Out of all of the imagery and the
traditions associated with Halloween, it is the humble jack o’lantern that is
the most iconic. But very few people are aware of the legends behind these carved fruits, and
ignorance can be dangerous. And while people have been carving pumpkins since at least the mid-1800s (if not earlier), it hasn’t always
been for fun’s sake. In the olden days, people weren’t so quick to dismiss
tales of ghosts, goblins, and monsters, especially on the night of All Hallow’s
Eve. To ward off the evil spirits and the demons that wander the Earth on that
night, people would hollow out certain kinds of large vegetables or fruits and
carve frightening faces into them. Then, a lit candle would be placed inside to
enhance the effect. But jack o’lanterns haven’t always had such positive
connotations. There is evil behind their ghastly grins, a malevolent ghost
known as the Jack O’Lantern. Once a mortal man, Jack’s wickedness and the many
sins that he committed during his lifetime led him to being condemned in death
to walk in the darkness between Heaven and Hell as a restless ghost, until the
time when trumpets sound from the heavens on Judgement Day.
According to legend, Jack O’Lantern
(also known as Stingy Jack, Jack of the Lantern, Jack the Smith, Drunk Jack, or
simply Jack) is an evil spirit that is said to wander the forests, the marshlands, bogs, and the
swamps of America and Europe (especially in Ireland and the Southern United
States), where he torments any humans that he finds with the bright, mesmerising
light of his enchanted lantern. This lantern is sometimes said to be made of
silver (Blackman 192), but it is most commonly believed to be a hollowed-out
turnip or a rutabaga. Jack O’Lantern is said to be humanlike in appearance, but
over the centuries, Jack’s loneliness and his hatred of humanity have twisted
him into something truly monstrous.
In W. Haden Blackman’s The Field Guide
to North American Monsters (Three Rivers Press, 1998) and Lisa Morton’s
The Halloween Encyclopedia
(McFarland & Company, 2011), the Jack O’Lantern is described as being five
feet in height, having putrid green skin, long hair all over his body, large
saucerlike eyes, and a wide, horribly misshapen mouth (Blackman 191; Morton 118).
His fingers are tipped with rending talons, and his cavernous maw hides a
mouthful of sharp, jagged teeth. The above description comes from the southern United States, where he is regarded as being more akin to a monster than to a ghost. Some describe Jack as being humanlike in
shape, but with a misty, eerie transparency that is typical of a ghost.
In the centuries that he has walked in
the darkness, within a purgatory of his own making, the Jack O’Lantern has become
incredibly hateful towards humans. He
will not hesitate to hunt down anyone
who trespasses into his territory, and he will undoubtedly attempt to kill them. Those that Jack particularly
despises are the young, those who have a pure heart, and people who are
possessed of a strong will (Blackman 192). This could be because the strong-willed are able to
resist the compulsion to follow his
lantern. However, he utterly loathes
drunkards, as they are a very painful reminder of what he most enjoyed during his lifetime (Blackman 192). However, it should be known that the Jack
O’Lantern is a very spiteful ghost,
and will not hesitate to go after any
human that is either brave enough or stupid enough to knowingly intrude upon
his domain.
Jack O’Lantern doesn’t hunt humans so much as he toys with and
torments them. Jack was a notorious prankster during his lifetime, and remains
so in death. Through the use of his enchanted lantern, Jack is able to compel
humans into following him wherever he
goes. While the people can see the bright orb of light, they might not be able
to see Jack O’Lantern himself. This
could be due to the possibility that Jack may be able to render himself invisible to human eyes at will,
although this isn’t known for sure. Essentially, all that the ghost’s victims
see is a ghostly sphere of light. What’s even stranger than seeing a ghostly, moving light in the deep woods or
the middle of a swamp at night is that these people feel an unnatural
compulsion to follow the ghostly
luminescence, overriding the victim’s regard for their own personal safety (a common theme in stories of ghost lights).
This inevitably leads them straight into a perilous situation, such as into a
pit of quicksand, a sinkhole, a bear’s den, or maybe even right off of a cliff. And all the while, Jack heartily laughs
at their stupidity (Blackman 192). It is a distinctive possibility that the Jack
O’Lantern feeds off of the fear and the pain that humans experience as they’re
panicking or dying, perhaps even stealing the victim’s ebbing lifeforce as
well. It could be that this stolen
lifeforce is what keeps Jack from fading away and his lantern burning bright.
According to legend, the Jack O’Lantern
is said to possess some measure of supernatural powers. Jack O’Lantern’s
monstrous form gives him unnatural strength, and he is undoubtedly more than
capable of strangling or even mutilating a grown man with relative ease (Blackman 192).
