\u201cWhat is a Jack-o\u2019-lantern?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a pumpkin, hollowed out, its flesh carved with a design, usually a face, and a candle placed inside turning it into a lantern. Do you not have them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. But why is it called Jack?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I suppose, since there is usually a face carved in it, it was given a name \u2013 Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. There is always a reason why,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Jack-o\u2019-lantern is related to the Will-o\u2019-wisp. It literally means \u201cJack, of the lantern.\u201d The Will-o\u2019-wisp occurs in folklore throughout the world, in various forms, the lights seen in the distance being souls, lost souls. Usually witches.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, their erstwhile compadre, the Jack-o\u2019-lantern exists in various folklores. Occasionally, it is known as Jack McLantern.\u00a0 <\/span>For Jack was a wicked soul. And the devil one day came to claim him. But he made a deal with the devil. As one would sometimes, often, do in a folktale. For our dear protracted protagonist, a jack of all trades, was, in fact, a thief! And one day he was being chased by villagers. It was this day the devil came to claim his soul. But he made a deal with the devil. The devil protected him from the villagers. For Jack was more afraid of their wrath than the wrath of the evil one. And as part of the deal, the ever wily Jack, he made the devil promise that he would never go to Hell. And it was agreed. And Jack was off. He got off, Scott-free, or so he believed.<\/p>\n “Who is Scott?” she thought.<\/p>\n But sadly, he did not bargain for immortality. For he had heard the betrayals that occurred in such deals. So when he died he was, by his own bargain, disallowed entrance to Hell. While his additional years of wickedness insured he could also never enter the kingdom of Heaven. With nowhere to go Jack was doomed to roam the Earth forever as a Will-o\u2019-wisp. However. Jack was ever a wily one. And his favorite food was a turnip, later morphing into a pumpkin, as things happen in folktales. And his spirit, a shiny, shimmering spirit, giving off the light of Hell fire, was trapped within. It turned a mundane foodstuff into a shining lantern. And it protected those who utilized it from spirits ever-more-so malevolent and powerful than Jack by showing them a terrible fate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhat is a Jack-o\u2019-lantern?\u201d she asked. \u201cIt is a pumpkin, hollowed out, its flesh carved with a design, usually a face, and a candle placed inside turning it into a lantern. Do you not have them?\u201d \u201cNo. But why is it called Jack?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know. I suppose, since there is usually a face carved in it, it was given a name \u2013 Jack.\u201d \u201cNo. There is always a reason why,\u201d she said. The Jack-o\u2019-lantern is related to the Will-o\u2019-wisp. It literally means \u201cJack, of the lantern.\u201d The Will-o\u2019-wisp occurs in folklore throughout the world, in various forms, the lights...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,2],"tags":[169,168,170,171],"class_list":["post-1321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-info","category-writing","tag-folklore","tag-halloween","tag-jack-o-lantern","tag-will-o-wisp"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3u13S-lj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4087,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/daydream-believers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1321,"position":0},"title":"Daydream Believers","author":"David Raffin","date":"September 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Sophie tucked in for an afternoon nap. She didn\u2019t like the noise of the squabbling. It was disagreeable to her. She didn\u2019t like noisy train stations. Tried to hustle through them with cotton in her ears. But the sleeping cabin was warm, not too warm, and the noise was held\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My books"","block_context":{"text":"My books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/my-books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4181,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/one-goose-mongoose\/","url_meta":{"origin":1321,"position":1},"title":"One goose Mongoose","author":"David Raffin","date":"October 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The duck billed the platypus three dollars and forty-seven cents. \"Cents? cents? Don't make no sense,\" said the irate duck billed platypus, waiving the bill in the air. \"You say it ain't fair?\" said the duck.\"I say it ain't square!\" said the platypus. It was quite a confrontation hanging in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":829,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/representations-of-muhammad-for-charlie-hebdo\/","url_meta":{"origin":1321,"position":2},"title":"Representations of Muhammad [for Charlie Hebdo]","author":"David Raffin","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"in, out, and about the box [for Charlie Hebdo] If a cartoonist draws Muhammad, he or she invariably will frame that drawing between four straight lines, a graphic representation of a box. Herein lies a problem: Nobody puts Muhammad in a box. The Muhammad in a Box was a toy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":380,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/representations-of-muhammad-in-out-and-about-the-box\/","url_meta":{"origin":1321,"position":3},"title":"Representations of Muhammad, in, out, and about the box","author":"David Raffin","date":"August 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Raffin If a cartoonist draws Muhammad, he or she invariably will frame that drawing between four straight lines, a graphic representation of a box. Herein lies a problem: Nobody puts Muhammad in a box. Muhammad in the Box was a toy popular in the fifties. You turned the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":924,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/all-hail-the-blackberry-thorny-fruit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1321,"position":4},"title":"All hail the Blackberry, thorny fruit","author":"David Raffin","date":"April 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Folklore in the United Kingdom is told that blackberries should not be picked after Old\u00a0Michaelmas\u00a0Day (11 October) as the\u00a0devil\u00a0(or a\u00a0P\u00faca) has made them unfit to eat, by stepping, spitting, or fouling on them.\u00a0There is some value behind this legend as wetter and cooler weather often allows the fruit to become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Info"","block_context":{"text":"Info","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/info\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/04\/Blackberry_close-up.JPG\/1064px-Blackberry_close-up.JPG","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2582,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/duck-down-quack-up-peeking-duck\/","url_meta":{"origin":1321,"position":5},"title":"Duck Down, Quack Up, peeking duck","author":"David Raffin","date":"March 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Duck Calls? We have answers. On the record. DUCK DUCK DOWN Two men walk into a bar. It is at this point in the joke\u00a0 a spectator stands UP from the crowd, having seen something and wishing to report, and says\u00a0: \u201cWhy are they men?\u201c And the Comedian says, \u201cI\u2019m\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Podcast"","block_context":{"text":"Podcast","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/podcast\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1321"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321\/revisions\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}