According to English Heritage, which manages over 400 of England’s historic buildings, monuments and sites, jack-o’-lanterns originated in Ireland, “where people have been carving turnips and other root vegetables for centuries, to ward off evil spirits.” Irish legend holds there was an actual man named Jack, who was “cursed to spend all of time roaming the earth with only a burning coal (inside a carved out turnip) to light the way, as his punishment for trying to trick the devil.”
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