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Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

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I have fond memories of my formative years playing Dungeons and Dragons and romping through some spooky forest only to come across that dreaded Will-o’-the-wisp—whatever that was. The Dungeon Master would go into the description of a bobbing spectral light, sometimes in which you could see a man’s face. Apart from these nasty critters being resistant to normal weapons and damn hard to kill, it just didn’t sound all that glamorous to say you leveled up by slaughtering some Will-o-something. But I went with it. We all did, little realizing that not only does the Will-o’-the-wisp have its origins rooted in European folklore, but a connection exists between these things and that revered Halloween tradition, the Jack-o’-Lantern.

After struggling to carve out the last goopy bit of entrails from a poor sacrificial pumpkin so my daughter could proudly display this carved grinning face on our front step, I decided to understand why so many grown adults partake in this messy practice year after year.

So in turns out that both of these glowing things—Will and Jack—have a similar heritage dating back several hundred years. The phenomenon of atmospheric ghost lights (Latin ignis fatuus, or ‘foolish fire’) is something that still baffles travelers and scientists alike today. Also called ‘spook lights’, ‘hobby lanterns’ and ‘faerie orbs’, nighttime travelers making their way through wooded or marshy regions would report seeing bobbing spherical lights that seemed to behave intelligently, luring them off the path, then receding as the travelers came close, approaching when they backed off. Various theories were floated (pun intended) to account for this, including marsh gas interacting with charged ions in the atmosphere, but nothing explained the apparent intelligent behavior of these face-like lights.

So of course, people turned to folklore. Gave them names (like ‘Will’ or ‘Jack’), and like us authors, they created character back-stories. Jack was a bad, bad boy who sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for some earthly goodies, only to reneg on the deal and trap the devil up a tree; he eventually let the devil free in exchange for his soul, but found God didn’t want him and the Devil not only wouldn’t take him back, but compelled him to walk the earth forever with only an eternally-burning ember to light his way in the dark (which he then uses to lure unsuspecting travelers off their own figurative/literal path). Will of course had his own version of this, but it went along the same lines. And so for centuries superstitious folk tried to mimic those lights, perhaps hoping that having their own spooklight would ward off the real ghosties out there. They would hollow out gourds and other roundish veggies, place a candle inside and go a’wandering.

Sakmyster_cvrAnd there you go, next time you’re struggling to carve impossibly triangular eyes into a stubborn pumpkin and getting covered with sticky orange goup, you’ll know who to curse out.

Up until then, enjoy the weeks leading up to Halloween—my personal favorite time of the year. I’m pleasantly overwhelmed this season. I’m on the HWA’s Bram Stoker Award Screenplay Jury (it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it), so I am obliged to get the popcorn see all the new horror-related movies and TV shows, analyze and vote on them, and hopefully enjoy myself in the process. It’s been a blast working with four other members of the jury, also acquiring the actual scripts and having writers and producers send us their works for consideration.

The other blessed event occurring for me this October is a writer’s retreat for HWA members at (The Shining’s) Stanley Hotel in Colorado. I’m signed up, bringing with me an outline from which to write an entire screenplay in five days. It’s going to be the sequel to my optioned screenplay, Nightwatchers, and I expect the atmosphere-including night in room 217 should be more than conducive to generating frightful inspiration.

No matter what you do, have a tremendously terrifyingly October and Happy Halloween, and good luck with those (Will)/Jack-o’-Lanterns!

TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: David is offering five e-book copies of his novel Escape Plan. Comment below to enter or e-mail membership@horror.org with “HH Entry” in the subject line.

David Sakmyster is an award-winning author who has ten novels published, including the newly-released JURASSIC DEAD, and a series about psychic archaeologists (described as “Indiana Jones meets The X-Files”) starting with the book THE PHAROS OBJECTIVE. He also has an epic historical adventure, SILVER AND GOLD, the suspense novels CRESCENT LAKE and N.D.E, and a story collection, ESCAPE PLANS. His screenplay, Nightwatchers, has been optioned for production. Visit him at www.sakmyster.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 comments on “Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

  1. We just finished carving our Jack-O-Lantern and pulling out pumpkin guts. Great time together but this got me thinking about the back story you. Thanks!

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