Stingy Jack
Contributed
As October nears, pumpkins with leering grins and oddly shaped eyes begin appearing on doorsteps across the land, lit by candles for when the hours grow short and dark. Have you ever wondered why a pumpkin? Why a scary face? Why a candle?
The answer lies deep in the traditions of the Halloween season, in the Irish tale of the so-called ruler of Halloween; Stingy Jack, whose story actually involves a turnip, not a pumpkin.
In life, Jack came by the moniker of “Stingy” due to his penchant for being a liar and a cheat, often skipping out on bills without paying. Which was especially problematic as Jack had a drinking problem and loved to play tricks on his fellow townsfolks. So legendary were Jack’s tricks, they allegedly caught the eye of the Devil himself. It is said the Devil became jealous of Jack’s dark talents and decided one black night to pay him a visit.
After another drunken evening of unpaid fun and frivolity, Jack stumbled homeward down city streets, until suddenly coming upon a body lying in the roadway. The prone figure lay in the moonlight with its neck twisted at an impossible angle so its large, merciless eyes could stare into Jack’s own.
“Hi Jack,” croaked the hideous thing. “I am the Devil, and I have come to take your soul.”
Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs spun by earlier indulgences, Stingy Jack quickly calculated his end had come, but decided he could never go without pulling one last trick from up his sleeve, and who better to fool than the Devil himself?
Smiling imperceptibly, Stingy Jack pleaded for one last drink of ale before being dragged off to hell, and amused, the unsuspecting Devil agreed. Appearing something like comrades, the two headed off to the pub Jack had just left. The pair whiled away the hours over old stories and pints of ale, and when it came time to settle the tab, Stingy Jack somehow convinced the Devil to turn himself into a single silver coin to pay the bill.
Disappointingly clueless for being the Devil himself, the Devil agreed, and no sooner had he transformed, than Stingy Jack plucked the demonic coin up and dropped it in his pocket alongside a crucifix, the power of the cross trapping the Devil inside Stingy Jack’s pocket!
Now armed with some serious bargaining material, Stingy Jack made the Devil promise not to take his soul for another ten years. Trapped inside Jack’s lint filled pocket, the Devil had no choice but to agree.
That night the Devil went his way, and Jack went his- continuing his life of unpaid debauchery. The years crept by and ten years to the day, the Devil came collecting his due.
Appearing one night out of the shadows, the Devil reminded Jack of their deal. Dropping his head in resignation, Jack agreed, but then began complaining of a sudden stomachache. He claimed if he could just have a bite of an apple from a nearby tree, he would feel better, and he was certain the Devil didn’t want to be dragging unwell men off to Hell, what would people say? Fooled once, the Devil remained unmoved at first. But soon, as before, Jack’s pleas got to the Master of All Evil and he ended up climbing a nearby apple tree for Jack. While he was up there, Jack groaned and cried from the bottom of the tree while hastily carving a cross into its bark. When the Devil returned, he found himself trapped by Jack’s superior trickery again. This time, Jack insisted the Devil must agree to never claim his soul if he wanted to be free from the tree. Forced to agree, the Devil did and the two again parted ways.
Death came for Stingy Jack as it eventually does everyone, but when he tried to enter Heaven, he was turned away for his life of unrepentant sin. With nowhere for his soul to go, Stingy Jack turned to his old frenemy, the Devil, for a port in his eternal storm.
Still miffed, the Devil refused to allow Jack inside. Instead, he gave Jack a fiery ember from hell to light his way through eternity. Finding a humble turnip, Jack placed the ember inside, using the hollowed-out vegetable as a lantern, earning him the name “Jack-O-Lantern.”
Over the years the legend grew and evolved until before long families were carving scary faces into turnips, stuffing a lit candle inside, and decorating the front porch with it, all in a superstitious effort to ward off Stingy Jack’s evil spirit Halloween night. Immigrating to the new world, the Irish found pumpkins plentiful and easier to work with than the turnip. So, much as we can thank the Irish for Halloween altogether, we also have them to thank for providing one of the night’s most recognizable symbols.
If you have ever wondered where some of our more terrifying symbols of the holiday, such as witches, vampires, and ghouls come from, check out next week’s Halloween installment.