Halloween, originally derived from the Celtic Samhain celebration, marked the night when the dead returned to Earth. This holiday delighted those who enjoyed embracing the spooky side of life, yet caused unease for families wishing to avoid attracting spirits to their homes. People used scary masks and carved faces into turnips and other root vegetables to ward off these spirits. And now, people carve these scary faces into pumpkins, which we refer to as Jack O' Lanterns. But where did this all originate from?
The story of Stingy Jack, a miserable, manipulative blacksmith in 18th-century Ireland, is what started it all. Jack would even trick the Devil, who was highly interested in acquiring Jack's demented soul. At the time of death, Jack was denied entry to both Heaven and Hell, and would be left to roam the Earth with an ember from Hell in a turnip lantern, becoming known as "Jack o' the Lantern."
Irish immigrants in the United States introduced the pumpkin for carving jack-o'-lanterns, now a Halloween tradition, to keep spirits like Stingy Jack away.
***
Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thescarecast/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thescarecast?lang=en
Go Subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@scarecast
Buy Merch: https://thescarecast.com/store/
Contact me through email: mike@thescarecast.com for any story requests or inquiries, concerns, or advertising inquiries.
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-scarecast/exclusive-content
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.