History Main / StingyJack

-->--Hercules Ellis, "The Romance of Jack O' Lantern"

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode "Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween", it was revealed that Jack was a prankster that caused Endsville so much trouble that the townspeople set up events for the queen to have one of her knights execute him. When TheGrimReaper came to his house, Jack tricked Grim into dropping his scythe, not giving it back until Grim gave him immortality. Grim agreed, then cut his head off immediately after, and Jack replaced his head with [[PumpkinPerson a pumpkin]]. Centuries later, he meets with Billy (who had the scythe) and tricked him into giving him the scythe. He then used it to turn his pumpkin patch into an army of monsters, with intentions of enacting his revenge on Grim and making it Halloween forever.

* What, no mention of JustForFun/CandleJack? He'd be v[[spoiler:ery pleased to note that he very much enjoys this trope, and that he's very quickly running out of rope.]]

With ye auld traditions migrating to America, some sacrifices were made and the traditions changed with the times, as soon enough the turnip was traded for the pumpkin and the rest is history. To this day, the Jack-o'-Lantern (for "Jack o' the Lantern", another name for Stingy Jack) is a popular [[UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve Halloween]] icon, and the idea of Stingy Jack has transcended into media in many incarnations.

* The tale of Stingy Jack stated above, who tricked himself out of Heaven and Hell alike and was doomed to wander the world forever with a hollowed-out turnip lantern to light his way.
** An early form of the story in print can be seen here [[https://books.google.com/books?id=1DxcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP40&lpg=PP40&dq=romance+of+jack+o%27lantern+hercules+ellis&source=bl&ots=0-EXyktc7F&sig=ACfU3U0m8S302zn0eElbU_0Boa4j_fXB_Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihvNTNyeXsAhUxTt8KHYE6DlgQ6AEwEXoECAgQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false]]

* The tale of Stingy Jack stated above, who tricked himself out of Heaven and Hell alike and was doomed to wander the world forever with a jack-o-lantern to light his way.

* ''WebVideo/Gnoggin'': "The DARK, R-Rated Origins of Pumpkaboo" features a retelling of the story of Stingy Jack, since the Pokemon in question is based on a Jack O' Lantern.

* The 2020 indie 3D platformer ''VideoGame/PumpkinJack'' features Jack (still with a pumpkin for a head)as an emissary of The Devil, sent to Earth to spread decay and misery in a world that, frankly, is too cutesy and wholesome for its own good.

* [[VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} Reaper's]] "Pumpkin" skin is very similar to Stingy Jack in design, although he's only referred to "a dread servant" or "the Reaper", and is generally compared to the Headless Horseman more than Jack.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* The tale of Stingy Jack stated above, who tricked himself out of Heaven and Hell alike and was doomed to wander the world forever with a jack-o-lantern to light his way.
[[/folder]]

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld''. Though players are expected to assume that the alarmingly persistent humanoid pumpkin abomination Jack, who haunts [[LovecraftCountry Solomon Island]] and rules over the local population of [[WillOTheWisp Will o' Wisps]], is indeed Stingy Jack, he's later revealed to have been a turn-of-the-century Irish American musician who made the mistake of courting the daughter of local psychopathic sorcerer Archie Henderson, and was transformed into a monster as a twisted punishment after being caught with her in Henderson's pumpkin patch. Although the the player never encounters him, the lore implies that the original StingyJack [[AllMythsAreTrue also exists in the setting]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book "Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns", the main characters are forced to trick or treat all night by a group of fire-breathing entities with jack o'lanterns for heads. The are revealed to be [[spoiler:aliens]] by the end.

[[folder:Folklore & Mythology]]
* The tale of Stingy Jack stated above, who tricked himself out of Heaven and Hell alike and was doomed to wander the world forever with a jack-o-lantern to light his way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do]] with a [[Radio/TheJackBennyProgram stingy guy called Jack]].

* Pumpkinhead from ''Film/{{Pumpkinhead}}'' is a demon of vengeance that is summoned from a pumpkin patch. Pumpkinhead is usually passed on from person to person, [[DealWithTheDevil given corporeal form from the corpse of the previous summoner]]. To whit:

* Pumpkinhead from ''Film/{{Pumpkinhead}}'' is a demon of vengeance that is summoned from a pumpkin patch. Pumpkinhead is usually passed on from person to person, [[DealWithTheDevil given corporeal form from the corpse of the previous summoner]].

With ye auld traditions migrating to America, some sacrifices were made and the traditions changed with the times, as soon enough the turnip was traded for the pumpkin and the rest is history. To this day, the Jack-o'-Lantern (for "Jack o' the Lantern", another name for Stingy Jack) is a popular [[AllHallowsEve Halloween]] icon, and the idea of Stingy Jack has transcended into media in many incarnations.

* Pumpkinhead from ''Film/{{Pumpkinhead}}'' is a demon with a pumpkin-like head. Apart from the gourd cranium, Pumpkinhead is usually passed on from person to person, [[DealWithTheDevil given corporeal form from the corpse of the last person who summoned the last Pumpkinhead]].

* In the ''{{Comicbook/Fables}}'' spinoff ''Jack of Fables'', Jack Hoerner recalls in his youth how he found a devil by the name of Old Scratch who was trapped up a tree because the locals surrounded the tree with crosses. Scratch could tell that Jack was destined for Hell and decided to make a deal with Jack. he frees him, he does not have to go to Hell. Sweet deal. He agrees, Old Scratch runs free and Jack spends the rest of his life however he wants. He ends up getting caught kidnapping a princess (how he got into that situation, I'll never know) and is executed for it, the executioner being such a lousy shot that he ends up getting his back, the side of his neck and his scalp cut off before the executioner somehow ends up getting his own face hacked at. He is denied entry into Heaven and makes his way to Hell where Old Scratch is waiting. Remembering their deal, the Devil keeps him out, giving him nothing but a lit coal to light his way. Lost in the mortal plane, Jack comes across [[Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow the Headless Horseman]], who he then knocks out and takes his jack o'lantern head for himself to carry the coal.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' episode "Billy & Mandy's Jacked-Up Halloween", it was revealed that Jack was a trouble maker that caused Endsville so much trouble that they came to his house and lynched him. When TheGrimReaper came to his house, Jack tricked Grim into giving him his scythe, not giving it back until Grim gave him immortality. Grim agreed, then cut his head off immediately after, and Jack replaced his head with [[PumpkinPerson a pumpkin]]. Centuries later, he meets with Billy (who had the scythe) and tricked him into giving him the scythe. He then used it to turn his pumpkin patch into an army of monsters, with intentions of enacting his revenge on Grim and making it Halloween forever.