Where Did Jack-O-Lanterns Come From?

This is one of those questions that never occurred to me. Why would it? Every year we dutifully bought a mid-sized pumpkin and cut it up to look like some scary thing, put a candle in it, and set it out for the trick-or-treaters. Lots of fun. In recent years we've either used a porcelain pumpkin, with an electric candle, or we've used a magic marker to draw faces on the pumpkins. The latter method preserves the pumpkin for later use as a pie. (better!). Anyway, I found the origin of this annual Halloween ritual. Take a look!