The Origins of the Jack-o’-lantern

The Tale of Stingy Jack

The origins of the jack-o’-lantern begin with the following Irish folktale.

In the days of yore, there once lived an Irishman named Jack. A blacksmith by trade, he labored in his village forging metal into nails, horseshoes, and railings. Despite his skill and quick wit, his penchant for penny-pinching and trickery made him no friends. His fellow villagers knew him to be of such a miserly sort that they called him Stingy Jack. Throw in his drunkenness, and the blacksmith was a plain ole bastard best to be avoided.

Stingy Jack’s reputation for trickery turned thievery was renowned in Ireland. The devil himself heard whispers of his cunning and stinginess. He desired to witness such a character for himself. What a delicious soul to harvest, should the rumors be true.

Jack Meets the Devil

One misty night, old Jack was stumbling home in a drunken stupor. Turning onto a deserted cobblestone street, he found himself face to face with a devilish sight. A grimace straight out of hell greeted him. At once, Jack knew Satan had come to claim his soul.

Thinking quickly, he said, “If you are to take me to hell this night, allow me but one more drink.”

The devil consented, for he saw no harm in allowing the man a final libation.

Stingy Jack and the devil entered the pub and ordered a round. After the final drops of ale sloshed down Jack’s throat, he turned to the devil and said, “Pay the bartender, as I’ve no more money on my person.”

Surprised at Jack’s boldness, the devil refused, as he never carried earthly money.

“You need not money to pay the tab. Have you not all the powers of the underworld at hand? We need sixpence, no more. Transform yourself into coin for payment and then change back to your true form once the bartender is unawares.”

Satan let out a laugh as he smiled at the cunning of Stingy Jack. What a truly horrible soul, indeed. In a flash, the devil turned himself into a coin to be exchanged for the drinks. Jack clapped his hands with glee as he snatched the coin and put it in his pocket next to a silver crucifix, trapping the devil. What a night for good ole Jack. Escaping death with a deception so masterful the devil himself fell for it.

A Deal with the Devil

Upon realizing his entrapment, the devil demanded to be freed. Stingy Jack knew, of course, he could not free the devil without a bargain in place to ensure there would be no retaliation.

“Give me one year more of life. You will be freed for a promise. Do not claim my soul for a whole year,” Jack said.

The Devil agreed and was freed. All he had to do now was bide his time for a year, for the day he would make Stingy Jack pay with the fires of hell.

Second Dance with the Devil

After yet another year of miserly living, Jack found himself once again dancing with the devil. On the same cobblestone street, the blacksmith was greeted by Satan’s terrifying visage.

“The time has come, old friend, hasn’t it? Before I am damned to the underworld, I would like to taste an apple one more time. I want to feel the sweet juice run down my chin before I am condemned to a place where no life grows,” said Stingy Jack.

Satan once again acquiesced, for what harm could come from eating an apple?  He was accustomed now to Jack’s trickery and was prepared. He would not be ensnared again. The blacksmith led the devil to an orchard and pointed to a bright red apple glistening from the highest branch.

“That one is surely the best of the lot. Please, I am a mere mortal and do not possess the power or skill to reach that high. If only you could retrieve the apple before I depart this world,” Jack pleaded with the devil.

Eager to be done with this trivial deed, the devil climbed up the tree to acquire the apple. As he did so, Jack swiftly carved the sign of the cross into the tree trunk, trapping Satan in its branches.

“You are bound to the branches of this tree lest I release you. Trade with me your freedom for another ten years of life,” Jack bargained.

Once again, the devil, outsmarted by Stingy Jack, agreed to the bargain and was freed.

The Fate of Stingy Jack

Soon after Jack’s second mastery over the devil, he parted from the earthly realm with none to mourn him. His spirit traveled up to Heaven and met Saint Peter at its gate. The blacksmith was denied entry due to his life of unrepentant deceit and greed. Unable to rest in Heaven, Jack traversed the realms to the underworld.

