Jack O'Lanterns and Werewolves, A History

Happy Halloween everybody! I hope everyone has a fun and spooky day. Enjoy this special article on the history of two of Halloween's most iconic symbols.

Jack O’Lanterns 

It is difficult to pinpoint where jack o’lanterns originated as they come from a blend of different cultures. For example, in England it was common to call men that one did not know the name of “Jack”. Therefore men who carried a lantern, such as night watchmen, would commonly be called “Jack with the lantern” or “Jack of the lantern”. In America, before Halloween became popular, teenagers would carve grotesque faces into pumpkins and put a candle inside to scare people. The practice became so popular that magazines began publishing how-to articles for the prank, the earliest mention of it being found in a magazine from 1842. However the general consensus is that the carved glowing vegetables come from Ireland. 

Carved turnip lantern. Courtesy of Pinterest.

For centuries the Irish traditionally carved scary faces into root vegetables, stemming from the Irish legend of “Stingy Jack” which dates as far back as 1551. According to the myth, Stingy Jack invited the devil to have a drink with him. Being true to his name, Jack did not want to pay for his drink and convinced the devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could pay for their drinks with. Once the Devil transformed himself Jack kept the coin and put it in his pocket next to a silver cross, preventing the Devil from turning back to his true form. Jack would later free the devil, but only under the conditions that the devil would leave him alone for one year and that if Jack died then he would not take his soul. A year later the devil returned and Jack tricked him again, this time convincing him to climb a tree to pick some fruit. After the devil climbed up Jack carved a cross into the bark of the tree which prevented the devil from coming down. After a while the two came to an agreement, if Jack removed the cross and let him down then the Devil would not bother him for ten more years. Not long after this deal was made Jack died. As the story goes, God would not allow an unsavory figure like Jack into heaven and the devil, who was too ashamed for having been tricked and keeping true to his promise, would not let him into hell. The devil sent Jack away into the night, giving him a burning coal to light his way. At one point, Jack decided to carve a turnip and put the coal in it to act as a lantern and has been wandering the Earth ever since. The Irish began referring to Jacks ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern” and eventually just “Jack O’Lantern.” Both the Irish and Scottish began making their own versions of Jack’s lantern by carving creepy faces into turnips and potatoes. They placed these lanterns in windows and near doors in order to frighten away Stingy Jack's spirit, along with any other evil spirits that may be lurking about. Phosphorescent lights that are given off by decaying vegetation in the marshes and swamps around Ireland reinforced the idea that Jack was still out there and many mistook these lights for real spirits. 

Artist rendition of Stingy Jack. Courtesy of Lords of the drinks.

The Celtic pagan carving practice was eventually adopted by Christians and was used as decoration for the feast of All Hallows Eve which is held on October 31st, what is now commonly known as Halloween. This was the feast that preceded All Saints Day on November 1st and was adopted to try and help convert pagans to Christianity. 

Irish immigrants soon brought the tradition to America where they discovered that the native pumpkin made a perfect canvas for jack o’lanterns. The Irish tradition coincided with the teenage pumpkin prank and with Americans growing interest in Halloween and spirits. This made Halloween one of the most popular holidays in the United States as it was a time that both immigrants and native born citizens could come together and celebrate. Now Jack O’Lanterns are a Halloween staple as hundreds of thousands of people carve the round orange fruits every year. 

Modern jack o’lantern. Courtesy of TIME.

Werewolves

Much like jack o’lanterns, there are werewolf legends all across the globe. Most stories explain that werewolves are people that morph into wolves or are some sort of wolf/human hybrid. They are almost universally known as vicious monsters that prey on humans and have a severe bloodlust. Some academics believe the earliest reference to them is in The Epic of Gilgamesh when Gilgamesh rejects a potential lover because they turned their previous mate into a wolf. Meaning that werewolf legends could be almost as old as man himself with stories stretching all the way back to the cradle of civilization. 

Werewolves were also seen in Greek mythology with the Legend of Lycaon. Lycaon was a cruel king who attempted to trick the Greek god Zeus into eating a meal made from the remains of a sacrificed boy. Zeus could not be tricked however and became enraged by the king's actions, punishing Lycaon by turning him and his sons into wolves. This myth was told to explain why they performed the Lycea ceremony. This was a rather extreme tradition where they honored Zeus with a human sacrifice and by performing lycanthropy (assuming the form of and acting like a wolf). Some consider this to be the first story of werewolves in their modern form. 

Artist rendition of Zeus turning Lycaon into a wolf. Courtesy of Greece High Definition.

Werewolves even made an appearance in Nordic culture. The Saga of the Volsungs tells the story of a father and son who discover wolf pelts with the power to turn people into wolf like monsters. The effect lasted for 10 days and when the father and son put the skins on they discovered they could not take them off before that time period was up. They grew fur and sharp teeth and became savage. Soon they began to howl like wolves and rushed off into the forest where they killed many people. At one point the two fought each other, ending with the father biting the son in the neck and almost killing him. The son was only saved when a raven, supposedly sent by Odin, brought a leaf to apply to the son’s wound, once applied he was restored to full health. After the 10 days the two men took off the wolf pelts and burned them. 

