Show Notes
Before the jack-o'-lantern was a grinning pumpkin on an American porch, it was something else entirely.
A light over a bog.
For centuries, people in Ireland and Britain told stories about strange flames that appeared in the darkness, drifting just far enough ahead to tempt travelers off the road. In Ireland, one explanation had a name: Jack.
He tricked the Devil. He was rejected by Heaven. Hell wanted nothing to do with him. And according to the legend, Jack was condemned to wander the earth carrying a light until Judgment Day.
But the familiar story of Stingy Jack, his carved turnip, and the Devil's burning coal isn't nearly as ancient—or as straightforward—as it's usually made out to be.
From Irish bogs and grotesque turnip lanterns to American pumpkins and mysterious lights over the mountains of North Carolina, this is the strange history behind the face glowing on your front porch.
Welcome to Day Three of 31 Days of Halloween.
More from Haunted American History
In the winter of 1590, an elderly Scottish healer named Agnes Sampson was brought before King James VI of Scotland.
In 1967, the RMS Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach, California, after more than three decades crossing the Atlantic.
In Savannah, Georgia, ghost stories are everywhere.
On November 13, 1974, a young man ran into a bar in Amityville, New York, shouting that his parents had been shot.
In 1907, a wealthy Boston businessman named Thomas Lawson published a novel called Friday, the Thirteenth.