I want to share with you an old Irish folk story.
Once upon a time, there was a mean old man who liked to play tricks on people.
One evening, after a night on the drink, Stingy Jack lost his way on the road home and came across the devil.
He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and, once he had him up there, quickly carved a cross on the trunk to trap him. The devil, angry at being tricked, agreed to not claim Stingy Jack’s soul when he died.
Stingy Jack, thinking he’d bettered the devil himself, went on his way.
Many years later, when Stingy Jack’s time was up, he found himself at the gates of heaven. St Peter refused to let Stingy Jack enter, saying he’d been nasty and miserable on earth and had helped no other soul than his own.
Stingy Jack, finding no succour, went downstairs to hell. At the gates of hell, the devil recognised the trickster and also refused him entry, sticking to the bargain he’d made when Stingy Jack had trapped him up the tree.
Now scared that he had nowhere to go, he begged the devil to let him in.
The devil laughed and threw a coal from the fires of hell at Stingy Jack to make him go away.
Now Jack loved his vegetables, especially turnips, so he pulled one out of his pocket, quickly hollowed it out and popped the ember inside.
Stingy Jack then spent eternity wandering the netherworld between heaven and hell with his glowing hollow turnip.
So, if you’re a fan of the Americanised, modern-day version of Halloween, now you know you have Stingy Jack to thank while carving your Jack O’ Lantern pumpkin.
Emma Sutcliffe is a freelance writer. You can find her on Facebook at ‘‘Little River Emma’’.
