1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,600
Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from coast to coast am on iHeartRadio.

2
00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 2: One of the traditions that I absolutely love and adore

3
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:11,160
Speaker 2: and it just it wouldn't be Halloween without this are

4
00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,920
Speaker 2: the jack O lanterns. And you know, all the different faces,

5
00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:16,880
Speaker 2: all the different ways that it's lit up.

6
00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,200
Speaker 3: You know what, how did all that begin?

7
00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,600
Speaker 4: That's a good one because if you spend maybe you know,

8
00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,960
Speaker 4: two minutes on the internet, you get this story about

9
00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:32,520
Speaker 4: stingy Jack, and it's a folk tale. It's got many

10
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:38,959
Speaker 4: many variations, but basically it's a guy who tricks the

11
00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,320
Speaker 4: devil three times. He's a nasty guy, Jack, and he

12
00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,680
Speaker 4: tricks the devil three times, and when he finally dies

13
00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,680
Speaker 4: and goes to hell, the devil says, you know, no,

14
00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:55,240
Speaker 4: you can't come in here, and he throws a lit

15
00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,800
Speaker 4: coal to Jack and says, you know, go start a

16
00:00:58,840 --> 00:00:59,480
Speaker 4: hell of your own.

17
00:00:59,560 --> 00:00:59,840
Speaker 3: Go one.

18
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,160
Speaker 4: And so the jack o lantern story that you read

19
00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,560
Speaker 4: on the internet is really a story that describes this

20
00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,240
Speaker 4: wandering light. So you know, how do we get from

21
00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:16,280
Speaker 4: this wandering light, this fool's fire that's called or corpse

22
00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,800
Speaker 4: candle or will of the whist? How do you get

23
00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,880
Speaker 4: from that to our jackal lantern, which does not really wander,

24
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,160
Speaker 4: but sits on a porch and is lit. So there's

25
00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:33,840
Speaker 4: that in common. It's it comes through an American trick

26
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 4: that kids did early in the nineteenth century where they

27
00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,440
Speaker 4: would take a pumpkin from a field, steal one. There

28
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,640
Speaker 4: were tons, there were tons of pumpkins, and carve the face,

29
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,960
Speaker 4: carved two faces, carved three faces. But then they would

30
00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:52,200
Speaker 4: hang it off of a stick, light a candle in it,

31
00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,080
Speaker 4: and float it in front of somebody's window to scare

32
00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,400
Speaker 4: them to death and then run away real quick. So

33
00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,360
Speaker 4: that's where you get the idea. They started to call

34
00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,840
Speaker 4: this the jack o lantern trick because you know, you

35
00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,760
Speaker 4: got a picture this, there's no electricity, it's dark, and

36
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,880
Speaker 4: all of a sudden in your window is this like glowing,

37
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:18,880
Speaker 4: weird orange face. It's terrifying. But then the kids would

38
00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:21,760
Speaker 4: run away, and whoever was they were scaring would run

39
00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,760
Speaker 4: after them. So that was how you get this light

40
00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:29,160
Speaker 4: that moves, this jack o lantern light that moves. And

41
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:34,440
Speaker 4: it was when we started throwing real Halloween parties in America,

42
00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:37,840
Speaker 4: which didn't happen until after the Civil War, that we

43
00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:42,160
Speaker 4: brought the idea of decorating Halloween parties was bringing the

44
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,640
Speaker 4: outdoors inside. So pumpkins were a big part of that.

45
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,239
Speaker 4: Like corn stocks were a big part of that, and

46
00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,440
Speaker 4: cabbages and different plants and things. But that's when the

47
00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:57,360
Speaker 4: jack o lantern stopped moving and just sat as a

48
00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:03,800
Speaker 4: table decoration or the or a front walk decoration. And

49
00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,160
Speaker 4: that's where it came from. It was, I guess, originally

50
00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,240
Speaker 4: a trick and then a decoration, and then it became

51
00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,959
Speaker 4: a tradition. I mean, we carved Japical lanterns because probably

52
00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:15,960
Speaker 4: our parents.

53
00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,440
Speaker 3: Did, you know, Yeah, yeah, that's right.

