Tag Archives: Halloween

The Misadventures of Stingy Jack: The Origins of Halloween

30 Oct

If you’ve ever carved a pumpkin, dressed up in costume, or gone trick-or-treating, then you owe a debt of gratitude to a certain Irishman named Stingy Jack. That’s right, the origins of Halloween can be traced back to an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. And according to legend, Stingy Jack played a key role in the creation of this spooky holiday.

So who was Stingy Jack, you ask? Well, he was a clever but miserly fellow who loved nothing more than hoarding his wealth and playing tricks on others. One day, he met the devil himself in a pub and managed to trick him into paying for his drinks by turning himself into a coin. But Jack wasn’t satisfied with just a free night of drinking – he also wanted to cheat the devil out of his soul.

So Jack made a deal with the devil – he would let the devil have his soul, but only if the devil agreed to never take Jack to hell. The devil, eager to get his hands on Jack’s soul, agreed to the deal. But when Jack eventually died, he found that heaven didn’t want him either because of his deceitful ways.

So Jack was forced to wander the earth as a ghost, with only a carved-out turnip to light his way. And on the night of Samhain, when the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest, he would roam the countryside, playing tricks on people and scaring them with his eerie glow.

When the Irish immigrants brought their traditions to America, they discovered that pumpkins were a more plentiful and easier-to-carve alternative to turnips, and the Jack-o’-Lantern was born. And thus, the legend of Stingy Jack lives on to this day, inspiring generations of Halloween revelers to dress up in spooky costumes, eat too much candy, and scare the pants off each other with ghost stories and unexplained mysteries.

Read on for more…

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The Legend of Stingy Jack

18 Oct

People have been making jack-o’-lanterns – pumpkins with ghoulish faces and illuminated by candles, which are a sure sign of the Halloween season – for centuries. The practice of decorating jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes served as early canvasses. In fact, the name, jack-o’-lantern, comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became an integral part of Halloween festivities. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “Stingy Jack.” According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years. Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”

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Ten Essential Halloween Spine-Tinglers

31 Oct

The tell-tale signs of Halloween’s quick approach are pumpkins galore and Monster Mash on repeat on the radio—and let’s not forget the clever ghost decorations. But you can’t really be in the spooky spirit until you plop down on the couch and binge on some good old classic Halloween movies. Yes, Halloween is coming and that means it’s officially horror movie season, so what better way to spend a cold, dark October night than hunkering down with a scary film. It’s the perfect time to grab some popcorn, huddle with all of your friends, and get prepared to scream your head off at some of the scariest movies out there. There have been so many horror films over the years and it can be so hard to figure out which ones you should definitely watch and which ones you should stay away from. Plus, it can also be tough to find the best Halloween movies that everyone in your friend group will love, but whether you’re looking for the ultimate slasher film or are just trying to find something dark that the whole family can enjoy, there are plenty of picks here for any kind of Halloween and horror lover. So gather your most trusted friends or family members, turn down the lights, maybe add a few candles, definitely grab some Halloween sweets and candy, and you’ll be ready for the ultimate fright night.

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Five things to do this Halloween

31 Oct

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If you’re at a loose end this Halloween and in the mood to be scared silly, here are some suggestions courtesy of Ghost Cities:

1 Thing to watch – the Babadook will scare you silly…

1 Thing to read – one classic by Wilkie Collins and one modern chiller by Joe Hill (slightly cheating here with two but I couldn’t resist!)

1 Thing to visit – the Witches and Wicked Bodies exhibition at the British Museum: just about the scariest place to visit this Halloween!

1 Thing to eat – here’s a ghoulishly good recipe for that old favourite: pumpkin pie!

1 Thing to listen to – what else but Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre?

Enjoy – Happy Halloween!

