was definitely Wonder Woman. Okay. Most definitely. So and that. Yeah. Oh, definitely that. And then there was definitely like a panda with me. Like there were probably eight or ten kids. Okay. And we went trick-or-treating at every single room in the motel. Oh, everybody got candy. There probably were more kids, but like in this photo, there were like eight or ten kids. Yeah. And so they did trick-or-treat for us. That's very cool. And it was cool. I was in Florida. Like as a tank. Yeah. So it was probably like 77. Okay. Oh, I love it. 70. Yeah, it had to be 76 or 77.

Megan: 28:14

And you were a little little, and that sounds like a blast.

Lesley: 28:17

Oh my gosh. And then like everybody there knew everybody. It was then like we know that this still happens. But in the olden days were whoever you met on vacation, are you coming back next year? Are you coming back next year? Yeah, we always come this week. And they all knew each other and they all knew the motel owners and all that stuff. So the other really distinct memory I have is Halloween, like my freshman year of high school. Okay. And I went to a college party with my sister. But like we didn't really go to the party. Like one of my friends and this like boy we were flirting with came and we like wandered the neighborhood. Okay. My sister was at this party. So we sort of like ran amok. But but we were like at a college party, right? But not and she asked to bring me and we were like, Yeah, we'll go. But I didn't see her the whole night. Like we were just wandering this neighborhood.

Megan: 29:17

I don't know if we took her treated or if we were like, I feel like you made all of this up because you watched an 80s movie. Right?

Lesley: 29:27

Doesn't it sound so quintessentially 80s? 100%, yes. So, but it's just in that time where, like, okay, I had dead mom, my dad had not remarried, he was desperate to like figure out something to do with a daughter, and like he was like, Here, spend some time with your half sister. Like, she was kind of in our lives, and she was like, I'll take her to a party. We also went to the haunted house at the fairgrounds. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Quintessent to late 80s. And she bought me Prince 1999. It's my favorite CDS.

Megan: 30:03

Oh, well, I like her. That's cool.

Lesley: 30:06

Yeah. So there, yeah, we wandered around a neighborhood. We did nothing. I mean, we didn't drink, we didn't get in trouble. We just like wandered around a neighborhood all night. Okay. I mean there's things two Halloween memories outside of like having kids and taking them trick-or-treating and then like living in the Halloween.

Megan: 30:26

There was a time in the in my twenties where, like, you know, as a young 20-something, the whole idea of big Halloween parties and coming up with costumes and all of that was like such a big deal. Yes. Um, and and my husband, previous to being my husband, I mean, I remember we went to a costume shop and like rented costumes and would buy them like old costumes, buy them and like use them next year or that kind of thing. And and then I don't know what happens, like something in life just happens, and you're like, I'm not dressing up. Like it's just I need a nap.

Lesley: 31:08

I don't, I'm gonna stay home and maybe hand out some candy and turn off the porch light at about 9 p.m. and that's it. Good night, kids. Good night. Did you do haunted houses? Because I do think I know there's a big haunted house like culture now, but it felt like haunted houses in the 70s and 80s. Like we would have host one at school, we would build one in the basement. So I guess I do remember that. But like, did you go to them when you were in high school or I am sure I did?

Megan: 31:40

I'm I'm sure that I did at least a couple times, right? Like I have vague memories of going to something and people jumping out of places and scaring me. I hate that. I do hate it. Like I like I love the Disney haunted mansion. Yes, I love it. It is, it's my aesthetic. I could decorate my house like that and I would be happy forever. Absolutely. But that jump scare bullshit, no, I have no tolerance for at all.

Lesley: 32:08

People following you right behind you.

Megan: 32:11

No, awful. And in fact, we went to New York Comic Con, what, just like a couple weeks ago. And the I I wish I could remember what the what the booth was. It was some scary something, something. And it was a house, and oh, it was like it. I think it was like an it. Oh, yeah, that's bullshit. Fucking sound. I came around, I'm like walking around this house, and the backside of it had this like fake backyard porch kind of thing. And there was an actor there who was standing there looking, he had his head down and his eyes up, and like this horrible creepy expression on his face, and he was just standing there and staring and he kind of smiling. And I was like, the fuck? No. I turned to my husband and my daughter, and I'm like, fuck this shit, and walked the other way. I was like, no, we are not doing that. No, it's good to have boundaries. I'm like, do not scare me that way. Go away. Yeah. So I don't do like the I don't do this, the scary jump scare movies. I don't, you know, I the haunted house thing, if they're gonna jump out of me, I don't, that's not a jam.

Lesley: 33:30

There is something very different in my nervous system in middle school where like I was like, sure, I'll watch all the Halloween movies and all the Friday the 13th movie. And I think it's true. Like, I remember my daughter being the same. Like, there's something about like, I don't know, okay. Like it's yeah, or it's just like fascinating, or they're just like, I don't know, and they would go to haunted houses and they would go together. There would be this like group, like, we're gonna get so scared together, you know. And then they would just come home, like, no big deal. It's fine.

