Things that pop into my head when offered a rootbeer barrell

Mrs. Burke at the end of the street scared the crap out of me.
My sister who is eleven years my senior was great friends with her. Only now does this make sense to me since she scared the crap out of me as well.
One Halloween Mrs. Burke put out a witches dummy holding a seemingly self-serve bowl of candy. Unknown to all the neighborhood children, Mrs. Burke had put on a lot of green makeup and replaced the head on the dummies body with her own while she kneeled behind a black piece of fabric.
Reaching for the candy would result in a surprise assault. She would bug out her eyes and scream like a feminist banshee at a promise keepers convention. That year Amber sprained her ankle and dropped all her candy running from the scene.

I heard the red-headed kid from one street over actually urinated in his Spiderman costume.