Ever heard of Stingy Jack? He's a legendary Irish associated with Halloween, Jack-o-lanterns. He supposedly got banned from both Heaven and Hell from living a trickster life and for tricking the Devil twice, after he died he was doomed to walk the Earth with only a burning ember in a turnip/pumpkin to light his way
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingy_Jack#
I bring this up because of the potential for comedy.
Idk maybe it could be a Halloween fic, the Hotel is celebrating Halloween and Lucifer sees the Jack-o-lanterns and it reminds him of a guy he met on some of his last visits to Earth, and getting tricked. Lucifer glaring at the pumpkins. Or Lucifer has fun carving stupid faces into the pumpkins.
Stingy Jack is basically a ghost/spirit roaming the Earth. The trouble Alastor and Jack could cause if they met would be Lucifer's nightmare
I mean, Lucifer is just constantly getting tricked and beaten, isn't he? The golden fiddle thing, Jack, Alastor, (Vox...) he never ends up on top!
I can see him having fun carving stupid faces into the pumpkins!
I can also see Jack and Alastor having fun tormenting him lol.
The name "jack-o'-lantern" comes from an old Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack. According to the legend, Jack was a devious drunkard who repeatedly tricked the Devil. After Jack died, his sinful life meant he was denied entry into Heaven, and the Devil, angered by Jack's tricks and bound by a promise, refused to let him into Hell.
Jack was condemned to wander the Earth in darkness forever. The Devil gave him a glowing coal to light his way, which Jack placed inside a hollowed-out turnip. He became known as "Jack of the Lantern," which was later shortened to "jack-o'-lantern".
Originally, people in Ireland and Scotland carved grotesque faces into turnips or potatoes to make their own lanterns. These lanterns were placed in windows or near doors to frighten away evil spirits like Stingy Jack. When Irish immigrants brought this custom to the United States, they found that pumpkins, which are native to North America, were much larger and easier to carve than turnips. This led to the modern-day tradition of using pumpkins to create jack-o'-lanterns.
In 18th century Ireland, there was a cruel man known by locals as Stingy Jack. One night, the devil came to collect his soul, but Jack was a cunning man. So cunning that he tricked the devil, trapping him and wouldn’t free him until he swore he’d never take his soul.
Decades past, Jack died, but he was rejected at the gates of heaven, having never made amends for the man he was in life. Upon arriving at the gates of hell, the devil reminded Jack of their deal, he was forbidden from entering. Jack was distressed, realising he had nowhere to go. But the devil took pity on him, offering him a burning ember from the pits of hell. Jack’s spirit was now condemned to walk the earth for all eternity, with only that ember placed inside a carved-out turnip to light his way through the dark.
From then on, the man known as Stingy Jack in life, became known as Jack of the Lantern in death.
Ladies, gents and enbies, I give you day one of my Halloween festivities. Drawlloween!
To mark the occasion, I made something special! My long comic to date, "The tale of stingy jack!" I probably won't make another multipage comic this month, but I hope you enjoy this one!
For 31 days til all Hallow's Eve, this is the gift I give unto thee. Glimpses into the world unseen, I hope you enjoy... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Full name:Faylinn Alcuin balhorn. Pronouns:She/her/them. Based on autumn and Samhain. Parents:Förster Von Krampusz and stingy Jack. Age:16 years old. Was homeschooled before ending up at monster high somehow(Förster has many connections). She often tells people that Förster is her dad even though she inherited more of jack’s traits(she often leaves details surrounding her heritage to him out of the majority of conversations and just lets others assume that her mother was part of a secret pack of pagans). Witch in training and heir to all hallows eve. Born with a mostly human appearance(might change as she gets older). Still has quite a few satyr related powers like enhanced dexterity and zoolingualism. Favorite Thing:Her massive collection of black shiny stones, gorgeous orange flowers, and heartily grown vegetables. Favorite Person:Her best friend, Avea trotter. Best Thing in Her Life:Her wonderful fire and ice magic skills. Worst Thing in Her Life:She’s not immortal unfortunately.
Summary: Elroy Skellington is finally old enough to join his father for his first Halloween in the human world, but things go awry and he runs away. In his troubled state, the Pumpkin Prince discovers something new that will change their lives, and the world they know, forever.
A fic focused on the Skellington Children.