However, Jack prefers to kill his prey through the use of subtlety, choosing to use supernatural trickery and the power of his lantern over brute force. The lantern is said to
derive its power from a piece of coal, plucked from Hell’s burning floor and
given to Jack by the Devil himself.
The coal itself burns eternally, and its brightness never fades. It can become
dimmer or brighter at the Jack O’Lantern’s command. Furthermore, the light
itself has a powerful hypnotic effect
on humans that compels them to follow the bobbing light wherever it goes,
regardless of the potential danger to themselves.
The legend of the Jack O’Lantern is thought to go
back to Ireland, where the events described in the legend are said to have
occurred a few hundred years ago. There are numerous
variations of the story, but certain themes and elements in these tales have
remained consistent down through the centuries. According to Irish legend,
there was once a man who went by the name of Stingy Jack, for reasons that
shall be clear soon enough. A blacksmith by trade, Jack was known
throughout Ireland as being a drunkard and a prankster. He was clever,
manipulative, and deceitful, a liar that would cheat anyone and say anything
to get his way. That is to say, until Lucifer – the Devil himself – came calling
one day. Satan had heard many stories
of Jack’s dastardly deeds and his deviousness, and some of those tales claimed that the man’s own deeds outshined those of the Devil himself!
Furious (and probably more than a little jealous), Old Cloots headed up to
Earth to see what all of the fuss was
about for himself.
At this point, the legends start to
become confusing. Some say that Jack was already at the local pub, where he had
gotten himself so drunk that his soul
was actually starting to leave his
body, and then the Devil appeared to claim the man’s wicked soul (Guiley 252).
Another variation of the legend claims that Jack had been stumbling through the
Irish countryside in a drunken haze, when he happened upon a lifeless corpse
lying upon the cobblestone road. Figuring that dead men have no use for their
money (or don’t mind thieves nearly
as much as the living do), Jack scrambled up to the body for a closer look.
Turning the corpse over, Jack was struck with horror when the "corpse" gave him an evil, toothy grin. He realized that this was the
end, and that the Devil had come to claim his eternal soul.
Desperate to save himself from the
all-consuming flames of Hell, Jack begged Lucifer to let him have a few final
mugs of cold ale before his descent into the fiery abyss. The Prince of
Darkness laughingly agreed, seeing no harm in a few drinks. Knowing of a place nearby, the
Devil led Jack to a pub. Once there, Jack and Satan downed a surprising number of drinks. Once Jack
had quenched his thirst, he asked the Devil if he could pick up the tab. And
now the Devil knew why he was called “Stingy Jack”. Surprised, the Devil
replied that he didn’t carry any money. Jack only had a single sixpence (or so
he said), which was nowhere near
enough to pay their enormous bill. To make matters worse, the bartender was
getting angry. What was poor old Jack to do?
Despite being completely smashed, Jack came up with an idea
pretty damn quick. He suggested that the demon could turn himself into a gleaming
silver coin (in other versions, it was a gold coin) so that he could pay their
tab and the two could be on their way. The Devil, being quite drunk himself,
readily agreed to the suggestion and turned himself into a silver coin (with the
Devil being regarded as a supreme shapeshifter in Judeo-Christian lore).
Seeing his chance, Jack grabbed the coin, stuffed it into his pocket, and then
paid the bill. Within Jack’s pocket was a silver cross (or a crucifix), which
rendered the Devil incapable of returning to a more human form. Another version
of the story says that Jack had a cross-shaped scar on one of his hands that
kept Satan in his pocket, while another suggests that Jack put the
Devil into a wallet that had a cross-shaped silver catch (Guiley 252; Morton 117). With the
King of Hell at his mercy, Jack told the angry demon that he would only release him if the Devil would
leave Jack be and not bother him again for ten full years. In another
variation of the story, it was only a year. Either way, having no other choice,
the Devil begrudgingly agreed. Jack removed the Devil from his pocket, and the
Prince of Evil disappeared from sight. Jack then proceeded to walk and stumble head over heels the entire way home,
guaranteed to have one hell of a
hangover the next morning.
