Pumpkins

(photo by Leslie Lewis)

Way out in the country tonight he could smell the pumpkins ripening toward the knife and the triangle eye and the singeing candle.

~ Ray Bradbury

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So jack o' lanterns originated in Ireland. The o' might have given that away. Anyway, in Ireland they made lanterns to scare away Stingy Jack who roamed the land after tricking the Devil but then not being able to get into either Heaven or Hell. 

Except they didn't have pumpkins in Ireland, so they used turnips and potatoes. That, my friends, is how Mr. Potato Head became the patron saint of Halloween.