Pairing: Jack/Sally
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Note: This is a SEQUEL to my other story, OUR NIGHTMARE. To read the original story, go here.
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Fear rooted him to his feet as Elroy felt frozen in place, his nonexistent eyes meeting with glowing ones from the dark. This in itself wasn’t a scary sight – plenty of monsters had luminescent eyes and sharp teeth back at home. It was a delightful sensation to find someone watching you, as the inhabitants of Halloween Town savored that unsettling chill climbing up their back in knowing there was a pair of eyes on them, following their every move.
But he was not home. This was not someone he knew. And this stranger’s intentions were a mystery to him.
He recalled those humans back in their world, how they had appeared to be nice girls on the surface, but attempted to kidnap him the second they had him in their grasp. His parents had never lectured him on what to do around strangers because everybody knew one another in Halloween Town. It was a small, tight-knit community filled with monsters who had good intentions. Now that its prior Boogeyman had been killed, he knew of no one who was out to get anybody.
Holding onto that sliver of hope, deep in his soul, he called out weakly to the one watching him from the shadows. “H-Hello?”
It was at that moment something else glowing appeared from the figure, and as the skeleton squinted, he recognized it as a flame. It was an ember nestled in the hollowed-out insides of a…turnip? He had only seen that root vegetable in his mother’s soups, stews, and salads. Who would hollow out its interior and use it as a makeshift lamp?
Perplexed by this oddity, he hadn’t noticed the figure getting closer. He was now effectively out of the shadows, illuminated by a nonexistent moon in the sky. What was strange was that this looked like any ordinary human man, except his skin was filthy with dirt seeping into his wrinkles, his hair looking like it had not been attended to in decades, and his pupils glowed a minute yellow. There was something ethereal to him, different from the human girls who he had seen earlier in the night.
“Ye’ goin’ to Hell, kid?” was what the man asked, his voice scratchy and hoarse like he hadn’t spoken to another person in years. He had a peculiar accent the Pumpkin Prince had not heard before.
“What?” Elroy asked, startled by the question.
“Satan won’t let me, but ye’ can sneak me in with you,” he stepped even closer, desperation growing in his eyes. “Ye’ don’t look the kind to be getting into Heaven. But if ye’ can get me in there instead, I’ll be much obliged.”
“Who…who are you?”
“Ye’ won’t take me if I tell you,” he insisted, lowering his illuminated turnip. “Now I won’t be askin’ again. You’re gettin’ me into one of those places, that choice is much yours, but ye’ll be gettin’ me there one way or another.”
“I’m…I’m not going to either of those places. I’m trying to get back home to Halloween Town.”
“That blasted place!?” his voice became angry and loud, his eyes glowing brighter in tune with the turnip. “It’s that town that condemned me to where I am! Satanic cultists! Yer’ one of them!?”
“Yes! I mean, no!” The scarecrow took a defensive step back, familiar alarm bells ringing in his head. “Please, just show me the way, mister, and I’ll be out of your way, I promise.”
“No, kiddo’,” the man shook his head, a sinister smile growing on his lips. “The only path I’m takin’ ye’ on is ta’ Hell. Yer’ gonna lie to Satan himself an’ get me in.”
Elroy did the same thing as last time when he felt in danger – he turned on his heel and began running as fast as he could. It was easier for him to gain more distance in his scarecrow form, since he was so light on his feet with only sticks and straw stuffing his being. But despite this, the man behind him advanced quickly, his eyes set in determination and his stamina remarkable. The Pumpkin Prince tried weaving and dodging through the trees to get him off his trail, but this stranger knew the lands better than him, because he easily followed his steps and never once got smacked by a stray branch.
He was only a few paces behind him, now. Elroy could feel wax tears slipping out of his slit eye sockets. He was going to get caught. He’ll be forced to go to Hell, where he would have to face Satan and tell him why he was there. There was no telling what would happen at that point, and he felt the fear consuming him whole.
Just as the man extended his arm to grab him by the collar of his shirt, Elroy was seized by a pair of hands from the darkness. He gasped as one covered the warm recess of his sharp mouth, and the other held him flush against a thin body. They watched as the light from the turnip attempted to illuminate the trees, in which the being behind him shifted to avoid its light. They were both so slim that they effectively hid from his view behind the trunk.
