People have been making jack-o’-lanterns on Halloween for centuries – but not always out of pumpkins. The earliest were carved from turnips, potatoes, or beets. This practice originated from an Irish myth about a man named Stingy Jack.
As the story goes, Jack invited the devil to have a drink, but he didn’t want to pay, so he persuaded the devil to turn into a coin. Once the devil agreed, Jack kept the money and put it in his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the devil from changing back. Jack eventually freed the devil on the terms that the devil would not take Jack’s soul should he die.
Jack played another trick on the devil a year later, and soon after he died, but God would not allow him into heaven. And the devil, upset by Jack's tricks, would not allow him into hell. Instead, the devil sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way, which he put into a carved turnip. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then simply, “Jack O’Lantern.”
In Ireland and Scotland, people began placing their own versions of such lanterns in windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. Eventually, immigrants brought the tradition to the US, where the native pumpkin's larger size was much easier to carve than a turnip.
The world's largest jack-o'-lantern was carved from the world's then-largest pumpkin on Oct. 31, 2005, in Northern Cambria, Pa. The pumpkin weighed 1,469 pounds. On Oct. 21, 2006, another record was set when 30,128 jack-o'-lanterns were simultaneously lit on the Boston Common.