“Old friend, I am here, ready to join your kingdom in hell,” Jack said upon looking at the devil’s face for a third time. The devil burst into a menacing laugh and denied entry, for their bargain was still in effect as ten years had not yet passed. In fact, Satan had no plans to ever welcome Jack into hell, for he no longer desired the soul of such a troublesome being.

Turned away from both heaven and hell, Jack began his ascent back to earth. As he left the underworld, the devil threw him a coal to light the darkness. Doomed to wander the earth forever, Jack placed the ember into a hollowed-out turnip, creating a lantern to guide his way.

Origins of the Jack-o’-lantern in the British Isles

The story you just read is my interpretation of a real Irish legend that’s been told in many variations throughout Europe and the United States. Despite slight differences, each tale follows the basic plot of Stingy Jack tricking the devil. Since he was a deceitful old fuck, he’s denied entry to heaven and hell upon his death. Poor old Jack was sentenced to endlessly roam the earth with his lantern made of a carved turnip and ember from hell.

As you can imagine, this folktale influenced Halloween traditions in the British Isles and contributed to the origins of the jack-o’-lantern. During the festivities, kids started carving large turnips into lanterns. In Scotland, children went from house to house in masks, lighting their paths with carved turnips called ‘neep lanterns.’¹

Turnip Lanterns and Fairy Lights

Historians Bruce David Forbes and Lesley Pratt Bannatyne also note that Irish villagers often placed small candles inside turnips and beets to light their way as they went to and fro. Unrelated to Halloween, it was merely an inexpensive lantern to use in the evenings. In addition, there was a scientific phenomenon happening in the Irish boglands and marshes, causing mysterious lights to appear and disappear seemingly out of nowhere. We now know the cause is gas combustion from decaying matter. To the Irishmen of yore, however, this was a magical event, possibly the work of fairies or ghosts. They called these flashes of light “will-o’-the-wisps” or “jack-o’-lanterns.”²

Over time, the Irish mixed run-of-the-mill turnip lanterns with magical ghost/fairy lights and threw in Stingy Jack for good measure, resulting in an absolutely terrifying carved turnip for Halloween. Seriously, look at this thing. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

Origins of the Jack-o’-Lantern in America

The 19^th century saw a huge influx of Irish immigrants to the United States. Y’all remember the potato famine from history class? Yep, starting in 1845, Ireland experienced a huge famine because one of their main crops—the potato—caught a nasty disease, leading to a country-wide infestation. As a result, many Irish abandoned ship and came over to the U.S.

The Scots immigrated to America in waves as well, mostly during the latter part of the 1800s. With the Scottish and Irish came Halloween. Yes, you read that right. Halloween wasn’t a thing in the United States before the 19^th century. As Americans saw the new immigrants celebrating their holiday, they wanted in and began putting new twists on old traditions. By the end of the 19^th century, carved and lit turnips transformed into carved and lit pumpkins, making the jack-o’-lantern as we know it a cultural icon.

It’s the Great Pumpkin

Ah, the pumpkin. The large, bright-ass orange squash native to North America and harvested in autumn became the perfect substitute for turnips. Although Halloween didn’t come to the United States until the Irish and Scottish immigrated, Americans had been carving pumpkins for years.

Around 1850, John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem titled “The Pumpkin,” which places the great squash in the context of Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, the following lines demonstrate that Americans were carving faces into pumpkins and associating them with magical forces before the introduction of Halloween:

When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,

Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!

When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,

Our chair a broad pumpkin, - our lantern the moon

Telling tales of the fairy who traveled like steam,

In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team

Ugly faces carved into a pumpkin that’s lit by a candle? Sure sounds like a jack-o’-lantern to me, even if they didn’t have the name for it yet. As Whittier shows, American autumn traditions were certainly a contributing factor to the origins of the jack-o’-lantern.