Elroy started to squirm, wanting to be out of this grip as much as he wanted to escape this dangerous stranger, but then a voice whispered from above his head:
“Hush, now. He will be gone to wander shortly.”
He tried to speak, but it was muffled under his hand. He raised his stick fingers to try and pry it off of him, but he paused upon feeling the familiar texture. It was the same wood that his own skin was currently composed of. He tried lifting his pumpkin to get a better look at who held him, but the darkness only revealed another ember glow above him.
After a couple of minutes, which felt like an eternity for Elroy to be held captive, the light wandered further off until it was only darkness surrounding them. That man with the turnip was gone. It was then that the Pumpkin Prince whipped out of this new stranger’s grip and took a few steps back to assess who it was. To his dismay, he still could not make out much detail under the tree’s shadows in which he cloaked himself in.
“Are…are you gonna’ tell me who you are?” he asked, breathless. Was everyone he met in this forest going to be an unfriendly threat?
“I would be much obliged,” the voice returned to its full volume, which sounded eloquent and light. “But first, I’ll give you an introduction you have not received. Who you just met is known as Stingy Jack.”
“Stingy Jack?” he cocked his head to the side.
“Oh, yes,” the figure righted himself and finally stepped out into the clearing. “A wandering soul who was denied by Satan after he cheated him, and rejected by God because of his sins.”
Elroy was too stunned to say anything. Standing before him was a similar scarecrow with a large Jack-o’-lantern head. But he looked much older, his clothes completely tattered and his pumpkin skin soft and somewhat decaying. His fire still burned from the core of his pumpkin, but it wasn’t as bright or strong as his own currently was. Held in his right hand was a bindle, which looked to be the only thing he carried on his person.
Upon his silence, the scarecrow continued, “He’s been destined to wander in purgatory, and frequents these forests. I met him a few centuries ago. He was in a bit of a better mood back then. I was so intrigued that I named my own son after him.”
It was almost as if…
“The name is Áed,” he finally introduced, taking off his hat and giving him a dramatic bow, almost exactly like his father would, and there was no question left in Elroy’s mind.
“Grandpa!?”
He bristled at the term and hastily replaced his hat. “I understand I have many a year under my belt, but-”
“No,” the Pumpkin Prince shook his head as he stepped forward. “Don’t you recognize me?”
Áed took a second to eye him from head-to-toe. “I should say that you look like me, but I reckon there are other scarecrows in Halloween Town. That is where you said you’re from..?”
“Grand-père,” Elroy said to himself, gawking at the taller man before him. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Had he just stumbled upon his long-lost grandfather? Or, rather…Grandpa Áed had found him..?
Knowing there would be no better way to explain the situation he was in, Elroy focused until he could feel the weight returning to his body and was able to freely flex his phalanges. He opened his eye sockets the second he could and witnessed Áed stumbling backwards until his spine collided with the tree. He must have just as good sight in the dark as he, for he recognized him instantly. He and his siblings had Jack Skellington’s unmistakable round skull. Anyone who met them could recognize their royal bloodline from a mile away.
“I…” the prior Pumpkin King was at a loss for words. He took a second to recover himself before jumping up from the tree and approaching his grandchild, who did not falter at the sudden movement. He knew he was safe now.
“What are you doing out here?” was Áed’s first question.
“I…I got lost. I didn’t mean to run away. I just wanted to take a walk, but I guess I was thinking too much, and…I can’t find my way back.”
“You got separated on All Hallow’s Eve?”
He did not want to disclose the mistake he had made in the human world. There were plenty of other things to talk about, he thought. The last thing he wanted to do was to tell his long-lost grandfather that he had ruined this year’s Halloween.
“I can’t believe Jack let that happen,” the scarecrow slowly shook his pumpkin in disbelief.
Memories of what his father told him and his siblings came flooding back to Elroy. He narrowed his eye sockets as his mouth thinned into a line. Now that he was over his initial shock, and he truly knew that this was his elder before him, he gained some bravery and wanted to get to the bottom of things.
“I can’t believe you left my dad,” he spit out.
Deep down, he had hoped that Grandpa Áed would deny this, telling him it was all some big misunderstanding and that there was a good reason he had been missing from Halloween Town for decades. Instead, the stick hands left his shoulders as the man returned to his full height. He glanced at Elroy and, without a word, turned around and started walking again. The skeleton Prince scrambled to his feet, having not expected such a reaction from him.