After encountering the epitome of
evil the previous night, Jack was determined to repent of his wicked ways and
turn his life around for the better. He started by being less selfish, showing
kindness and love to his wife and children. He paid his bills and gave to the poor
instead of wasting his money on alcohol and other pleasures of the flesh. And
last but not least, Jack started attending church services again. But old
habits (especially bad habits) die
hard, and after a few months of trying to make amends for his past misdeeds,
Jack slipped back into his love of drunkenness and debauchery (Guiley 252). But
the Devil was always watching,
patiently awaiting his chance to strike and to finally claim Jack’s immortal
soul for his own unfathomable and undoubtedly nefarious purposes…
Several years later, Jack was on his
way home from the local pub on the night of All Hallow’s Eve when Lucifer
suddenly appeared and demanded the man’s soul (Guiley 252). Jack knew that
there was no escape this time, and that he would burn in Hell eternally for his
sins on Earth. The two set off for the Gates of Hell, with Satan leading the
way. After several hours of walking (apparently, it takes a while to get to
Hell), the two stopped to rest under the shade of an apple tree. Hungry and
utterly exhausted from traveling on
foot for so long, Jack pleadingly asked the Devil if he might have an apple
before they continued their road trip. The Devil had to agree, as he too
enjoyed the crisp juiciness of ripe apples. Satan began climbing the tree and,
nearing the top of the tree, picked two large, bright red apples from a branch.
He then began slowly making his way back down. Jack smiled, knowing that now was his chance.
Unsheathing a small knife, Jack quickly
carved a cross into the tree’s trunk as the Devil watched in utter
disbelief. Unable to pass any cross, the demon was now trapped in the tree’s branches. Panicking, Satan offered Jack anything that he wanted in the world, if
he would only remove the cross. Jack replied that he would do so, but only if Satan left Jack alone forever
and promised not to claim Jack’s soul
when he died. The Devil realized that there wasn’t any other way, and the demon
reluctantly agreed to the man’s conditions. Jack quickly scraped away the
cross, and Lucifer made his way back down and vanished from sight. Jack then
began the long journey back home,
having cheated the Devil twice in the
space of ten years and lived to tell the tale each time.
For a number of years afterwards (some
say that it was only a year), Stingy Jack was the most wicked man in the world.
He drank, caroused, gambled, and had more women (and more sex) than any man
should be capable of having. However,
all of the partying, drinking, and debauchery took their toll, and his
exhausted body couldn’t take it anymore. After almost two lifetimes of this behavior, Jack finally died of his excesses.
Surprisingly, he ascended into Heaven, and he walked right up to the Pearly
Gates. But Jack was immediately stopped by none other than Saint Peter, who had
been Jesus Christ’s closest friend and disciple during His lifetime. Because of
Jack’s many sins and his drunkenness throughout his
life, Saint Peter could never allow such
an evil man through the gates and into Heaven. Dismayed, Jack knew that he only
had one place to go…
Jack thought that it would be best for
him to descend into the depths of Hell, where a damned soul like his could
hopefully find some manner of acceptance (if that's even a possibility in Hell). After days of traveling, Jack finally
reached the notorious Lake of Fire. But before he could try to cross, Lucifer
appeared and barred his way. The Devil had sensed
Jack approaching his domain and, bound by his promise so many years earlier,
he could not claim Jack’s soul and allow him into Hell. Jack looked worryingly behind him,
pointed to the darkness, and he asked “But where shall I go?” Smiling slyly,
the Devil plucked a piece of burning coal from the ground and, tossing the
glowing rock to Jack, said “Back from whence you came!” Jack realized that Old
Scratch had finally managed to trick the trickster. The coal burned his hands,
but Jack now had a light to guide him back to the mortal realm. He nodded solemnly
to the Devil, turned around, and walked back into the darkness. When he
finally returned to the mortal world, Jack hollowed out a turnip (which had always been
one of his favorite foods) and placed the burning coal inside, making a lantern
to light his way at night (Blackman 191-192; Camp 2013).
In the American version of the story,
it is said that Jack summoned the Devil at the stroke of midnight at a crossroads. In exchange
for his soul, Lucifer granted Jack “seven years of power”, during which he
could do whatever he desired. At the end of the seven-year period, Satan
appeared to take Jack’s soul. But before he went to Hell, Jack asked the Devil
if he could kindly retrieve an old shoe that Jack had left hanging above his front
door. Not questioning why somebody
would leave a shoe in such an odd place, Satan complied and reached for the
shoe. Seeing his opportunity, Jack reached up and quickly nailed the demon’s hand to the wall, leaving the Devil hanging
there and screaming in pain. The Devil desperately begged Jack to let him down.
Jack agreed to release him, but only
if he never bothered Jack again. With no other choice, Satan reluctantly
agreed. When Jack died, he couldn’t enter Heaven because of his sins. When he
tried to cross over into Hell, the Devil wouldn’t let him. To light Jack’s way
back to the mortal plane, Satan threw a large piece of burning coal at him,
saying that Jack was just too smart for him. Faced with wandering the Earth for
eternity, Jack now keeps himself entertained by leading unwary travelers to
their deaths at night (Morton 119; Guiley 253).
