But what is it about the crisp air, changing leaves, and end of summer that urges us to break out the carving knives and carve jack-o’-lanterns? Halloween is filled with odd traditions ...

The National Museum of Ireland—Country Life, near the town of Castlebar, displays a plaster cast of an early 1900s jack-o’-lantern, known as a “ghost turnip.” There’s no more classic ...

The term jack-o’-lantern was first applied to people, not pumpkins. As far back as 1663, the term meant a man with a lantern or a night watchman. Just a decade or so later, it began to be used ...

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum ... Lewis, a towering jack o’ lantern sold at Target stores nationwide for $180, has become a popular decoration ...

Pumpkins are now one of the most recognizable symbols of Halloween, but they weren’t used as jack-o’-lanterns until the mid-19th century. How did pumpkins go from being an ordinary squash to a ...

A far cry from the grinning pumpkins of Halloween today, the original folklore version of Jack-o-Lanterns, named for Jack O’Lantern of the Irish myth, were actually quite terrifying. They were ...

Stacey Leasca is an award-winning journalist with nearly two decades of newsroom experience. She is also the co-founder of Be a Travel Writer, an online course for the next generation of travel ...