The Day Halloween Died

How a series of unsolved killings in 1982 changed the holiday

“silhouette of trees during red moon” by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash

I was at my office in the opening days of October, 1982 when the news spread like a conflagration: Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide had been sold in Chicago-area stores, and people were dying.

The first victim, twelve-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village, had been rushed to the hospital…