Every October, pumpkins suddenly develop personalities. Some grin, some grimace, and others look as though they’ve just opened their electric bill. But the original jack-o’-lantern wasn’t a pumpkin at all. It was a turnip, and its story began with an Irish fellow who apparently couldn’t stay out of trouble.

Meet Stingy Jack

According to Irish folklore, a clever but thoroughly unpleasant character named Stingy Jack managed to trick the devil not once, but twice. Jack persuaded the devil to promise never to claim his soul.

Unfortunately, Jack hadn’t considered the fine print of eternity.

When Jack died, heaven wouldn’t take him, and the devil, keeping his promise, wouldn’t take him either. Instead, the devil supposedly tossed Jack a burning ember to light his endless wandering.

Jack placed the ember inside a hollowed-out turnip, creating a makeshift lantern. People began calling the mysterious wandering light “Jack of the Lantern,” eventually shortened to jack-o’-lantern.

From turnips to pumpkins

In Ireland and Scotland, people carved frightening faces into turnips and other root vegetables, placing candles inside to frighten away wandering spirits. The tradition became associated with Halloween and older customs surrounding Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the transition into winter.

When Irish immigrants brought their traditions to America in the 19th century, they discovered something considerably easier to carve.

Pumpkins!

Compared with small, stubborn turnips, pumpkins were larger, softer and practically begging for a face. The American pumpkin soon replaced the turnip as Halloween’s favorite glowing decoration.

A few bizarre pumpkin facts

  • Pumpkins are technically fruits, not vegetables, because they develop from flowers and contain seeds.
  • The name pumpkin comes from the Greek word pepon, meaning large melon, through later European variations.
  • Early jack-o’-lanterns weren’t necessarily cheerful. Their frightening faces were intended to scare away unwelcome spirits.
  • The original turnip lanterns could look downright terrifying. Imagine encountering one of those glowing faces on a dark country road!

And now you know

The next time you’re scooping pumpkin guts out of a giant orange gourd, be grateful you aren’t trying to carve a sinister smile into a rock-hard turnip.

And if your jack-o’-lantern looks a little crooked, just tell everyone you’re honoring the original Irish tradition.

After all, Stingy Jack wasn’t exactly known for his good looks.

Bizarre Bytes explores the strange, surprising and sometimes hilarious stories hiding in everyday life.

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