Sadly the true horror comes from the urban legends. While some razorblades were found in apples, it was never a common practice and no one was ever harmed by the cruel trick. There were instances of poisoned candy, but in a truly sick fashion, the candy wasn't tainted by strangers, but by family members. When the truth of these cases finally came out, it was too late, Halloween had become dangerous for children.

The one element of Halloween that made it special was the trust. One day of the year we aren't telling children to be afraid of strangers. One day of the year we allow strangers to knock on our door and we open it up, handing out candy and goodies to the waiting ghouls, cowboys, and princesses. For a large portion of metropolitan cities, trick or treating is out of the question. It is far too dangerous. There are too many fences and security gates. In some sub-divisions, costumed children are stopped by security and escorted home, the family being warned of the violation of the community charter.

Of course caution always needs to take precedent over fun and frivolity. Yet too much cautions creates a sterile life void of adventure. The resurgence of Halloween as a holiday is a good sign that we as a society are tired of sterility. The adults of today remember the fun of the Halloween of their youth. Block parties, trick or treating, haunted houses, and yes, the occasional vandals trick. Tp'ing neighbors houses, flaming bags of dog poop, egging cars are all serious in on fashion or another. But in the greater context, being able to unleash those pent up hellish desires on one night could possibly be creating the necessary pressure valve that prevents those hellish desires from becoming horrific in a much more serious manner.

Halloween is now the second most revenue generating holiday in the United States, second to Christmas. While some pagan groups take the day to be a sacred day and some fundamentalist churches take the day as a chance to promote their views against paganism, most American's see the day as a secular time to do things that on any other day would alert the police. Hanging bodies from tree limbs, playing sounds of torture victims over stereo speakers, dressing like a complete freak and walking down mainstreet, and in general delving into debauchery and excess all are frowned upon on any other day. Much like the feast of fools during the medieval days, it is a positive thing to allow the masses a chance to dump their negative energy in an exuberant sanctioned moment of excess.

And the fact that this moment of excess and horror generates such a significant amount of money, society in general needs to begin looking at making Halloween a fully sanctioned holiday. Let congress pass a law declaring Halloween a federal holiday. This isn't a stump speech asking the readers to write their congressperson. There really are too many other things to worry about than another holiday. Yet with the growing popularity of Day of the Dead, the whole time of Halloween can be synthesized with the Mexican tradition to create a true memorial day. A time when we honor the spirits of those we've lost, a time to reflect upon our own mortality, a time to honor all the things in nature that aren't fully explained, a time to explore the darkness in ourselves, a time to build another bond within our community.

Ideally, right now, everyone reading this had best have several bags of leftover candy. Even if you have never had a trick or treater come to your door in the last five years, you had better have leftover candy. Why? Because on the one chance, that one child has the courage to come to your door, and hold up their bag with the words "Trick or treat" on their lips, you had better have something to put in that bag. For one Halloween night, sometime in the future, it won't be a timid child, it will be a wandering mischievous spirit looking for a kind handout of goodies and it won't look favorably upon the person who shirks his or her civic responsibilities and denies them candy. Woe to that person. And woe to the scrooge who gives out a single piece of wrapped candy. You know the ones…just one tootsie roll, just one butterscotch or peppermint, just one piece of taffy. For their stinginess they will be tortured by the hellish spirits. That is why you had best have some leftover candy. You had better have had more than enough to hand out on Halloween.