Happy (four days before) Halloween! Not long ago, I wrote a book called The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions. It was published over the summer by Quarto’s Wellfleet Press imprint. You may already know that, because I’ve mentioned it in previous blog posts. But what you may not know (unless you’ve actually read the book) is that there’s a whole section in said book devoted to Halloween superstitions. For instance, here’s an excerpt from the book where I talk about a legend. And not just any legend. It’s…

THE LEGEND OF STINGY JACK

One of the most famous Halloween traditions, jack–o’–lanterns, began as a superstition. But first, a bit of backstory is necessary. In Ireland, during the nineteenth century, a legend first began appearing in print. The legend was about a dishonorable man named “Stingy Jack,” who invited Lucifer out for a drink. As you might expect given his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for the devil’s drink, and so he convinced Lucifer to transform himself into a coin so that the dishonest cheapskate could use him as currency. However, Stingy Jack—a very duplicitous man—kept the coin in his pocket right beside a silver cross, which prevented Lucifer from resuming his original form. Eventually, Jack freed Lucifer, but only after making him promise that if Jack should die, the devil would not lay claim to his soul.

The following year, Jack convinced the devil to climb a tree to pick some fruit. While Lucifer was in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross on the bark of the tree, preventing Lucifer from coming down until he promised not to bother Jack for another decade. However, shortly afterward, Jack died. God didn’t want such a dishonest person in heaven. Lucifer, annoyed by Jack’s tricks but intent on keeping his promise not to claim Jack’s soul, wouldn’t let the con artist into hell. Instead, the prince of darkness sent Jack away to wander with only a burning lump of coal to light the way. Jack shoved the lump of coal into a hollowed-out turnip, making it into a sort of a makeshift lantern. Ever since, he’s been roaming the Earth as a ghostly apparition, turnip-lantern in hand. The Irish people called this ghoulish figure “Jack of the Lantern,” which eventually was shortened to jack–o’–lantern.

But how is this a superstition? Ever since this story gained popularity, people in both Ireland and Scotland started making their own versions of Jack’s lantern by carving monstrous faces into turnips, gourds, or pumpkins, and putting them in their windows—or near doors—to scare away Stingy Jack and other wandering spirits. And that’s how it became a superstition; inspired by the legend of Stingy Jack, people began carving jack–o’–lanterns to frighten evil spirits.

I should also point out that the jack–o’–lantern superstition is similar to the superstition of sprinkling salt on a windowsill or doorway to repel demons or ghosts. In both cases, you put the monster-repellant near a portal of some kind—a window or a doorway—to prevent evil things from entering your domain. And of course, this is also the origin story of the jack–o’–lantern. While today most people don’t carve jack–o’–lanterns to scare away ghosts, in nineteenth century Europe, that was the most important reason for making these scary-looking carvings.

Eventually, the jack–o’–lantern trend caught on, but there were variations in other countries beyond the shores of Scotland and Ireland. In England, they used very large beets instead of turnips. In the United States, Irish immigrants brought the pastime over from the old country and converted pumpkin-carving from a vague autumnal tradition to one specifically linked with Halloween.

Thus endeth the excerpt. Oh, BTW, you can buy a copy of The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions at bookstores everywhere, as well as HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

And that’s not all! Back in July, around the time the book first came out, I was a guest on the Something You Should Know podcast, where host Mike Carruthers interviewed me. The interview was all about The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and  Superstitions. Want to listen to the SYSK interview? You can check it out HERE.