Child Star Dies From Pop Rocks

• In the 1970s, a candy called Pop Rocks had become popular with children. It containing carbon dioxide gas. When a person ate these "rocks," they melted in his mouth, which resulted in gas release, and hence, the popping sounds that kids liked so much. Rumor had it that "Mikey," the lead character of a cereal commercial, took a dare from his fellow young actors and ate Pop Rocks with a soft drink. His stomach exploded, according to the urban legend, and he died. According to the Super 70s website, he graduated from college in 1991.
  
  

Halloween Horrors

• The celebration of Halloween wasn't safe from the purveyors of gossip. Widespread warnings went forth that urged parents all over to check the candy their children collected at neighbors' houses to see if it contained razor blades and certain poisons, placed there by morally bankrupt adults that would play cruel, deadly tricks on kids.
  
  The truth, according to the Snopes website, is that deaths from such poisonings did, in fact, take place. But each of the two most famous cases of the decade were an inside job -- the work of family members. In the case of 5-year-old Kevin Totson, who slipped into a coma on Nov. 2, 1970, and died that week, he actually died from taking an overdose of his uncle's heroin. In 1974, Timothy O'Bryan died from cyanide-laced candy. Police later found that the father of the child was the one who put the cyanide in his powdered candy. The motive for the killing was the ability to collect on the insurance policy the father took out on all of his children.
  
  These two tragic events led to widespread rumors that adults were routinely playing cruel, deadly tricks on unsuspecting children at Halloween. As a result, some parents either refused to allow their children to go trick-or-treating or insisted on going with them.
  
  

Flourescent Lights: Saving Energy

• Another urban legend from the 1970s was that leaving a fluorescent light on after leaving a room would result in a lower electric bill than turning it off then on again. However, the California Energy Commission website indicates you should, in fact, turn a light off upon departure. It states that turning a fluorescent light off for one half-hour a day can save about $4 in energy bills over the course of the lifetime of light.
  
  

The Ohio Players: Murder During a Recording Session?

• On soul group Ohio Players' 1975 album "Honey" is a song called "Love Rollercoaster." During the piece, you can hear the screams of a woman. According to a rumor, it was a real-life scream of a woman as she was dying, the victim of a murder. According to Snopes.com, several theories exist to the identity of this female. One version of this urban legend is that a real-life attack was taking place outside of the studio during the cutting of this single. Another rumor is that it was a female custodian, and yet another theory suggested that it was the girlfriend of one of the band members. According to another story, the sounds came from the woman whose picture is on the album cover, and she suffered severe burns from the hot honey which had covered her body.
  
  Snopes.com states, however, that group member Jimmy Williams says the supposed screams were not actually those of a woman but of a man -- keyboardist Billy Beck. According to the Snopes website, after the rumor had begun to spread, the band members took a vow of silence so they could profit financially from the speculation and rumors surrounding the scream.