Daniel Robitaille, aka: Candyman was the son of a slave on a plantation in New Orleans. Daniel is chased out of the town by an angry mob after he gets a wealthy land owner's daughter pregnant. After the angry mob catches him, then tortures him by having his right hand sawed off with a rusty saw blade and being coated in fresh honey from a nearby beehive, a small boy tastes the honey, and proclaims "Candyman!". Bees then swarm over Daniel's body, mortally wounding him.
According to the legend, anyone who looks into a mirror and chants his name five times will summon him, but at the cost of his or her own life. Candyman must be called into existence, so often the deciding factor in a character's safety is his/her belief. If you believe, you are more likely not to summon him, but if you do not, you would do it just to prove the lunacy of it and, as such, end up dead.