54
00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 4: So you don't think back hundreds of years as to

55
00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,120
Speaker 4: why we do this. You know, there's no deep meaning

56
00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 4: in it. There have been meanings given to it. I

57
00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,560
Speaker 4: mean back in Europe and this is a different thing,

58
00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,600
Speaker 4: but back in Europe, around All Souls Day, which is

59
00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:40,480
Speaker 4: November second, very close to our Halloween, people would put

60
00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,760
Speaker 4: carved out turnips in their windows to you know, attract

61
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,720
Speaker 4: the soul's home, kind of like the Mexicans do with

62
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,040
Speaker 4: their Day of the Dead altars. You want to attract

63
00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,000
Speaker 4: your dead souls back home for a visit. So there

64
00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,600
Speaker 4: were carved faces used for that. But I don't think

65
00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,040
Speaker 4: kids in this country think, well, let's you know, let's

66
00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 4: bring Grandpa back with my jack o lantern, right right,

67
00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:10,920
Speaker 4: you put it on your front porch. It welcomes trick

68
00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:11,840
Speaker 4: or treaters.

69
00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:12,520
Speaker 3: Yeah.

70
00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, That's one of the things that I remember as

71
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,240
Speaker 2: a trick or treater was if there was a jackal

72
00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:20,480
Speaker 2: lantern and it had a candle in it. You know

73
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,040
Speaker 2: some now we have, you know, fake little candles, but

74
00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,320
Speaker 2: if it had a light in it, you knew you

75
00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,479
Speaker 2: could go up and ask for candy.

76
00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:29,880
Speaker 3: But if it did, you would pass it right.

77
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,520
Speaker 4: Yes, it was a welcome. It was we're doing this,

78
00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,279
Speaker 4: you know, we're we're here and we've got candy, so

79
00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:37,960
Speaker 4: come on in.

80
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:39,480
Speaker 3: Yeah.

81
00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:41,760
Speaker 2: And then there'd be that couple that would forget, they'd

82
00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,200
Speaker 2: run out of candy and they'd forget to blow out

83
00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,200
Speaker 2: the candle on the jackal lanner, and then they'd.

84
00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,279
Speaker 3: Get all mad at you when you rang the doorbeller.

85
00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,000
Speaker 2: The you know, you're like, hey man, you had the

86
00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:52,760
Speaker 2: light on.

87
00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,479
Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, they got a hustle looking for you know,

88
00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:02,320
Speaker 4: like beef jerky sticks or any that they can Hey,

89
00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:02,920
Speaker 4: you know what.

90
00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:04,960
Speaker 3: We went to the house of a dentist. You know

91
00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:10,159
Speaker 3: what he gave out, don't you, Oh thrushes. It was like, no,

92
00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,039
Speaker 3: we're skipping his place. It's just not fun.

93
00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,600
Speaker 2: No, it was yeah, yeah, well, you know, I guess

94
00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,159
Speaker 2: that's a way to not get kids to ring the

95
00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,159
Speaker 2: doorbell at one point, that's for sure.

96
00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,760
Speaker 3: But you know the cool thing about jack O Leonards too.

97
00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:31,599
Speaker 2: Is it's gotten so amazingly creative. I mean, it went

98
00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,120
Speaker 2: from just the triangle eyes, nose, mouth, you know, with

99
00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:41,240
Speaker 2: many triangles, to man, these people they'll draw the they'll

100
00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,360
Speaker 2: cut up, or they'll carve the entire Wizard of Oz

101
00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,839
Speaker 2: characters all the way around it. I'm sure they could

102
00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,880
Speaker 2: do that with the Harry Potter creators. And it's it's

103
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,760
Speaker 2: just amazing how creative people can get with these pumpkins,

104
00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,840
Speaker 2: turning in them to amazing jack O Lannards and I

105
00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:02,279
Speaker 2: like to do the one trick that I saw someone

106
00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:03,920
Speaker 2: do that I just thought it was cool because I.

107
00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:05,400
Speaker 3: Like scary Halloween.

108
00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:08,080
Speaker 2: You know, when people just wear something that you can

109
00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,040
Speaker 2: wear any time of the year. I'm like, come on,

110
00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,040
Speaker 2: this is Halloween. Get spooky, get Frankenstein, get Dracula. It

111
00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:15,280
Speaker 2: goes that kind of thing. But I love when the

112
00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,000
Speaker 2: jackal lantern where someone had done it, and I just

113
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,760
Speaker 2: thought that is wonderful. Where they clean out the seeds

114
00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,240
Speaker 2: but they still have all the good pumpkin guts and

115
00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,320
Speaker 2: you let that hang as you got the candle in it,

116
00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,240
Speaker 2: and not only does it burn and smell really good

117
00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,120
Speaker 2: by the way, but it looks like, you know, the

118
00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,080
Speaker 2: guts of the pumpkin is there and coming out.

