Holiday rumors

I have been studying up on frightening holiday rumors and found some surprises.

There is apparently no evidence that any child has ever been poisoned by a Halloween treat.

This is according to the New York Times, which investigated it. There was one case of a dentist in California who handed out laxative pills as Halloween candy. That was certainly a terrible thing to do, but not life threatening. There was a single case of a razor blade found in Halloween candy, but it was later discovered to have been put there by the mother who reported it.

Thanksgiving turkey does not make us terribly sleepy. There is no more tryptophan in turkey than there is in chicken or beef. Nuts and cheese have more.

Christmas poinsettias do not poison dogs or cats.

This one I already knew because, years ago, I had a botanist friend, Diane, who owned a greenhouse and she would read the annual Christmas poinsettia warnings and seethe. Over the years, a number of dogs have been brought into the vet with reported cases of poinsettia poisoning but, in every case, the dog apparently ate something other than poinsettias that made them ill.

Every year, Diane would write to the newspapers that printed the warnings, and every year the warnings would reappear. I’m not sure which bothered Diane more — the spread of false botanical information or the subsequent loss of poinsettia sales.

I’m sure there are many more of these troubling seasonal rumors. We like traditions over the holidays, and along with our traditional foods and traditional fun, we need a few traditional fears.

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