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Nutcrack Night

20 Oct

October 31st, known as Halloween to most, is also called a variety of other names in different parts of the world, including Samhain, Mischief Night and the Day of the Dead. In the Gaelic diaspora, the holiday is also traditionally known as Nutcrack Night. As the chill of autumn pervaded their homes, people would sit around their fires, eating newly harvested hazelnuts or chestnuts. Several fortune-telling customs grew up that involved throwing nuts into the fire, hence giving rise to the name ‘Nutcrack Night’ or ‘The Oracle of the Nuts’. It was a time, for example, when young people put nuts on the hearth to see if their sweethearts were true to them. If the nut burned normally, all was well, but if it burst or rolled away the sweetheart was, alas, untrue. In ancient times nuts were also an early divination tool, in the absence of more modern accoutrements such as crystal balls, tarot cards, runes and other arcana. The reason for this was simple – around the end of the harvest season, often there was not much left in the fields. However, nuts were often plentiful, making them the perfect medium for divination in the dying embers of autumn.

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Happy Halloween!

31 Oct

 

 

 

 

 

Just as a special treat I thought I’d include with today’s post a selection of past Halloween-themed posts that have appeared on this site. Enjoy!

As The Days Grow Shorter…

A Halloween Tale

October Dreams

A Treat for All Hallows’ Eve

The Day of the Dead

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Winter Masks

28 Oct

With the fateful day not far away now, it struck me recently that Halloween is all about masks. When I was a child everyone seemed to wear them – and not just on All Hallows’ Eve. It all started with the perception that people seldom said what they really felt about anything. I wasn’t sure why, but I soon learned that apparently there was something impolite about frankness, and politeness was something that I took seriously growing up. I also came to believe that success or failure in life might be measured by how one handled one’s mask. The most famous actors of the day – Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise etc – were born with wonderful masks, or maybe they grew up with them, I didn’t know for sure. But in any case they handled them brilliantly and so putting on a mask, I thought, was a wonderful thing. If I could have got away with it, I think I would have worn one all the time – which made Halloween just about my favourite time of year! When I was young Halloween wasn’t something that you spent a lot of money on. Not many children went around in full costume as werewolves, witches, devils or what-not, but masks – which rarely cost more than a couple of pounds at most back in those happy days – were another matter. Each year the challenge became picking a mask that you could cobble up a matching costume for with little or no money. Eventually not just Halloween but the entire final third of the year became associated with masks and masquerades for me. As the old poem goes: ‘The winter light is pale and bright, and so the serpent basks. On snowy floor we waltz the score, we masquers are our masks’.

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The Day of the Dead

31 Oct

October 31 is everyone’s favourite horror holiday – the one time each year when the mundane is overturned in favour of the bizarre and anyone can become anything they wish. Whilst, at its core, Halloween seems to be a chance to confront our most primal fears (and often attempt to mock them!), it is also a holiday which encompasses many other things, including ancient beliefs, religious meanings, a multitude of ethnic heritages, diverse occult traditions and the continual influence of popular culture. Let’s have a look at the history of Halloween and what it means today.

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A Treat for All Hallows’ Eve

30 Oct

Hi All,

I couldn’t resist writing an extra post today with Halloween approaching – it is my favourite time of year after all! Bloodbath at the Haunted Manor (click to read!) is another sample of my own work in the form of an extract from a soon-to-be-published ghost story. Set in Blenheim Palace, a mansion rich in history which is located just outside Oxford and is perhaps the country’s most impressive stately home, the story is inspired both by my own student experiences and a famous local legend. I hope you enjoy it and, if nothing else, that the ghostly theme won’t put any would-be tourists off visiting Blenheim Palace, which is well worth a look-in for its gardens alone.

If you’re a fan of this site and/or my e-book, don’t forget that you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook, as well as visiting my UK & US Amazon Listings, by clicking on the links in the sidebar.

Do tune in this time tomorrow for a post which, in keeping with the Halloween season, will be my own take on the history of everyone’s favourite horror holiday!

That’s all folks 🙂

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October Dreams

29 Oct

Looking for something to read over the Halloween season? Then look no further than October Dreams, by some distance the most impressive Halloween-themed anthology that I’ve ever read (and believe me, I’ve read a lot of them!). Full of classic novellas, never-before-published short stories, essays on the history, literature and films of Halloween – and favourite real-life memories of the holiday – all from the world’s foremost practitioners of fear, including Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, Ray Bradbury, Tim Lebbon, Richard Laymon and Ramsey Campbell. This isn’t just a good read, it’s also a collector’s item.

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