Megan: 34:02

I bet you, and you could put your little therapist hat on, but I bet you that there is a like bet there's a endorphin or something that follows with that, right?

Lesley: 34:13

Oh, for sure. It's safe terror. Sure. Yeah. Like, because you know it's safe, but you can let your imagination run wild that it is not, and you are in a very dangerous situation.

Megan: 34:29

So maybe as you get older, you're like, no, there are real terrors out there. I've I've got plenty, I don't need any more of this.

Lesley: 34:36

I think you are absolutely right. Like, do you want like a true confession? Sure. Hell hell yeah. Did you ever go to the children's museum haunted house? I did, yes.

Megan: 34:50

Which, by the way, just as an aside, is fascinating. The the children's museum in Indianapolis is the world's largest children's museum, and they have this big haunted house every year. It is a hundred percent volunteer driven. So, like the staff has at the at the children's museum has nothing to do with any of that. And it's like they're one of their biggest fundraisers that's all volunteer driven. I love that.

Lesley: 35:12

It's put on by like the museum guild, I think, and they raise a ton of money. So we of course went, like, I think when I was young, elementary school, like in Girl Scouts, scared the shit out of me. And and I remember going and it was like in a building separate that was outside of the museum at that point. Like in the parking lot or something, right? Yeah, yeah, and it was cold. I remember being cold and like waiting outside. So my kids really wanted to go to the children's museum in like elementary school to go through the haunted house. And I was like, okay, okay. And we even went, it wasn't during lights on, okay, but it was during a not so scary time. Okay, supposedly. I have a feeling I know how this is gonna end. Go ahead. I was certainly not walking in front. Okay, I used my children as human beings. In you go. I was scared to death. I was hiding behind my eight-year-old. Oh god, and the kids were out front and they were laughing, and there were some parts that were I was about to piss myself. I was so scared. That sounds awful. And it was, I was not wrong because suddenly next to me, behind me, is a figure all in black. Like they have this black body girl just walking next to me.

Megan: 36:34

Do you know the problem with that is at this point in my life, if that were to happen, my initial reaction would be to throw a punch first for sure and ask for forgiveness later. Absolutely.

Lesley: 36:50

No, so any future grandchildren, if you ever exist, sorry, grandma's not taking you to the hotel house because menopause says I will have to kill all threats. And that will not work. Human shields, they thought it was hilarious. I was terrified. We went through there so fast, and they were like, and then to go in and do it again. Right.

Megan: 37:16

Go by yourself, and I'll see you. Have fun, do it. You you know where I parked. Good luck. So here we are. Oh my god, that's awesome. So I don't I don't want to keep anybody for too terribly long, but I know that we were gonna also talk about like the you know, the urban legend, obviously, of the poison candy is one thing. But did you have or do you remember the like places in town that were specifically haunted, scary, like go just to be scared kind of places?

Lesley: 37:53

I don't personally, because I didn't well, okay. So the place to be scared would have been my elementary school. Okay. When I went to my weird Montessori school. Okay, we had so many ghost stories about our own school because it was like this weird old manton in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere. Oh yeah. But in high school, like when we had like wheels, I don't remember you know, when you got your driver's license and you had wheels. I don't remember it. Yeah, I know. That's what I was like, and I pulled up my lock when I got in the you know. So I don't remember it. Like I remember mostly kind of hanging out outside of my crazed run through a neighborhood at a college party, mostly being at friends' houses. So like we could go places to try to get super freaked out. Like what do you remember?

Megan: 38:56

Well, so like our I know there was there's legends in in Indianapolis about a house house of blue lights that was like you could totally Wikipedia that thing if you wanted to, but it was legendary from like when our parents were younger. Absolutely, yes. And then eventually they tore the house down and oh, it is gone. Yeah. I'm sure that the that you know the ghosts still remain, but you know, that was that was the haunted, kind of kind of the haunted house, I guess.

Lesley: 39:30

Yeah, and there was a so this all makes sense. There was a book written about it in 1975. It was called The House of Blue Lights by KJ McLott. There you go.

Megan: 39:41

So there you go. Yeah, that was that was the one that I remember. And then I think like the I remember, I want to say it was like in Noblesville, which you know, if you're not local to us, you won't, you'll be like, whatever. I don't know what that means. But there's a an area like probably, I don't know, 30 minutes or so north of where we live. Um, and I remember there being a bridge that you would go to that was supposedly super duper haunted. Oh so I went one night and like fully expected to be, you know, to see ghosts and stuff, and it was a massive disappointment.

Lesley: 40:23

Oh, you didn't even like scare each other to death?

Megan: 40:27

No, I was like, well, what where's the ghosts? You know, but I'm open to it. If ghosts want to come along, I'm happy to like, you know, check it out and talk to them. I think it'd be super fun.

