This Spooky Season, two twisted tales ...

In the first fearsome fable, an old monster returns: drugs in the Halloween candy. Fear not, because while there are terrifying candy-looking drugs out there, they're not aimed at kids. But the familiar holiday myth is a reliable zombie, dumb yet unkillable. To address the misnformation, we dress as wet, sexy vampires and go in search of truth ... or treats.

In the second sinister story, a terrifying force develops a taste for wine: we learn that climate change will actually improve the taste of Bordeaux. (But at a ghastly cost: the taste of beer will get worse.)

In this episode, we confront the uncomfortable: that some myths retain their power no matter how much debunking goes on, and that some truths are so scary we don't want to face the nuance.

Pour yourself a glass of the future and bite down on some razor-sharp apples with us in this Very Journos Halloween ...

(Mwah ha ha ha hah!)

NOTES

• Judy Klemensrud's NYT Op-Ed
• More on the fentanyl fear
• Spooky Halloween spending numbers here and here
• NatGeo and Agence France-Presse have a similar take on the Bordeaux news
• “The weather isn’t climate change”
• “The good news on climate”
• “Why climate change is good for the world”
• Farmers may benefit from climate change
• Get ready to cruise the Northwest Passage