Delicious cookies, or devilish poison? Photo by Nikoo’s Photos

With costumed kids roaming the streets of D.C. asking for candy, you might feel inclined to do a little more than simply give them more of the same mass-produced halloween candy that they’ll likely get from everyone else. How about come homemade chocolate chip cookies? Or maybe fudge brownies! What kid doesn’t love those?

Hold on there. In a tweet today, the Metropolitan Police Department cautioned against parents and kids accepting anything that isn’t factory-wrapped. “Eat only factory-wrapped treats. Avoid eating homemade treats made by strangers,” the tweet informed. Additionally, as Titan of Trinidad writes, MPD is hosting an event that’s billed as a “safe alternative to door-to-door ‘trick-or-treating'”.

A little spooked? It wouldn’t be the first time for the region. A Post article from 1982 reported that a “widespread fear of food tampering” infected that year’s Halloween’s celebrations, product of an incident in Chicago in which Extra Strength Tylenol was spiked with cyanide. And get this: “Several hospitals in Maryland and Virginia announced free X-ray services for parents wanting to check their children’s treats for metal objects.” Two years later, the X-rays were offered again. (See below.)

Things improved a decade later, it seems, but folks were still scared. In 1995, the Post reported that further fears of tampered candy led parents to take their kids to the mall instead of door to door. Talk about depressing.

Of course, there may be a little of the usual urban legendry going on here. Snopes dug into the threat of tainted candy and found—not surprisingly—that the cases are few and far between.

So should you worry about tainted cookies? Probably not. Obviously, watch what your kids are getting—and watch what you give kids—but don’t stress too much about poisons or metal objects embedded in goodies being handed out. Alternatively, you could just head to your local hospital and get the bounty X-rayed…

USE CAUTION THIS HALLOWEEN: Eat only factory-wrapped treats. Avoid eating homemade treats made by strangers.

— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) October 31, 2012

A Post article from 1984.