Lesley: 40:38

Have you ever lived in a haunted house? Like, did you ever want to like when you lived in Irvington? Did you have like weird bumps in the night ever?

Megan: 40:46

So our house was not haunted. The house across the street, I'm pretty sure did have a ghost. Totally friendly, not a bad thing. Okay. But my neighbor across the street would talk about how she would look in the mirror in the bathroom, and you would and the towel rack was behind her, and she could see the towel go up and down. Like, so that would happen from time to time. And she said she saw her like walk down the stairs one time and she had a blue dress on, and and like just cut her out of the corner of her eye. So there's that story. My next door neighbors, somebody had murdered somebody in that house, as one does. Yes. Okay. And there was a spot in the dining room which still had blood in the hardwood. Wow. And she had a rug on top of it because you know, you just ignore that. And sh her dogs would ever so often walk over to that spot and stand and stare at that spot and bark their heads off. Like a lot. That's that story. And then I'll give you one more because I love this story. Okay, this is my favorite Halloween haunted, haunted house story in from Irvington. Okay. Okay. So big huge house on the south side of Irvington. I'm happy to like drive you by it sometime if you want. I know the owners. The the previous owners, the she the woman had two kids. One was a teeny tiny little infant, not able to walk, teeny tiny, very important. The other one was a little boy who had braces on his legs. So he could not walk without braces on his legs. Heard. She put these two kids upstairs for a nap, and she went outside to hang laundry up, and the house catches on fire. So she's freaking out. It is a raging inferno of fire. He comes running around the front door, opens the front door, and the two kids are sitting, well, the little baby's laying on the floor on the bottom step of the house. Right? So the bottom step of that stairway. And she gets these kids outside, and the fire department comes, they put the fire out. Presumably everything's okay. A little while later, she says, Wait a minute, how the hell did those two kids get down the stairs? He can't walk without braces. The baby clearly isn't walking. How did that this happen? And she turns to her son and she says, How did you get down the stairs? And he says, The nice woman brought us down the stairs. And the people that own that house now have confirmed that there is a ghost. They see her all the time. She is lovely. They live in complete harmony. It's wild as fuck. But I love that story. It's my favorite.

Lesley: 43:52

The nice woman brought us downstairs. And the not nice person gave us candy out of their trunk. And we climbed in the trunk. And then we had to learn about our street smarts and kick the rear, kick the windows out, kick the uh the stoplights out with the back of the car so we can alert somebody behind us that we were stuck in the trunk. Yeah. Excellent story. So good. On that note. Yeah. I think we can wrap up this little after school special. Okay. Love it. The candy panic of the 70s and 80s. Indeed.

Megan: 44:38

And the power of urban legend. It all stems from one shitty father and a pixie stick.

Lesley: 44:46

It's fucking horrible.

Megan: 44:47

Ridiculous. Somebody's got to ruin it for everybody. That jackass, clearly, yeah. Now no homemade treats. None for you, sir. Leslie, have an amazing Halloween tomorrow with or Halloween festival.

Lesley: 45:03

Yeah, thank you. It's gonna be an awesome weekend. And we'll be back here. So this episode, it's the 25th. As update of airing, and we'll be back here in two weeks.

Megan: 45:14

That sounds amazing. See you later, Alley. Yeah, happy Halloween, everybody. If you celebrate, yeah, may the uh may the nice lady bring you safely down the stairs. Go watch the exorcist.

Lesley: 45:28

See ya. Bye. You have been listening to Gen X Women Are Sick of This Shit. Hey Megan. Hey Leslie. What do people do if they want to find us?

Megan: 45:41

Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and that is genxwomenpod.com. We also have a Facebook page. We have an Instagram account as well. We have a YouTube account where we put YouTube shorts and other little tidbits up there. We have a TikTok account.

Lesley: 46:02

I don't talk to Dick.

Megan: 46:04

I you know TikTok. I I barely talk to TikTok, but I did put a TikTok. That's okay though. We need to know how to merge. Can people buy merch? They absolutely can. We have a merch store on the website itself, and we also have an epic store too. So it's pretty easy to find. It's just Gen X Women.

Lesley: 46:29

And if you are listening to this podcast, presumably you found it somewhere. And while you're there, give us a review. Yeah. Let us know what you think. Throw some stars at us. That'd be great. One, two, three, four, or five.

Megan: 46:45

And also make sure that you are hitting subscribe so that you're notified whenever a new episode. We also have a five minutes of fame that I think we should tell people about it too.

Lesley: 46:57

Hell yes. We want to know your stories or five minutes of fame stories. You can send those stories then on the website, or you can call 1888-Gen X Cod and leave your story for us, and we will play it live in our next episode.

Megan: 47:14

Yep. We'll listen to it on a little red phone just like Batman. I think that's it. I think it's great.