Barbara Mackle had just been kidnapped. An armed man and woman had stormed into her hotel room, bound and chloroformed her mother, and taken her at gunpoint to their car. They drove for roughly 20 miles, then stopped in a remote, wooded area outside of Atlanta. They injected her with tranquilizers, then brought her to a grave. At the bottom of the grave lay a fiberglass box. It contained a lamp, food and water, and ventilation tubes. The kidnappers ordered her to get inside. Then they buried her alive.

Then Brandi tells us a story that nearly ruined Halloween. It was Halloween of 1974 when Ronald O’Bryan and a friend took their children trick-or-treating in a Pasadena, Texas neighborhood. The children ran excitedly from house to house, getting candy along the way. But at one house, no one answered. The kids ran impatiently to the next house, but Ronald stayed behind. When he caught up with the rest of the group, he held five 21-inch Pixy Stix. The kids couldn’t resist.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more bonus episodes, sign up for our Patreon.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

“The Man Who Killed Halloween” by Lisa Marie Fuqua, medium.com

“The True Story of the Notorious Trick-or-Treat Murderer” by Michael Segalov, Vice

“'Man Who Ruined Halloween': Recounting the horror story of Houston's notorious ‘Candyman’" by Alison Medley, The Houston Chronicle

“Candy Man's legacy still haunting today” The Houston Chronicle

“Ronald Clark O’Bryan” wikipedia.org

For this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“A terrified Barbara read her instructions,” by Gene Miller for the Miami Herald
“Kidnap case goes to jury; Krist silent,” by Gene Miller for the Miami Herald
“Witnesses pin Mackle kidnap on man with ‘heavy beard,’” Fort Myers News-Press
“‘Bury me in a box,” Krist says,” by Gene Miller for the Miami Herald
“Gary Stephen Krist,” wikipedia
“Gary Stephen Krist,” murderpedia
“He buried Barbara Mackle alive -- then became a doctor and a drug trafficker,” by Kara Goldfarb for allthatsinteresting.com
“Krist v. State”
“Barbara Mackle, the heiress who was kidnapped and buried alive for three days,” by Mike McPadden for investigationdiscovery.com
“Barbara Mackle’s 83 hours in a tomb,” by Gene Miller for the Miami Herald