For his sins, his drunkenness, and his love of debauchery
in life, Stingy Jack is cursed to walk in the darkness between
Heaven and Hell for eternity, a wandering ghost whose only joy is to torment
living humans. And thus the legend of the Jack O’Lantern was born. He is doomed
to be forever lonely, unable to know love or the warmth of human companionship
ever again. He can never experience good food or the taste of fine ale again
for as long as his curse continues to endure. In the end, he has no choice but to keep wandering, looking
for someone (or something) that can undo his curse.
For all of his devilish trickery, the
Jack O’Lantern does have some weaknesses that can be exploited and utilized
against him. According to the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend (Harper & Row, 1984), the Jack O’Lantern can be chased away by hurling a knife or a
key at him, as some people believe in parts of Germany. In the Southern United
States, carrying a brand-new knife that has never been used to cut wood has the
same effect. In Scotland, interestingly enough, Jack can be lured closer by sticking a knife into the
ground (Leach and Fried 585). Author W. Haden Blackman agrees with the southern
U.S. belief, but with one exception: the knife cannot have been used to cut anything at all. The Jack O’Lantern is
said to have an adverse fear of such blades, and will run away the instant he
sees one, even though it might not actually hurt
him (Blackman 192). Salt, being a spirit repellent, may keep him at bay as well. It also tastes quite good on boiled pumpkin.
Like most spirits, Jack O’Lantern is
said to hate iron. Scottish lore
states that stabbing an iron blade into the ground (not just a plain old knife,
as stated previously) will repulse the ghost, as will carrying any sort of iron object (i.e.
horseshoes, nails, a piece of old chain, a chunk of iron meteorite, a pair of scissors, et
cetera) on one’s person. According to legend, the Jack O’Lantern is rather easy
to confuse. Irish folklore states that children who go out at night (which is a
terrible idea, to be sure) are given a warning to wear their coats inside out, a tactic that is most often
used against faeries. In her book The
Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (Checkmark Books, 2007), Rosemary
Ellen Guiley says the reason for this is
that “By doing so, the wearer is disguised, and shows the evil spirits that he
or she has nothing for them.” She also recommends “the procedure of flinging
oneself to the ground, shutting the eyes, holding the breath and plugging the
ears” until Jack O’Lantern walks by (Guiley 253).
The Jack O’Lantern is said to be
very fond of alcohol, having not had a single drink in centuries. Any sort of
alcohol or liquor such as rum, vodka, beer, whiskey, ale, or even wine may work to lure
Jack out of hiding. However, enchanted liquor like voodoo rum (which is used in
Vodoun ceremonies) can be used to goad the Jack O’Lantern out of hiding with
the promise of inebriation so that he can be dealt with properly (Blackman 192).
One last thing that is historically proven to keep Jack away are carved pumpkins or turnips with
lit candles placed inside, which serve to highlight the frightening grins
carved into the outer shells of the fruits. These lanterns are made to frighten away evil spirits, and they’re actually named
after this particular ghost: jack o’lanterns.
It might not actually be possible to kill the Jack O’Lantern, but it doesn’t
hurt to try. Jack seems to have a corporeal form, so he could be more closely
related to a revenant than a ghost. This suggests that the standard tactics of
decapitation and burning the corpse to cinders afterwards might work on the Jack O’Lantern. If he proves to be more akin to a
ghost, however, it may become necessary to seek out Jack’s mortal remains and destroy them. This can be accomplished
by burning whatever remains of his physical body (if indeed his grave can be
found) until nothing is left but ashes and cinders. This will hopefully sever his connection to the material plane and cause him to move on to the next plane of existence.
On the other hand, it may be possible to
break the Jack O’Lantern’s curse. For this, a devout priest is needed. Since
Jack was very likely a Catholic during his lifetime, it is best if the priest shares this denomination. The trick is to get
Jack to confess his sins: those that
he committed while he was still alive, and those that he has committed
post-mortem as the Jack O’Lantern. If Jack is willing to confess and to ask for
forgiveness from God (and this is a very big if), then his burden may be lifted and his soul can ascend to its
final reward. However, there is every
possibility that this tactic will fail,
and that the Jack O’Lantern will be greatly
insulted by the attempt and angry enough to kill.
Be on guard at all times when dealing
with this volatile spirit!
