Speaker 1: I guess what, Mango, what's up? Well? I know you
Speaker 1: know I'm a big candy corn fan. I'm super excited
Speaker 1: Halloween's coming up. But did you know that candy corn
Speaker 1: used to be called chicken feet? According to Better Homes
Speaker 1: and Gardens, the revolutionary tricolor candy was invented by a
Speaker 1: company called Wonderly Candy Company. Isn't that a great name?
Speaker 1: In Philadelphia? This was back in eight Do you know
Speaker 1: what The original slogan was? Something worth crowing for? Which, actually,
Speaker 1: as I'm saying that aloud, do chickens crow? I mean
Speaker 1: they're both birds. I guess you're right, And it's the
Speaker 1: perfect slogan for chicken feet. And it's just the first
Speaker 1: of nine Halloween theme facts We've got for you today.
Speaker 1: Let's dive in. Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to part
Speaker 1: time Genius I Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined
Speaker 1: by my good friend man guest Ticketer and on the
Speaker 1: other side of the soundproof glass, dressed up in his
Speaker 1: homemade costume. I think he's a dentist. Is that what
Speaker 1: he means? I think is our friend and producer Tristan McNeil.
Speaker 1: It's an impressive costume whatever it is, And back from vacation.
Speaker 1: Joining us on the phone is our brilliant researcher Gabe Louisier. Hey,
Speaker 1: they're Gabe. Hey, guys, back, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: All right, well, let's talk some Halloween facts. I know
Speaker 1: I usually let somebody else go first, but I'm not
Speaker 1: done talking about candy corns. If you don't mind, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm gonna kick this thing off. So did you know
Speaker 1: what actually wasn't started as a Halloween candy? In fact,
Speaker 1: as late as nineteen fifty seven, Bronx was advertising it
Speaker 1: as this summertime candy. And I guess it makes sense
Speaker 1: because corn is kind of a summertime food. But I
Speaker 1: do have some really important statistics to share with you guys. So,
Speaker 1: according to a study, forty three pc of people eat
Speaker 1: it at the narrow end first, ten percent eat it
Speaker 1: at the wider end first, and forty seven percent of
Speaker 1: people just pop the whole colonel in their mouths. Who
Speaker 1: doesn't just pop the whole kernel in their mouths? I
Speaker 1: eat it from the narrow end. Do you really gave?
Speaker 1: How do you eat it? I honestly just try to
Speaker 1: avoid you it altogether, all right, well, now you at
Speaker 1: least know the percentages. Okay. So so there's my first fact, Mango,
Speaker 1: you want to go next. So this comes from our
Speaker 1: friend Stacy Conrad, but she told me that trick or
Speaker 1: treaters in Des Moines can't just say trick or treat
Speaker 1: expect they get like candy shoved into their pillowcases. They
Speaker 1: actually have to tell jokes for their treats. And apparently
Speaker 1: the traditions started in the thirties when there was this
Speaker 1: outbreak of Halloween vandalism. The director of recreation around there
Speaker 1: decided to encourage more constructive Halloween activities. So here's actually
Speaker 1: what you told residents. Quote, Eats should be given only
Speaker 1: if such a trick as a song, a poem, a stunt,
Speaker 1: or a musical number, either solo or in crew participation,
Speaker 1: is presented. Eighty years later, the tradition still continues, and
Speaker 1: while the poems, stunts, and musical numbers have kind of
Speaker 1: gone out of style, kids still tell jokes for their candies.
Speaker 1: So this has calm in all over De Moines, I guess. So,
Speaker 1: oh wow, I've never heard that before. Me. That's a
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good one, all right, Gabe. So you're
Speaker 1: back from vacation, hopefully not too rusty. You've got a
Speaker 1: fact for us? Oh yeah, absolutely, And this one actually
Speaker 1: is in a you know, it's similar vain to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a public stand against Halloween nutlances. So silly
Speaker 1: string is actually banned in Hollywood on Halloween night. And
Speaker 1: this is according to a Los Angeles Municipal Code ordinance
Speaker 1: the past in two thousand four. And anyone caught selling,
Speaker 1: or using or even possessing a silly string between midnight
Speaker 1: October one and new November one can you find to
Speaker 1: a thousand dollars? And the reason for that isn't over
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand people routinely flocked to Hollywood Boulevard on
Speaker 1: Halloween night looking for something to do, and that something
Speaker 1: often includes, you know, buying silly string from street vendors
Speaker 1: and reaching havoc. Not only that, but you know, there
Speaker 1: are also environmental concerns. Big clumps of silly string, as
Speaker 1: well as the empty cans have a tendency to quaw
Speaker 1: storm dream and eventually flowed out the sea LA's dreams
Speaker 1: empty directly into the Pacific Ocean. Wow, this is a
Speaker 1: big issue. I had never heard this either. Good job.
Speaker 1: That was a good fact. All right, let me see
Speaker 1: what I have next here. I've got a really important
Speaker 1: fact about Halloween Eve. So I actually didn't realize how
Speaker 1: many people around the world have a name for Halloween Eve.
Speaker 1: There was a poll by the Cambridge Online Survey and
Speaker 1: they were looking at if people had a name for it.
Speaker 1: So people don't call Halloween Eve anything, but of people
Speaker 1: have names for it. Was kind of fun to look
Speaker 1: at the list. So there's some that we've heard of before.
Speaker 1: There's Beggar's Night, Mischief Night, Devil's Night, Gate Night, trick Night.
Speaker 1: But two that I have never heard before. In New
Speaker 1: England many people call it cabbage Night. And uh, in
Speaker 1: parts of New Jersey they call it goosey night. You
Speaker 1: ever heard that Goosey Night? Now? Alright, MA have next.
