Halloween is almost upon us. Soon guys will be dressing up in bad jokes disguised as costumes, and the women will be wearing outfits that would make a nun cry. But-most important of all-all the children around America will be filling their bags with delicious goodies that will rot their teeth out of their very gums.

That is, of course, unless they have a parent who has bought into the whole “poisoned Halloween candy” myth.

The myth comes up every Halloween, making parents quiver in fear as their kids go trick-or-treating, thinking their children will bite into a candy apple with a blade in the center or eat a Snickers bar laced with drugs.

So here are the facts: Yes, there have been Halloween poisonings in the past. However, there is no evidence that a kid has been poisoned randomly by a stranger while out trick-or-treating. Actually, in most instances the parents do the poisoning, like we saw in the ’70s.

In October of 1974, 8-year-old Timothy Mark O’Bryan died from eating a cyanide-laced Pixie Stix. However, the Pixie Stix was not poisoned by a crazy madman, it was done purposely by Timothy’s father, Ronald Clark O’Bryan.

O’Bryan also poisoned the Pixie Stix of his daughter and three other children to make it appear that this was the work of a crazed individual.

A similar story happened in 1970, when 5-year-old Kevin Toston lapsed into a coma and died four days later from a heroin overdose. Later investigation showed that Toston’s Halloween candy was sprinkled with heroin.

The media reported the story as an urban legend come true. Unfortunately, when the truth broke it was not nearly as publicized as the initial story.

What really happened was the boy discovered his uncle’s heroin stash and poisoned himself. When the family discovered this, they sprinkled the boy’s candy with heroin to protect the uncle.

So, what have we learned from this? Apparently what children really need to fear is their family, not some insane individual who gets their kicks from poisoning kids.

Or maybe we need to stop letting irrational fears haunt us. It is no secret that many parents are overprotective of their kids, and I think this is doing more harm than good for children.

If children are over-sheltered and protected from everything, they will never learn to take care of themselves. When I was growing up, our playgrounds were great. The jungle gyms were wooden and the slides were made out of metal. I skinned my knees and I can’t even remember how many splinters my mom had to jam out with a needle.

But now whenever I see a playground, it is 100 percent plastic and 100 percent boring.

We need to stop letting fear control our lives, whether it is about terrorism, child molesters, or Halloween killers.

So kids, this Halloween devour candy to your hearts content. And if anyone tries to give you an apple or sugar-free gum just throw it away. Those are the real sickos.