Then, scrape the inside of the pumpkin with your spoon to remove any soft tissue and prevent rotting. Now, cut out your design with the knife using an up and down motion along each line you drew. Finally, set a candle or light inside of your carved pumpkin and put the top back on.

Cut/scrape the stringy guts off the inside of your lid , and set it aside. Today’s jack-o’-lanterns may still sport scary faces, but they are more likely to be put out for fun or to welcome costumed trick-or-treaters than as an effort to scare evil spirits away. There’s also a dangerous version of ajack-o’-lantern. A poisonous luminescent orange fungus, Omphalotus olearius, is commonly known as the jack-o’-lantern mushroom! Found in woodland areas of Europe, this glowing growth clusters at the base of decomposing hardwood tree stumps. While the mushroom won’t produce a strong enough glow to power your next hollowed-out gourd, it is a great conversation starter at your next jack-o’-lantern carving party.

You can use a serrated knife from your kitchen or the largest serrated tool in a pumpkin carving kit. Draw a circle with about a 2 in (5.1 cm) radius from the stem with a washable marker. Tilt the blade at a 45-degree angle toward the stem and push it into the pumpkin.

Start by washing the seeds thoroughly; then, grind them in a food processor until they are smooth. That’s right, early jack-o-lanterns were carved from Kids root vegetables. Unbeknownst to the ancient Celts, their fall tradition of Samhain and of keeping evil spirits at bay would evolve throughout the centuries. Samhain morphed into Halloween, and the myth of Stingy Jack and the use of jack-o’-lanterns to scare off his evil spirit arose. But unlike the spooky-yet-cute jack-o’-lanterns we’re familiar with today, the earliest jack-o’-lanterns appeared quite macabre. With crudely-cut eyes and mouths, their faces seemed fully capable of truly frightening both the living and the dead.

Now, have one of the children start separating the seeds from the glop. Scoop out the stringy pulp and seeds with your hands or a long-handled spoon, placing the seeds in one bowl and the pulp in another one for the chickens or the compost pile. You may need to gently pry it out by inserting your sturdy knife (or a sturdy butter knife, if you’ve been cutting with a small saw) under one edge.