If you are a fan of scary movies, then you already know the core of the Candy Man legend. You can summon the Candy Man by saying his name into the mirror five times.

But you will wish you hadn’t called him.

Once on the scene, the Candy Man will stab you and your friends, giving survivors scary stories to tell for years to come.

But did you know the real origin of the Candy Man legend?

Candy Man’s Origins

In the most recent film adaptation of the Candy Man series, we are given multiple back stories of possible inspirations. Did the Candyman put blades in trick-or-treat candy? Was he a hook-handed man killed by police? Was he the woman who called for police from the Cabrini Green projects who, days after the call when police refused to enter her apartment, was found murdered inside?

Are all of these stories true? Are none of them true?

The point is that gruesome, haunting stories of abuse and neglect haunt our communities. The ongoing legacy of the Candyman is that he is not outside of us, a hunter searching to be set free in search of his next victim. He is not an actual person traveling through time to unleash terror on your community.

In fact, he is something much much worse.

He is us.

And this is why the mirror must be involved.

Candyman is the monster inside each of us

The Candyman is the monster inside each of us. He is the one who is capable of killing people for revenge, or for bloodlust, or for no reason at all. He is the one capable of preying on children on one of the happiest nights of the year.

He is the one that allows the enslavement of others, or allows them to fall prey to a system that neglects their please for help, or ignores their cries for safe neighborhoods. He is the one who pretends that other people’s pain is for sport.

He is the one who can change these situations for others, but chooses not to do so.

And this is somehow scarier than thinking he is merely an angry soul capable of killing people across time and space.

Photo by Elizaveta Dushechkina: https://www.pexels.com/photo/reflection-of-a-woman-in-brown-dress-3727136/