For one family, Halloween went from fun to alarming.
Veronika Buckley of Oak Bluffs found a nail sticking out of a Hershey’s chocolate bar after trick-or-treating with her children.
Buckley said that she began counting and sorting the candy at her home with her children after trick-or-treating on and around Vineyard Avenue in Oak Bluffs. While tossing out unwrapped or opened candy, she came across the candy bar with a nail pushed through it.
Buckley posted a photo of the candy bar with a nail sticking out on the Islanders Talk Facebook page, and reported the item to the Oak Bluffs police.
Lt. Timothy Williamson told The Times that he will have his detective follow up with the family and see if they can determine how a nail became lodged in the candy bar. He said it looked like an isolated incident, and that no other reports of harmful items in Halloween candy had been reported to the police. They will try to narrow down the path that Buckley and her children took to determine where the candy bar came from.
The Facebook photo has garnered an alarmed response from members of the Facebook page, with over 100 reactions and more than 60 comments.
“Vineyard Ave. residents and the OB police do an amazing job every year! We are grateful to have a safe place to walk around to trick-or-treat. This was probably a prank — not a nice one but still a prank. No one was hurt. I know almost all of the Vineyard Ave. residents, and this is not on them. We traveled all around the area, not just one street. Again, probably a prank. Just check your kids’ candy so everyone is safe,” Buckley wrote in a comment with the picture.
In a phone conversation with The Times, Buckley said she felt like the nail was probably a onetime prank and that the Vineyard Ave. community would continue to have trick-or-treating in the area.
The residents on the Oak Bluffs street close it off so children can walk freely while they collect candy. Buckley said people should not be alarmed by the incident, and that Halloween on Vineyard Avenue is and will continue to be a safe and fun place for people to celebrate with their kids.
“We’ve trick-or-treated on Vineyard Ave. for many years, and we will continue to do it; this will not stop us,” Buckley said, adding that the event feels like a community party that will always be safe.