Speaker 1: So this is about Halloween Mass and in spirit Halloween,
Speaker 1: which is a chain, started keeping track of their political
Speaker 1: mass sales and they've picked up on this odd trend.
Speaker 1: They realized that whichever candidates mass sold more, the candidate
Speaker 1: would win the election. And since all six elections have
Speaker 1: gone in the direction of the more popular mask and
Speaker 1: Trump sold of the mass to Hillary. I'm actually kind
Speaker 1: of surprised he didn't out sell her even more, you know.
Speaker 1: But but anyway, that's a that's really interesting, all right, Gay,
Speaker 1: what do you have next? Okay, so this is the
Speaker 1: fact that I was really surprised to learn. Apparently there
Speaker 1: are not one, but two cities in the United States
Speaker 1: that both claimed to be the Halloween Capital of the world.
Speaker 1: And the first is Salem, Massachusetts, and you know, that
Speaker 1: makes sense. It's the home of the famous Salem which trial,
Speaker 1: so it definitely has some creepy cred in its favor.
Speaker 1: But the other is a Noca, Minnesota, and angely enough,
Speaker 1: but Ana's claims to be the capital because it was
Speaker 1: the first city in the US to throw a Halloween
Speaker 1: celebration in order to start kids from you know, sowing
Speaker 1: mischief around the town, like soaping up people's windows and
Speaker 1: tipping over out houses. So in Unoka Commercial Clubs and
Speaker 1: Unoca Kiwanis Club through a big celebration that included a parade,
Speaker 1: a bonfire, foods, drinks, and you know, of course candy.
Speaker 1: And then they expanded the events to include other things
Speaker 1: like pillow fights, costume contests, and even a fireworks display.
Speaker 1: Uh and and is actually still being held in a noca,
Speaker 1: and it has been every year since, with the exception
Speaker 1: of a priest finatist during World War Two, when citizens had,
Speaker 1: you know, bigger thing story about the setting their houses
Speaker 1: the Halloween capitals of the competing Halloween capitals of the US.
Speaker 1: That's very interesting. I've never heard that. All Right, we've
Speaker 1: each got one fact left, and I've I've saved what
Speaker 1: I think maybe my best for last. Even though it's
Speaker 1: not about Candy Corn, it's about Houdini, who appropriately died
Speaker 1: on Halloween. I don't know if you guys knew this.
Speaker 1: So he was rushed to the hospital a week before
Speaker 1: October thirty first, but then he ended up dying on
Speaker 1: October thirty one. Now, his death was the result of
Speaker 1: a ruptured appendix, and doctors were able to remove the appendix,
Speaker 1: but the damage had already been done. And you know,
Speaker 1: there's some speculation that the rupture was due in part
Speaker 1: to a man that was punching him in the stomach
Speaker 1: repeatedly to see if he could live up to the
Speaker 1: rumors that he could withstand hard punches to the abdomen. Now,
Speaker 1: Houdini's wife would hold seances every year on October thirty
Speaker 1: one to remember him. This happened for about ten years
Speaker 1: after his death. Alright, Mango, one last fact from you.
Speaker 1: So this isn't a Halloween fact per se, but it
Speaker 1: is one about candy and and maybe also a cautionary tale.
Speaker 1: So you know, in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
Speaker 1: there's that character Violet Beuareguard who's always chewing gum. So
Speaker 1: according to the UK paper, they expressed sugarlist gum didn't
Speaker 1: produce the right bubbles, so she spent nine weeks on
Speaker 1: set chewing regular gum, which resulted in thirteen cavities after filming. Alright,
Speaker 1: you closed pretty strong with that when I think, so, Gabe,
Speaker 1: do you want to bring it home? Yeah? And I
Speaker 1: actually I do want to end on a creepy one.
Speaker 1: This is one of the creepiest things by came across, actually,
Speaker 1: and that's that the candy industry influenced Daylight saving Time.
Speaker 1: You know the actual dates when daylight saving Time occurred.
Speaker 1: And this is according to Michael Downing, the author of
Speaker 1: spring Forward the Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, which
Speaker 1: is a great title, by the light, but the candy
Speaker 1: industry is actually the reason that DFT was extended by
Speaker 1: four weeks beginning in two thousand seven. He told NPR quote,
Speaker 1: for twenty five years, candy makers that wanted to get
Speaker 1: trick or treat covered by daylight saving, figuring that if
Speaker 1: children have an extra hour of daylight, they'll collect more candy.
Speaker 1: In fact, they went so far during the hearings on
Speaker 1: daylight saving as to put candy pumpkins on the feet
Speaker 1: of every senator, hoping to win a little favor. And
Speaker 1: the previous part about this isn't it worked. The candy
Speaker 1: industry eventually got their way. In two thousand five, President
Speaker 1: Bush signed a bill into law that extended daylight Saving
Speaker 1: time to include Halloween. And you know, supposedly the golf
Speaker 1: and barbecue industries are also said to have been in
Speaker 1: on this. On this push first sending it. I mean,
Speaker 1: it is pretty smart, and I do like those candy pumpkins.
Speaker 1: They're pretty good too, Taste kind of like candy corn,
Speaker 1: but totally different shapes. All right, Gabe, You know, Mango
Speaker 1: and I are always deciding who the winner is. But
Speaker 1: you've done this with us a few times now, so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you decide who takes the crown. Today.
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's that's a lot of pressure. And you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to shoot my own horn or anything,
Speaker 1: but that fact was pretty creepy. And this is a
Speaker 1: Halloween episode, so I like his confidence, so we'll we'll
Speaker 1: agree to that. We'll give it to you, Gabe. Congratulations.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for listening today. We'll be back with
Speaker 1: a full length episode tomorrow. The pri