Spooky season is here, and that means many people will sit down to carve pumpkins and watch their favorite Halloween flicks.
We are VERIFYING three spooky facts about Halloween, including the origin of jack-o’-lanterns and how two popular movies were made.
THE SOURCES
WHAT WE FOUND
1. People used to carve turnips, not pumpkins, into jack-o’-lanterns.
The tradition of carving jack-o’-lanterns comes from an Irish myth about a man known as Stingy Jack, according to Encyclopedia Britannica and the Carnegie Center for Art and History.
Legend has it that Stingy Jack invited the devil to share a drink with him one day. But, true to his name, he didn’t have any money to pay. According to the legend, Jack made a deal to turn the devil into a coin to pay for their drinks, the Carnegie Center says.
Instead of paying for his drink, Jack put the devil-turned-coin into his pocket along with a small cross that prevented the devil from changing back into his true form. The next year, Jack tricked the devil a second time.
On both occasions, Jack agreed to let the devil go if he promised not to claim Jack’s soul when he died and that he would leave Jack alone for a set number of years.
The legend says Jack wasn’t able to get into heaven or hell when he died, so he was given a small ember of hellfire and sent to roam the Earth for eternity. Jack then carved out a turnip to carry his piece of hellfire and used it as a lantern.
According to the Carnegie Center, he also took on a new name: Jack of the Lantern. That’s where we get the word jack-o’-lantern.
People in Ireland began carving faces into turnips and placing candles inside them to frighten away Stingy Jack. When Irish immigrants moved to the United States, they began carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
The folklore about Stingy Jack, and the tradition of carving turnips or pumpkins, were quickly incorporated into Halloween, Encyclopedia Britannica says.
2. Marshmallows weren’t used for the famous explosion scene in “Ghostbusters.”
If you have seen the “Ghostbusters” movie, one of the first scenes that might come to mind is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man explosion.
But we can VERIFY no marshmallows were harmed in the making of the movie. The filmmakers actually used shaving cream.
Huge laundry bags full of shaving cream were dropped on the actors while filming, IMDb says.
You might remember that Bill Murray’s character, Dr. Peter Venkman, was covered in far less shaving cream than his co-stars. That was Murray’s idea, according to IMDb.
On the other hand, Dan Aykroyd, who played Ray Stantz, “loved the shaving cream and kept asking for more to be applied to him,” IMDb says.
3. Michael Myers’ “Halloween” mask was based on a Captain Kirk mask from “Star Trek.”
Fans of the “Halloween” movie franchise may have heard the rumor that killer Michael Myers’ mask was based on “Star Trek” star William Shatner’s face. That’s true, according to the official “Star Trek” website.
Myers’ mask was specifically based on a Captain Kirk mask created for the “Star Trek” franchise, the website says.
Rick Sternbach, a designer for "Star Trek: The Next Generation," also worked on at least one of the "Halloween" movies.
Sternbach said in a Facebook post that, while working on “Halloween 2,” he found one mask left from the original movie in a supply closet and didn’t know where to get any others for the sequel, according to the Star Trek website.
He saw some wording molded into the neck area, including a model number and “Don Post Studios.”
“I made a call, read off the model number, and the word came back 'It's our Captain Kirk mask,’” Sternbach reportedly posted. “I asked if we could buy a number of them, and was told, 'We'll give you a box, just give us credit.' With that, I turned the official dealings over to the higher-ups. Brush with greatness."
The iconic mask design would stay the same throughout the “Halloween” franchise.
This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: Calabazas de Halloween y películas escalofriantes: 3 Datos Breves sobre Noche de Brujas
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