Perhaps the most famous spooky pumpkin comes from Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” published in 1820. It’s important to note that the tale’s association with Halloween came later, since Irving describes the setting as autumn and makes no mention of the holiday. The pumpkin makes a short but memorable appearance as the head of the Headless Horseman. After Ichabod Crane’s encounter with the horseman, the pumpkin’s shattered remains are discovered at the exact spot where he disappeared in Sleepy Hollow.

Jack-o’-lanterns Become an Icon

By the 20^th century, Irish and Scottish customs merged with America’s knack for carving pumpkins as a harvest activity. The jack-o’-lantern’s rise in popularity was due in part to its appearance in print and artwork, solidifying its place in the canon of Halloween imagery.

During this period, Americans were publishing Halloween books left and right. In 1919, librarian Ruth Kelley published The Book of Hallowe’en, a history of the holiday. When discussing the jack-o’-lantern, Kelley traces it to Stingy Jack and writes:

“Jack-o’-lantern, which once the room is lighted, are hollowed pumpkins with candles inside. The candle-light shines through holes cut like features. So the lantern becomes a body, and is held up at a window to frighten those inside.”⁴

Other publications focused on celebrating the holiday with parties and games. Both Mary E. Blain (1912) and Laura Roundtree Smith (1920) emphasize the jack-o’-lantern as a decoration at any respectable Halloween party.⁵ If you don’t have a grinning pumpkin in the center of your table, are you even a Halloweenie?

As an interesting side note, Halloween party books dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries state that jack-o’-lanterns could be made of other vegetables and fruits, such as apples and cucumbers. Later publications, however, mention only the pumpkin, indicating a clear winner for the jack-o’-lantern.⁶

All Hail the Pumpkin King

Soon enough, jack-o’-lanterns carved from pumpkins were everywhere in America. They graced the covers of magazines and were a staple on Halloween postcards. In 1966, a Halloween pumpkin became a television star with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The animated film centers around Linus, one of the Peanuts crew, waiting in the pumpkin patch for the ever-elusive legendary Great Pumpkin.

The pumpkin craze has not abated in the present day, as evidenced by events like the Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in New York. If you have any doubts as to the continuing reign of the jack-o’-lantern, all you have to do is refer to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, where the leader of Halloween Town is the Pumpkin King.

Interested in learning more about the history of Halloween? Check out the post, The Origins of Halloween. If you’d like a visual treat, check out Vintage Halloween Postcards in the Early 20th Century for fun Halloween iconography and divination rituals.

Footnotes

1. Morton, Trick or Treat, 68. ↩︎
2. Forbes, America’s Favorite, 128; Bannatyne, 78. ↩︎
3. Whittier, “The Pumpkin.” ↩︎
4. Kelley, The Book, 155. ↩︎
5. Blain, Games, 9; Smith, Helps and Hints, 7. ↩︎
6. Orne, Hallowe’en, 7; Schell, Hallowe’en, 16. ↩︎

Bibliography & Further Reading

*Several of the links below (and above in the text) are Amazon affiliate links, which means I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no cost to you.

Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt. Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., 1998.

Blain, Mary E. Games for Hallowe’en. New York and Newark: Barse & Hopkins, 1912.

Forbes, Bruce David. America’s Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015.

Irving, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories. Edited by Elizabeth L. Bradley. Penguin Classics, 2014.

Kelley, Ruth Edna. The Book of Hallowe’en. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1919.

Morton, Lisa. Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween. London: Reaktion Books, 2019.

Orne, Martha Russell. Hallowe’en: How to Celebrate It. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1898.

Schell, Stanley. Hallowe’en Festivities. New York: Edgar S. Werner Pub. & Company, 1903.

Smith, Laura Roundtree. Helps and Hints for Hallowe’en. Ohio: March Brothers, Publishers, 1920.

Whittier, John Greenleaf. The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier, Complete. The Standard Library ed. Houghton Mifflin, 1892. Digital File.