![]() In more volatile settings, it's common to give him fire-based magic. Because of the secularization of the holiday, how Stingy Jack is perceived differs as well, from being portrayed as a jovial soul simply searching for peace to a Scary Scarecrow out to cause trouble and anarchy on old Samhain - like some sort of freakish Halloween Krampus. Such adaptations usually portray him as possessing a Jack-o'-Lantern for a head, while some simply portray him as possessing a pumpkin somewhere on his person. To this day, the Jack-o'-Lantern (for "Jack o' the Lantern", another name for Stingy Jack) is a popular Halloween icon, and the idea of Stingy Jack has transcended into media in many incarnations. With ye auld traditions migrating to America, some sacrifices were made and the traditions changed with the times, as the turnip was soon traded for the pumpkin (due to being larger and thus easier to carve) the rest, as they say, is history. Over time, the idea of Stingy Jack would be revered as a cautionary tale to those who play tricks and are not exactly Christian enough for everyone's liking, even equating Jack to certain phenomena like Will-o'-the-Wisp. But oh no, the Devil was still sore over that silly joke he played! With Jack having nowhere else to go but into the infinite darkness, the Devil did him a solid and gave him a candle (a coal from Hell, in some versions) to light his way, which he keeps to this day inside a small hollowed-out turnip as a kind of lantern. Having nowhere else to turn to, he bit the bullet and made his trek to Hell. Unfortunately for Jack, his party-filled lifestyle did him in, and when he entered the afterlife, he couldn't get into Heaven. Jack then made a simple deal with him: If Jack lets him go, the Devil must make sure that he does not enter Hell. Stingy Jack is a character of Irish folklore, who is said to have tricked the devil into an inescapable situation, be it he was tricked into his pocket where a rosary was, or he climbed a tree with a cross on it-anything cross-y, really. "The Romance of Jack O' Lantern", by Hercules Ellis
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