“H-hey, wait!” he reached out for him. “Where are you going–”
“I’m taking you back home to Halloween Town. No doubt they’re all looking for you as of this moment.”
This was what he wanted ever since he realized he was lost in this forest. But now that he had met Grandpa Áed, he realized how many questions needed to be answered. Closure as to why his father had been abandoned at such a young age and forced to reign a town without guidance. He needed justice and Elroy wanted to be the one to get that for him.
“Okay, we’ll both go back to Halloween Town and you can tell my dad to his face.”
“I’m not going with you.”
He slowed his tracks. “What? Why not?”
“I was never lost, son,” Áed’s voice softened as he appeared somber. “If I wanted to go back, I would’ve done so a long time ago.”
“Then-” Elroy struggled with his words, feeling the fire reignite in his chest out of frustration. “Then why haven't you?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
The Pumpkin Prince did something he did not want to do - which was to act like the child he was. He stood firmly in place and crossed his arms, glaring at the back of the retired Pumpkin King. It only took a few seconds of not hearing any leaves crunching behind him that Áed realized Elroy had stopped following. With a prolonged sigh, he turned around and approached him.
“What is your name, boy?”
“Elroy.”
“Elroy,” he repeated with a smile in his voice. “Did you know that name means ‘the king’?”
He tried not to falter under such observations. “N-Not really…”
“They say it comes from ‘le roi’,” the scarecrow slowly lowered himself to his feet and began opening his bindle. “My name is old Irish. It translates to ‘fire’. It came from another word which meant ‘to burn’, or ‘to kindle’...”
The skeleton curiously watched as he grabbed a couple chunks of wood from the cloth. He would have never guessed that all that old bindle had was dry kindling. There were no personal items in sight as he laid the wood on the ground and gathered some leaves to stack on top of them. With a little more effort than it would take for himself, his grandfather inhaled deeply before breathing fire on top of the arrangement, which caught easily.
He watched the embers with mesmerized eye sockets. Áed gestured for him to sit down, in which he reluctantly lowered himself on the other side of the campfire. He continued glaring daggers at the retired royalty, who ignored such distasteful looks as he fished through his pockets and presented him a handful of mushrooms.
“These grow around some of the trees out here. It sure is lucky to be from Halloween Town; not much of a threat if they’re poisonous, eh?”
Elroy saw no reason to reject the offer. He had not done anything dangerous so far. “Are they poisonous..?”
“They are quite delicious, so I imagine so,” he dumped a majority into his awaiting bony palms.
He picked them out one-by-one and enjoyed the warmth from the flames. It was much less exhausting to raise his temperature the old-fashioned way. The silence in this time was contemplative, as both of their gazes were focused on the fire. After a minute or two, he finished this small portion and felt just a tad more eased with something in his stomach.
“I meant it, Elroy, you’re too young to understand why I left,” Áed spoke over the fire. “Forgive me for not giving you the answers you want.”
“But can you tell me why you never came back?” he pleaded. “My dad said you were the greatest man. He knew you loved him. But he doesn’t know why you abandoned him.”
There was a tense moment in which the older man’s composure fell and he clutched his pumpkin head with both of his stick hands. The Prince kept quiet in this minute, allowing him to gather his thoughts and feel whatever he needed to feel. He failed to understand a single thing about this situation, but seeing how he reacted to such words, he knew Áed felt regret. That he wasn’t completely emotionless about this whole thing.
It looked as if he was experiencing conflicting motions, as his sharp mouth would open wider a few times, like he was about to say something, but nothing came. After a few minutes, a long flame escaped his mouth as he sighed again.
“You may not understand this, either, lad, but…I have never gone back because I believe I no longer belong in that town,” Elroy’s jaw fell open as he was about to protest, but Áed interrupted him before he could. “The idea may sound baffling to you, but I felt like I wasn’t properly scary anymore and could no longer benefit my town. I knew Jack was ready, he was superior where I had grown weaker, and I took my leave believing they did not need me anymore. I can only assume things have thrived under his rule since then.”
He wasn’t sure what to make of his words exactly. But he understood the feeling; the worry of not being scary enough, of wanting to give things up when you felt you could not live up to your expectations.