The term “jack o’lantern” is an old
one, first appearing in printed form in 1750 as “Jack of the Lantern”, and was used to
describe a night watchman or a man who carried a lantern. However, the term is much older than that and was used by the
Irish to describe ghostly lights that would float over the swamps at night.
This eerie phenomenon is often referred to as a will o’the wisp or ignis fatuus, a Latin term meaning
“foolish fire”. Anyone who attempted to approach or to touch one of these ghost
lights found that it would move away of its own accord, as if there was an intelligence behind it, and it would
always stay just out of reach (ReelyBored Horror 2010). Most people would take that as their cue to turn around
and run away...screaming.
But one question remains: how did jack
o’lanterns as people know them today
come to be? Originally, the Celtic peoples of Ireland and Scotland believed
that on the night of Samhain (October 31st to November 1st),
the veil between the world of the living and the realm of the dead was the thinnest,
and that all kinds of ghosts,
goblins, demons, and the undead could penetrate that barrier rather easily and
wreak all sorts of havoc in the living world. Since such shenanigans could be
dangerous or even deadly to living
humans, people began leaving food and other goodies by their doors and windows
to placate these spirits of the dead and any other malicious entities that
might be out and about. But in case that didn’t
work, people began to carve grotesque and terrifying faces into turnips, beets,
rutabagas, mangelwurzels, and potatoes after first hollowing them out. Then, a
lit candle, an ember from the fireplace, or a red-hot piece of coal was placed
inside the hollowed-out portion, which illuminated the carved faces from within
and made them truly frightening.
These lanterns were used to ward off the evil spirits that haunted the night on
All Hallow’s Eve, which included the notorious Jack O’Lantern. When Ireland and Western Scotland were hit by the Irish Potato Famine (lasting from 1845 to 1852), the Irish and the Scottish began to immigrate to America in search of a better life,
bringing their traditions and their folklore with them. Here they discovered the
humble pumpkin, and to their delight, the fruit was much easier to hollow out and to carve than the vegetables they had
been using previously. They named these carved pumpkins jack o’lanterns, after Stingy Jack himself. If anything, he should
feel honored, as they have been an
essential part of Halloween festivities ever since (Hertz 2014).
Behind every tradition, there is a story. And behind every story, there is
a legend that just might be true. The
tale of Stingy Jack and the Jack O’Lantern is one of those legends that could
quite possibly be true, or at the very least based on a real person. If so, then there’s a moral to the story to be had here, and it is that drinking and
debauchery are extremely bad for
one’s physical and spiritual health. The same goes for dealing with the Devil.
Stingy Jack, the wandering ghost, is a prime example of the consequences that
all of these things can lead to. Then again, it might just be a folktale. But there are some people who say that Jack
O’Lantern still wanders the night, his lantern eternally burning bright,
waiting to play another trick on those who might be passing by…or for someone
who can save his soul from a purgatory of his own making.
Sources
Sources
Blackman, W. Haden. The Field Guide to North American Monsters: Everything You Need to Know About Encountering Over 100 Terrifying Creatures in the Wild. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998. Pages 191-192.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits. Third Edition. New York: Checkmark Books, 2007.
Leach, Maria and Jerome Fried, eds. Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1984. Pages 584-585.
Morton, Lisa. The Halloween Encyclopedia. Second Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2011. Pages 115-120.
“Jack O’Lanterns and The Tale of Stingy Jack.” Pumpkin Nook. Accessed October 13th, 2015. <http://www.pumpkinnook.com/facts/jack.htm>
“Stingy Jack.” Wikipedia. July 31st, 2015. Accessed October 13th, 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingy_Jack>
“The Jack-O-Lantern.” Haunted Bay. Accessed October 13th, 2015. <http://www.hauntedbay.com/history/jol.shtml>
“The Legend of Stingy Jack.” Penumbra. January 1st, 2008. Accessed October 13th, 2015. <http://www.novareinna.com/festive/jack.html>
Camp, Lee. “Stingy Jack and the Legend of the Jack O’Lantern.” Disinformation. October 31st, 2013. Accessed October 13th, 2015. <http://disinfo.com/2013/10/stingy-jack-legend-jack-o-lantern/>
“The Story of Stingy Jack: Jack O’Lantern.” ReelyBored Horror. October 14th, 2010. Accessed October 13th, 2015. <https://reelybored.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/the-story-of-stingy-jack-jack-olantern/>
Hertz, Kayla. “Original Irish Jack-o-Lanterns were truly terrifying and made of turnips.” IrishCentral. October 8th, 2014. Accessed October 13th, 2015. <http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/Original-Irish-Jack-o-Lanterns-were-truly-horrifying-and-made-of-turnips-.html>
