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The Devil and Jack O’Lantern Story

It is night in the small town, and the dry leaves of the trees fall slowly, traveling along with the wind through its narrow streets. Suddenly, sparks of fire are released from the candles placed inside the carved pumpkins that have been placed outside the houses to protect their occupants from evil and to guide lost spirits back to the Otherworld.

The relationship between the Jack O’Lantern pumpkin and Halloween comes from the Irish Celtic pagan festival known as Samhain, which means the end of spring. This festival was celebrated on October 31^st. to November 1^st.  to welcome the harvest season and mark the beginning of the dark half of the year. It was believed that during this time the spirits returned to their earthly home, and evil fairies were free to roam the earth. Therefore, to prevent unwanted guests from entering their homes and causing harm, the Celts lit fires and placed hand-carved turnips with grotesque and menacing features, and left them outside their home doors. And to protect themselves even more, inside the hollow turnip they placed a lighted candle.

When Irish immigrants arrived in North America, they used pumpkins to perform this ritual because it was what was available, for that reason the Halloween pumpkin, also known as Jack O’ Lantern, became popular.

The Terrifying Deal Between the Devil and Jack O’Lantern

According to legend, centuries ago in Ireland lived a young man named Jack, also known as Jack the Stingy, Jack the Blacksmith, Jack the Lazy, Jack the Manipulator, and Jack the Thief. It is said that one fateful night, Satan learned of Jack’s evil deeds and misbehavior, and in order to find out for himself if this lying and manipulative man lived up to his vile reputation, he decided to pay him a visit. As Jack was walking through the field completely intoxicated, he came across what appeared to be the figure of a man. The man, with a creepy grin on his face, turned out to be the demon himself. Jack realized that his life was about to end and that Satan had come to collect his malevolent soul. At that moment, Jack made a request: he asked the demon to let him drink his last beer before leaving for Hell. Finding no reason not to grant his request, Satan took Jack to a local bar to drink as much as he wanted. Quenching his thirst, Jack asked Satan to pay the bill since he had no money and convinced him to turn himself into a silver coin to pay the bartender, to which Satan agreed. As soon as he did, however, Jack stuffed the coin into his pants pocket, where he also carried a crucifix. The crucifix prevented the devil from escaping, and in exchange for his freedom, it spared Jack’s soul for ten years.

After this time, Jack met Satan again while walking through the countryside, but this time he accepted his fate and agreed to go to hell forever. As Satan prepared to take him to Hell, Jack asked him if he could have an apple as he was very hungry. Satan once again granted his request, and while he naively climbed up the branches of a tree, Jack quickly covered its base with a large number of crucifixes. Satan frustrated that he had been trapped once again, demanded to be released. And just like before, Jack made him promise to never take his soul to hell. Having no choice, the devil agreed, and in this way, he regained his freedom.

Unfortunately, after a few years Jack passed away, but when he appeared at the Gates of Heaven his soul was rejected due to his bad lifestyle. Desperate, Jack went down to the underworld and begged the demon to let him in. However, Satan, remembering the promise he had once made, refused to take his soul, instead giving him a lump of coal to light his path for all eternity.

Since then, Jack wanders the world between the planes of good and evil, with only a piece of coal inside a hollow pumpkin to light his eternal journey.

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