“You weren’t just leaving the town, though,” he brought up with a crack in his voice. “You were leaving my dad.”
He lifted his pumpkin head to meet his gaze over the flames. “That wasn’t easy for me, Elroy, and don’t believe for a second that it was. But it was the sacrifice I made so Halloween wouldn’t suffer.”
“Who cares if Halloween suffered? You made my dad suffer!” he sat up with tears stinging the ends of his eye sockets. “I didn’t know about you until recently, but…h-he made a scrapbook of you and grandma. And he told me and my brother and sisters about you, and I could tell he really loved you. I couldn’t imagine growing up without him – but he had to grow up without you..!”
Áed allowed him to scream, visibly flinching with each exclamation that he made.
The tears were now welling up in his sockets. He tried brushing them away. “Why?”
He took a deep breath. “I can’t-”
“-What? You can’t tell me ‘cause you don’t wanna’ confess how…how much of a coward you are!?” Elroy felt nothing but anger and frustration at this point. “Lately I felt like I haven’t been scary enough, but…but I didn’t leave everybody on purpose! I WANT to go back to them! Why don’t you!?”
The scarecrow stood and came over to his side. Elroy jumped to his feet and backed away from him, glaring at the taller being. He didn’t want to be touched by this man. He didn’t want to hear a single word of comfort from him. How could he have idolized him before? Who cares if this had once been the scariest Pumpkin King – he was such a…he was…
“Please, son, listen to me,” he caught a hold of his shoulder and held him steady despite his jostling. “I had no idea he would need me. I never thought he would find someone and have a family. I didn’t know I would get to meet you. I–”
“--You’re selfish!” he bared his teeth at him. “You don’t wanna’ come back ‘cause you’re scared! Well, guess what? I am, too! And I’m not going back until YOU are!”
He managed to loosen his grip and kicked the dirt out from under his heels as he sprinted through the forest again. Áed swore loudly as he ran off, calling for him and even chasing after. He was engaged in yet another game of chase, but he was determined to win this time around.
He would find his own way back home, without the help of such a careless man.
Before we had pumpkins as Jack-O-Lanterns, we used turnips. The Irish believed that the turnips could ward off evil spirits. At this point of history, the Irish didn't even have pumpkins. Later down the line, modern day Americans began using the pumpkins for Jack-O-Lanterns we know today.
Like many Irish traditions, there is a folk tale to go along with the use of Jack-O-Lanterns and today I will tell the tale of Stingy Jack and the Devil.
A long time ago lived a man known as 'Stingy Jack', he was always in the pub and known for tricking people into buying him drinks so he didn't have to buy them for himself.
One day Jack came across the devil himself within the pub.
'I tell you what,' said Jack, 'if you turn into a coin so I can get one last drink I'll let you take my soul.'
The devil laughed at such an easy task, and accepted easily. Once the devil turned himself into a coin, Jack snatched it up and stuffed it in his pocket next to a silver cross Jack kept on his person.
A few hours later, Jack pulled the coin and the cross out of his pocket and struck up another deal with the devil stuck in coin form.
'If you promise to leave me alone for ten years, I'll take the cross off so you can return to your proper form.'
The devil reluctantly agreed, feeling extremely uncomfortable in his current form.
Ten years came and went, Jack was still as stingy as ever. Whilst walking through the local woodlands one day, Jack came across the devil he owed his soul to.
'It's time you paid the price!' The devil boomed.
Jack scratched his chin, looking around for a moment before a thought came to him.
'I'll go with you, I just want one more thing before I do.'
The devil scoffed at Jack.
'Could you... just get me an apple from that tree before you take me away?' Jack's voice was pitiful, and the devil rolled his eyes.
The devil climbed the tree, and Jack quickly placed silver crosses at the trunk.
'Let me live the rest of my life in peace, and I will let you go.' Jack said with a smirk.
The devil was extremely angry at being deceived again by Jack, but agreed as the creature had no other choice.
Stingy Jack died years later. When he passed he was not allowed into heaven due to the deals he made with the devil. But the devil was still so angry with Jack that he refused to let him in hell.
Stingy Jack is known for his love of turnips and so his spirit hallows them out, and lights a candle within them so his spirit can see in the dark as he roams the streets of Ireland, with nowhere to go.
