Stingy Jack

The tradition & historical record

The legend of Jack O'The Lantern (Jack O'Lantern), also variously known as Stingy Jack, Jack the Smith, Drunk Jack, Flaky Jack, Pumpkin Jack, etc, is a folktale and legend from Ireland, which is told around All Hallows' Eve to explain the origin of Jack-o'-lanterns. The symbolic magnitude of the story and the lanterns has made the titular character into a form of mascot for the holiday in the areas where tradition is the strongest. ¹

Being a folktale, the story below is told through immersion to reflect use in practice. Also note, that many versions exist, of which none is canonized. It is still very much a wandering folktale, and will differ between retellings. Several centuries ago in Ireland, there lived a drunkard known as Stingy Jack. He was known throughout the land as a deceiver or manipulator, frequently tricking and cheating people to get his way his entire life. On a fateful night, Satan overheard the tale of Jack's evil deeds and silver tongue. Unconvinced and envious of the rumours, the devil went to find out for himself whether or not Jack lived up to his vile reputation. Typical of Jack, he was drunk and wandering through the countryside at night when he came upon a body on his cobblestone path. The body, with an eerie grimace on its face, turned out to be the devil himself. Jack realized that this was his end; Satan had finally come to collect his malevolent soul. So Jack made a last request: he asked the devil to let him drink ale before he departed to Hell. Finding no reason not to acquiesce the request, Satan took Jack to the local pub and supplied him with many alcoholic beverages. Upon quenching his thirst, Jack asked Satan to pay the tab for the ale, much to his surprise because he didn't carry any money. Jack convinced him to turn himself into a silver coin with which to pay the bartender and change back when he's not looking. Satan did so, impressed upon by Jack's unyielding nefarious tactics. Shrewdly, Jack stuck the now transmogrified Satan (coin) into his pocket, which also contained a crucifix. The crucifix's presence kept the devil from escaping his form. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Jack O'The Lantern”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Stingy Jack is mythical character often associated with Halloween, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²