So, I was walking my dog Toby last night. Oh, I'm And Strange Champs. That's to the best of our knowledge.

I was walking Toby last night, and it was really dark. He was just poking along the way he does, sniffing leaf piles.

And then suddenly he comes to a dead

stop. And there in our neighbor's yard, our two bony white skeleton hands just sticking up out of the

ground in one of those grinning skulls. And for just a second, I think the dog and I were

equally terrified. And then he peed on it

and I thought, yep, that's Halloween

an annual national ritual

where we face our fears and collectively

pee on them, metaphorically speaking.

In this week's episode,

why we need Halloween.

It's to the best of our knowledge.

I'm Andstrained champs.

The thing about Halloween is, most of the year, we do our best to keep fear at arm's length.

We steal ourselves against nightmares.

And then this one time of the year, this one day, we let it all out.

It's like this national collective exorcism.

Well today, to help you get in the mood,

let's think about something sinister, something toxic,

something that's hiding all around us, sometimes in plain sight.

Poison.

...