Jack-O-Lantern Illustration

Hand drawn orange jack-o-lantern on a black background.

This is an altered image of a traditional Jack O'Lantern that appears to incorporate other Halloween motifs including a cat face/black cat and vampire's teeth.

The American tradition of making “Jack O’Lanterns” during Halloween originated from Ireland. Although, instead of carving pumpkins, the Irish carved turnips or potatoes. The name “Jack O’Lantern” also originated from Ireland in the form of an Irish myth about a man called Stingy Jack. According to the myth, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Stingy Jack did not want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn into a coin so that he could buy the drinks. Stingy Jack tricked the Devil many times, always with the security of a cross surrounding him. When Jack died, God would not let him into heaven and the Devil would not let him into Hell. The Devil only gave him a burning coal to serve as light while he traveled the Earth. Stingy Jack put the coal in a carved turnip, and the name “Jack O’Lantern” was born.