While there is evidence of such incidents, they are in truth attenuated Adult Halloween Costumes and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, numerous parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant; at the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free x-rays of children's Halloween hauls in cast to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy, while there have been occasional reports of children putting needles in their own (and other children's) candy in a blunt bid for attention.

Fire rituals were also important. Great bonfires were lit in a village, or by individual families, and when the fire died down, its ashes were used to form a circle and one stone for each member of the household was kept inside this circle near the circumference. If any stone were displaced or seemed injured by coterminous morning, then the character to whom that firm belonged was believed to be destined to die within a year. A similar rite in north Wales includes a great bonfire called Coel Coeth’ being built for each group on Halloween. Later, the members of the household threw a white stone in the ashes marked in their name.