The co-host of NPR's "Throughline" podcast, Rund Abdelfatah, once cited Halloween as "an American capitalist success story."
What began as a Celtic tradition called Samhain now operates as a billion-dollar holiday across the globe, spreading from religious folklore to secular spooky fun with a particular growth in mass appeal during the 20th century.
Indeed, American companies — particularly candy and costume-makers — pounced on the rising popularity of the trick-or-treat tradition in the 1950s to capitalize on growing their businesses and to commodify Halloween. One report estimated Americans spent $3.6 billion on Halloween candy alone in 2023.
But there's another key element of the "spooky season" that predates trick-or-treating and horror films: pumpkin-carving. Jack-o'-lanterns have become iconography synonymous with Halloween, just as one cannot think of Christmas without a decorated Douglas fir or Valentine's Day without a swarm of red hearts.
In 2023, Americans spent an estimated $844 million on pumpkins specifically for Halloween — not quite the same chunk of change spent on candy, but still a solid slice of the overall $12.2 billion Halloween pie.
But where did this strange tradition come from? While the custom itself has a spooky story to go along with it, carving pumpkins was not always traditionally linked to Halloween, nor were the objects carved always pumpkins. While the exact origins are unknown, there is a piece of Irish folklore that purports an explanation: The legend of "Stingy Jack," which first appeared in print in the 19th century.
Snopes has covered the legend of "Stingy Jack" at length previously, including its even older connections to stories about "will o' the wisps," ethereal lights seen floating in the darkness of the woods.
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In short, it is the tale of a man named Jack who played tricks on the Devil, only to find himself banished from both Heaven and Hell when he died. The legend says the Devil then sent Jack wandering the earthly plane forever, his only light a burning coal placed inside a hollowed-out turnip.
Across Ireland and Scotland, people began carving their own turnips and placing a candle inside to ward off Jack and other spirits who may come around. One early mention of this practice was as early as 1640 in a letter penned by author James Howell, which mentioned "a Turnip cut like a Death's-head with a Candle in't."
The practice was not dissimilar to the Samhain tradition of wearing disguises to protect oneself from wandering spirits. And like that tradition, over time, the legends about Stingy Jack — and thus, jack-o'-lanterns — were integrated into Halloween lore.
When immigrants from Ireland and Great Britain started making their way to the United States, the Halloween traditions followed, and soon the carving object of choice became pumpkins due to their wide availability in America.
An 1885 issue of Harper's Young People magazine reflects the increasing popularity of the tradition at the time:
American boys delight in the funny grinning jack-o'-lanterns made of huge yellow pumpkins with a candle inside. Any lad skillful with a penknife can carve the eyes, nose, and wide mouth with huge teeth that seem like those of a veritable goblin when they appear suddenly at a window or adorning a gate post.
As Halloween's popularity grew, so too did the jack-o'-lantern. Now, companies can be found specializing in pumpkin-carving kits, jack-o'-lantern carving competitions, reality TV shows and pumpkin festivals.
Snopes' archives contributed to this report.