Artist rendition of Werewolf of Dole attack.

The legends explain where the idea of werewolves originated but the fear of such beasts became more widely present between the 15th and 17th centuries when they became synonymous with serial killers. France was home to many of these murderers. In 1521, Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun supposedly swore allegiance to the devil and had an ointment applied to them that would transform them into wolves. They later confessed to murdering several children while in this wolf-like state and were subsequently burned at the stake for their crimes. Burning was believed to be one of the few ways to kill a werewolf. Another Frenchman by the name of Giles Garnier, known as the “Werewolf of Dole” also claimed to have been turned into a werewolf by using a special ointment. According to legends of the time, when he was in his werewolf form he would kill children and eat them. He was also burned at the stake. 

France was not the only country to experience mass murdering “werewolves”, one of the most famous cases happened in Bedburg, Germany. Peter Stubbe was a wealthy farmer in the 1500s and folklore tells of him turning into a werewolf at night and devouring the citizens of Bedburg. Peter was caught by hunters who claimed to have seen him shape-shift from wolf to human, and they blamed him for the gruesome murders. After being tortured he confessed to killing and eating animals, livestock, men, women, and children along with many other heinous crimes that do not need to be represented here (If you do look up everything he confessed to just be warned that it’s very grotesque). He also confessed to having a magical belt that turned him into his wolf-like form when he put it on. After this confession he was executed in a most gruesome fashion that was more like a prolonged torture session, with his head being cut off at the end to ensure that he could not come back to life. His farm was searched for the magical belt but to no one's surprise it was never found. Whether Peter Stubbe was actually guilty of his crimes or not is up for debate but it certainly helped to spread the fear of werewolves during this period. The werewolf hysteria became so bad that even common criminals would dress in wolfskins because they knew people would believe it was a werewolf performing such treachery. 

Artist rendition of a wolf man attacking kids. Courtesy of stillunfold.com

In our modern day most scholars and researchers agree that these men were never werewolves but were either mentally ill or under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs. However people of the time believed there was no other explanation for such serious crimes other than monstrous beasts like werewolves. 

There are many “theories” as to how people transform into the creature. Some maintain that it is caused by a curse put on by a witch, wizard, or god. Others believe it is done by enchanted articles of clothing, such as the magical belt in the previous story. A common belief is that in order to become a werewolf then one must be scratched or bitten by one. Another extremely common idea is that people only turn into werewolves during a full moon and this is the only one that actually has a little bit of weight to it. Many studies have confirmed that nearly every crime, except for murder, increases when there is a full moon, even hospitals have reported more erratic behavior by patients when the moon is at its peak. This may be how the legend started as people act more wildly during a full moon and in ancient times they had no other way to explain this than by making up a story for it. 

Artist rendition of a werewolf hunter, this shows the hysteria of these beasts at the time. Courtesy of emaze.

So, are werewolves real? No, there is no definitive evidence showing that a person has transformed into a wolf or wolf-like creature. There are however medical conditions that could lead people, especially those in earlier eras, to believe that a person is a werewolf. Lycanthropy is a rare psychological disease that makes the sufferer believe they have turned into a wolf or other animal. Hypertrichosis is a rare genetic disorder that causes excess hair growth and could cause someone to be mistaken for an animal. Rabies can cause anyone to be violent like an animal and people of earlier times would not have understood why someone would be acting in such a way. Even food poisoning can cause people to act out of turn and in extreme cases become violent, depending on the bacteria or virus. Most cases of werewolves throughout history can be explained as cases of mass hysteria or as a genetic or mental disorder. Those few cases that cannot be explained away so easily likely either did not happen or elements of it were heavily embellished. 

Werewolves may not be real but they are a part of our pop culture and movies, TV shows, and video games centered around them continue to captivate audiences. 

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Personal Thoughts 

I like learning about the history of Halloween, I think it’s pretty neat how all the customs and traditions came about. When I was younger I remember getting excited for the History Channel’s Halloween specials, they had some good ones back in the day. I decided on jack o’lanterns because they’re just fun and people easily recognize them Cryptids interest me a lot so werewolves were a good option. I know for the werewolf one I could have mentioned more cases but some I want to save to do whole articles on at some point. There are some very in depth ones, especially the ones involving people actually trying to hunt the beast. I think those will make good and interesting articles. 

Sources 

Cover image courtesy of themarysue.com

https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-history-of-jack-o-lantern

https://time.com/5419385/why-jack-o-lanterns-halloween/

https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-the-werewolf-legend

https://www.britannica.com/art/werewolf

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/werewolf

https://www.britannica.com/science/lycanthropy

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lycaon-Greek-mythology

https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/volsungsaga.html

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/burgot-pierre-d-1521