119
00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:39,560
Speaker 3: I just think that's wonderful.

120
00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:45,960
Speaker 4: And how popular pumpkin festivals have become, like in the

121
00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,960
Speaker 4: last twenty years, where you can just go and there's

122
00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:53,800
Speaker 4: five hundred, there's a thousand, there's five thousand carved pumpkins

123
00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:57,280
Speaker 4: all along a woodland path or on a hill. I mean,

124
00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:02,720
Speaker 4: they're absolutely spectacular. I know in the beginning, at least

125
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,000
Speaker 4: and maybe it still is, it was art school kids

126
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:09,080
Speaker 4: who were helping to carve these things, so you had

127
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,800
Speaker 4: people with real talent putting it to work on Halloween.

128
00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:18,560
Speaker 4: But carving all those real pumpkins is an amazing seat.

129
00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:22,400
Speaker 4: It takes so many people. It's spectacular to look at.

130
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,400
Speaker 4: But those pumpkins, you know, you've got real candles in those,

131
00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:28,560
Speaker 4: those have to be replaced, so it's not just that

132
00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:33,000
Speaker 4: they do it once they keep doing it and keep

133
00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,880
Speaker 4: doing it and replacing the pumpkins that are kind of sagging.

134
00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,520
Speaker 4: It is amazing. And I know restaurants order them for

135
00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,240
Speaker 4: display that are amazing scenes of like whole movies on

136
00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:51,280
Speaker 4: the side of a pumpkin. It's truly become an art form.

137
00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,680
Speaker 3: When you were talking about lining them up.

138
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,520
Speaker 2: I mean, I loved being able to go to where

139
00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,120
Speaker 2: pumpkin patches are and you get to go pick out

140
00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:01,440
Speaker 2: your pumpkins, especially when you see the little kids getting

141
00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:03,240
Speaker 2: to run around and pick their pumpkin and try to

142
00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:05,480
Speaker 2: pick it up and carry it. You know, that's fun

143
00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:07,880
Speaker 2: to see that kind of thing. But you have all

144
00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,880
Speaker 2: that hate hast axe and then you'll get on the

145
00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:13,680
Speaker 2: backside of a John Deere and it takes you to

146
00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,080
Speaker 2: certain areas and you know, you get to go grab

147
00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:19,200
Speaker 2: pumpkins that are just all over this acreage of a

148
00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,800
Speaker 2: farm or something like that, and you go at night

149
00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:23,520
Speaker 2: and they're all lit up like you're saying, with the

150
00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,760
Speaker 2: candles and just smell so good. Just fun, you know,

151
00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,560
Speaker 2: just pure fun and family fun like you said.

152
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,800
Speaker 4: It is it is. Yeah, I love it. I was

153
00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:36,640
Speaker 4: in touch a long time ago. With one of the

154
00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,560
Speaker 4: very first guys who put together a pumpkin festival. And

155
00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,680
Speaker 4: what's amazing about Halloween to me, and what continues to

156
00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,200
Speaker 4: be amazing, is that how generous a holiday it is.

157
00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:50,880
Speaker 4: I mean, on no other holiday do we open our

158
00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:52,679
Speaker 4: door to strangers, right, So.

159
00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:57,679
Speaker 3: There's that especially creepy clowns and stuff. Yeah, exactly, raby.

160
00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:02,280
Speaker 4: Clowns come into your house. You know, we spend fifty

161
00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,719
Speaker 4: fifty bucks one hundred bucks on handy that we give

162
00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:09,199
Speaker 4: away to kids we don't now And talking to the

163
00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,439
Speaker 4: original pumpkin carving festival guy, he just did it out

164
00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:15,920
Speaker 4: of the goodness of his heart. He wanted to entertain

165
00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:20,240
Speaker 4: his neighborhood. So he started with fifty carved pumpkins, and

166
00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,360
Speaker 4: then it grew to one hundred, and then he need

167
00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:25,199
Speaker 4: a lot of help, and then it's five hundred, and

168
00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,920
Speaker 4: then it's five thousand. It's just it starts from a

169
00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:33,160
Speaker 4: very generous place, this Halloween that we create for each other.

