Halloween, where everyone can pretend to be someone they’re not and it not be questioned by anyone. A holiday focused on costumes, candies, over the top home decorations, and of course pumpkins. Pumpkins and Halloween go together like candy bags and cavities. You can’t have one without the other, and both spike during the spooky season. But what makes the pumpkin such a Halloween staple isn’t so much the pumpkin, but the activity of carving the pumpkin. Yes, you cannot have Halloween without the infamous jack-o-lantern.
The public domain mascot of Halloween, the jack-o-lantern has been lighting up homes and front porches for as long as the holiday became a thing really. Though trick or treating didn’t become popularized until the 1930s, Halloween and jack-o-lanterns have been a pair since the early 1800s when Irish immigrants brought over the tradition from Ireland. Traditionally, the Irish would crave turnips or other gourds in an effort to scare off people or horde off evil spirits. Once they arrived, they slowly transitioned from turnips to the mighty pumpkin, creating the famous pumpkin jack-o-lantern that we all know and carve. But that still doesn’t answer one of the most important questions surrounding the lantern.
Where did it get its name from?
The story behind the infamous lantern stems from an Irish folktale about a trickster by the name of “Stingy Jack.” Also known as “Drunk Jack,” “Jack The Smith,” or “Flaky Jack” Stingy Jack was a, you guessed it, stingy man who managed to do the impossible. Trick the devil not once, but twice in an effort to save his soul. Some stories have said he tricked the devil up to 3-4 times, I will be focusing on the two major tricks he played on the devil. Tricking the devil is a feat in itself, however, we all know that making a deal with the devil usually backfires in one way or another. But enough beating around the pumpkin patch, here is the story of a man whose stinginess cost him his soul and immortalized him as the mascot of Halloween.
Stingy Jack was a frugal man who rubbed people the wrong way. He would trick people into getting out of paying for things and was a notorious drunk. Running out of people to share a pint with, Jack decided if no one would join in on his devilish fun, why not invite the devil himself? Jack and the devil decide to have a pint at a pub, but in proper Stingy Jack fashion he doesn’t want to pay for his drink, let alone the devil’s, so he thinks up a plan. Jack convinces the devil to transform into a gold coin so he can use him to pay for the drinks, that way the devil can just shift back, and then boom unlimited drink glitch.
The devil agrees to this devious play and shapeshifts into a gold coin. As Jack holds his free ticket to drinks and potentially the start of what could be Jack’s first friendship, Jack hits the devil with a wicked Uno reverse card. Jack’s stinginess gets the better of him and instead of paying for the drinks with the newly formed devil coin, Jack decides to pocket the coin and save it for a rainy day. After some time, the devil realizes he’s been tricked. The devil tries to change back to his normal form but realizes Jack has him trapped in his pocket. Turns out, Jack had planned this by keeping a silver cross inside his pocket thus leaving the devil powerless to change back.
Naturally angry, the devil demanded that Jack release him or he would suffer for all eternity. Jack knowing he was in trouble, decided that he had one chance of getting out of his dire situation. Strike another deal. Jack promised to release the devil on the condition that he could take his soul for at least a whole year and if he were to perish in that year, the devil could not collect his soul. After the year was up, and if Jack was still in the land of the living, it was game on. The devil agreed and Jack released him from his pocket prison. In a rage, the devil vanished with a fiery exit. Jack now had one year and counting until his next date with the devil.
As the year went on, Stingy Jack knew that his time could be coming to an end if he didn’t do something. So over the course of the year, Jack devised a plan.
A year finally goes by and to no one’s surprise, the devil has entered the group chat. The devil had kept his promise so now it was time to collect some souls. He found Stingy Jack and told him that his time had come. Jack put his plan into motion. Jack told him he would go with him but first, he wanted to do just one last thing. To have an apple from his favorite apple tree. The devil, not seeing the harm in a last meal agreed to his request, and the two headed out of town.
On the outskirts of town, an apple tree stood alone in a quaint Irish meadow. Jack and the devil approach it and inspect the apples on the tree. Jack looks up and points to one, suggesting to the devil that he needs his help to grab it. The devil climbs the tree and retrieves the apple in question.
The devil damn done messed up again.
While in the tree, Stingy Jack had carved a tree into the bark of the tree, imprisoning the devil yet again. As the devil palmed his face in disbelief, Stingy Jack got to work. Jack proposed a new deal. The devil is to leave him alone for 10 years, and if he is to perish in those 10 years he is not allowed to collect his soul. The devil again has to take his second L in a year and agrees to Jack’s terms. Jack scratches off the cross and the devil freely climbs down the tree. In another walk of shame, the devil angrily vanishes for a second time. With now a 10-year cushion, Stingy Jack is seemingly in the clear as he smirks in triumph. But Jack’s luck wouldn’t last forever.
A few years after his last encounter with the devil Stingy Jack passes away. Once at the pearly gates, it seems that Stingy Jack was able to keep his soul and make it to heaven. Unfortunately for Jack, God kept his receipts. God deemed him unworthy of heaven and refused to let him. Normally, this would mean that Jack would be meeting the devil for a third time, but that isn’t quite the case. See because Jack died during the 10-year span, the devil must keep his word and is forbidden to claim Jack’s soul. Now unable to enter heaven or hell, what is Stingy Jack’s soul to do?
And it was at this moment the devil smiled.
Although the devil can’t necessarily claim Jack’s soul, that doesn’t mean he can’t torment him forever. The devil meets with Jack for the last time and offers him a farewell gift. A lump of burning coal. The burning coal is to keep his path lit as he was now forced to roam the earth aimlessly for all eternity.
As Jack roamed with the burning coal in his hand, he saw a carved turnip and placed his burning coal inside, creating the very first…
Jack-o-lantern.
It is said that Jack is still roaming the earth and the only way to ward off the spirit is to light your own jack-o-lantern and place them either outside your home or in your window sill. So in the spirit of National Pumpkin Day, and with Halloween just days away, be sure to prepare yourself for Jack’s arrival and carve your own jack-o-lantern.
Happy Halloween from all of us here at New Rock 104.1.