170
00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:35,840
Speaker 4: And you know, all the people that are doing those

171
00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,840
Speaker 4: wonderful yard displays that take hours and hours and hours

172
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:44,600
Speaker 4: of work, it's for everybody else, you know, It's it's

173
00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:47,360
Speaker 4: something they do and invest a lot of time and

174
00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:49,719
Speaker 4: money in but then they give it away. It's for

175
00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:51,720
Speaker 4: the entertainment of their neighbors.

176
00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:52,840
Speaker 3: It's true.

177
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,080
Speaker 4: Ton of got a lot of generous aspects of this holiday.

178
00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,359
Speaker 4: Lots of holidays do, but this one does in particular.

179
00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,599
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, it's it's funny that it just

180
00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:05,920
Speaker 2: kind of comes up, it happens, and then it's over.

181
00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,600
Speaker 2: And the next day I'm like, I'm done with it.

182
00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,160
Speaker 2: I don't want to put your skeleton.

183
00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,679
Speaker 3: Away, don't leave it out anymore. I'm done with it,

184
00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:13,920
Speaker 3: you know.

185
00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:16,920
Speaker 2: But I can handle it for three weeks beforehand, four

186
00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,200
Speaker 2: weeks beforehand, but the next day I am totally done.

187
00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:21,760
Speaker 3: One of the things.

188
00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,839
Speaker 2: That I really like too are the different costumes along

189
00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:28,680
Speaker 2: the way. How did costume even occur? And remember like

190
00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,360
Speaker 2: when we were little bitty tikes and and we had

191
00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:34,880
Speaker 2: these stupid little Now I'm just saying, but they were

192
00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,720
Speaker 2: these stupid masks that you put on that little rubber

193
00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:40,679
Speaker 2: band in the back and you were burning up as

194
00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:41,840
Speaker 2: a kid, you couldn't breathe.

195
00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:42,920
Speaker 4: And now and.

196
00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,440
Speaker 2: Then it went into rubber ones where you couldn't breathe.

197
00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,240
Speaker 2: But now, I mean they're just so extravagant.

198
00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:55,559
Speaker 4: Yeah, and expensive too. How did we come to costumes, Well, Halloween,

199
00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:58,959
Speaker 4: in this country, we used to dress up a lot

200
00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:01,920
Speaker 4: more than we do now, unless you're lucky enough to

201
00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,439
Speaker 4: live in New Orleans, we dress up once a year

202
00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,120
Speaker 4: and that's on Halloween. But it used to be they

203
00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:12,280
Speaker 4: you know, late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds, people love costumes.

204
00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:15,600
Speaker 4: They dressed up on Valentine's Day, they had costume balls.

205
00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:18,600
Speaker 4: On New Year's Eve, they had you know, the Extra

206
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,240
Speaker 4: Bonnet Parade. That was kind of a costume thing, and

207
00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,000
Speaker 4: so dressing up on Halloween just made sense. You dressed

208
00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:27,960
Speaker 4: up on a lot of holidays and you went to

209
00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,880
Speaker 4: parties in a costume, a fancy dress costume, but the

210
00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:37,040
Speaker 4: Halloween ones were spooky because Halloween is a spooky nighttime holiday.

211
00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:42,080
Speaker 4: And so we first started using costumes for parties to

212
00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,400
Speaker 4: their dress up and go to a masquerade party. And

213
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,800
Speaker 4: then they became more and more popular as we started

214
00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:54,520
Speaker 4: throwing town wide parties and big parades on Halloween where

215
00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:57,240
Speaker 4: everybody could dress up and you needed a costume, and

216
00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:03,040
Speaker 4: they just grew exponentially. And I do remember those little

217
00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:08,720
Speaker 4: costumes of the rubber abandon the elastic, and you know,

218
00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,360
Speaker 4: you couldn't see through it. The eyeholes were never really

219
00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,440
Speaker 4: cut out right. You couldn't quite see all the way

220
00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,839
Speaker 4: through it. And the dress or whatever you had on

221
00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:20,600
Speaker 4: was incredibly flammable.

222
00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:25,640
Speaker 3: Yes, let's go buy that pumpkin with all the candles

223
00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:25,959
Speaker 3: in it.

224
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,760
Speaker 1: Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at

225
00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,760
Speaker 1: one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam

226
00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:36,840
Speaker 1: dot com for more