Jack-O-Lantern Tales from Green River Preserve
Green River Preserve (GRP), a summer camp and wildlife preserve in southwest Henderson County is full of intrigue and lore. Totaling more than 3,000 acres, the Preserve’s pristine forests, clear waters, and abundant wildlife are forever protected by a conservation easement held by Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy. Conserving the land has helped protect many of the stories harbored by its deep hollows. But perhaps it’s even more than the land and stories that are protected—GRP’s secluded coves may be home to more than meets the eye.
“Jack-o-lanterns are one of the strange mysteries that mountain folks experienced in the Green River Valley,” said Sandy Schenck, owner of Green River Preserve. Newman Levi, a lifelong resident of the Green River Valley, first told Schenck about jack-o-lanterns when he was a young boy and the hair-raising tales stayed with him throughout his life. “He got me really interested in these things. They’re just fascinating.”
“Jack-o-lanterns are big balls of lights that drift around the woodlands. They seem to have a curiosity. They would come visit you,” explained Schenck.
Schenck recalled one of Mr. Levi’s most chilling stories about the strange phenomenon. “Newman was on Bobs Creek at the old family place. There was a foot trail that went up the mountain to his neighbor’s cabin. One evening, he and his father were on the front porch. They were worried about their neighbor because he had been very sick. Suddenly, they looked up the trail and here comes a lantern headed toward them,” said Schenck.
The Levis suspected that something wasn’t quite right. Surprised that someone might be walking the trail that late, they assumed their neighbor had taken a turn for the worse and someone was coming to tell them. The men started to walk up to meet the visitor but “as they got closer, they realized something strange, and they stopped,” said Schenck.
The light continued to come straight towards them. Despite its flickering and bobbing, the light wasn’t a person carrying a lantern. Instead, it was a glowing ball of light hovering above the ground. It was a jack-o-lantern.
“It was the first time Newman had ever seen one. It came right up to him, a big, bright ball of light, then it rose up into the air, wove its way through the trees, and disappeared,” said Schenck.
Other stories from the Green River Valley tell of jack-o-lanterns following people, sometimes unbeknownst to them. Schenck recalled a story of a resident of the valley who used to chase them. Despite many tries to catch them, the balls of light would always drift just out of reach. “Funny thing about it, you could get right up to a jack-o-lantern but you could never touch it. And they never bumped into anything, not even trees or rocks,” he said.
Pearl Cox, another long-time Green River resident, also saw jack-o-lanterns in the valley. Mrs. Cox told Schenck, “Oh yeah, I saw them all the time. But you don’t see them anymore.” Schenck, who has never seen one himself, asked her, “Where do you think they went?” “Ever since we got electricity in the valley, they seem to have just disappeared,” she replied.
The strange lights aren’t unique to the Green River Valley. They have been seen elsewhere in western North Carolina. Some believe the infamous “Brown Mountain Lights” near the Linville Gorge to be the same type of phenomenon.
If you’re dubious that jack-o-lanterns actually exist, rest assured they’re very real. Similar floating orbs have appeared in literature dating back hundreds of years, and they’ve been witnessed all around the world though often known by different names. Another common name for them is “will-o-wisps”. And while they’ve been seen wide and far, scientific explanations for them vary. Many scientists suspect it is a natural occurrence of marsh gas igniting to form the light. But the theory doesn’t explain jack-o-lanterns seen outside of swamps.
These floating balls of light inspired the Halloween tradition of a pumpkin carved with a face and illuminated by a candle. The name “jack-o-lantern” came from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a foul man who made a deal with the devil that went terribly wrong. When cursed to forever roam the earth trapped between heaven and hell, the devil bestowed him with an ember to light his way. Jack placed it inside a turnip to make a lantern. And while the original Irish Halloween tradition used a turnip, Irish immigrants in North America used pumpkins which were more abundant and easier to carve.
Some cultures believe that jack-o-lanterns warn of danger. In Robert Morgan’s historical-fiction “Headwaters”, a story featured in one of my previous columns about Green River Preserve, settlers gathered into a militia that marched up the Green River to drive away Native Americans. As the men prepared to head off for battle, Morgan wrote of the many lights glimmering on the mountain slopes. It was 1815 and there was no electricity in the valley. The lights just may have been jack-o-lanterns.
Schenck and many others believe that jack-o-lanterns appear at times when someone is in need of help. “They’re a wondrous thing. They’re not scary,” said Schenck. He offered the story of Alfred Heatherly, another early resident of the valley, as proof that jack-o-lanterns represent a positive energy. “Alfred was headed back to his cabin in the dark of the night. He was on a narrow trail and had nothing to light his path. The rhododendron was too thick to walk through. It was bad times for a fourteen year-old boy,” said Schenck. But just when Alfred had completely lost his way, he was suddenly surrounded with light.
“He could see every stick and twig on the forest floor. He knew right off it had to be a jack-o-lantern. It started to move and he followed behind as it wove its way through the rhododendron thicket, leading him until he emerged from the other side. Then it drifted up into the air and disappeared,” Schenck said. With goosebumps on his arms, Schenck added, “now, figure that one out!”
by Peter Barr, CMLC Trails & Outreach Coordinator
Read more stories of CMLC’s conserved lands at www.carolinamountain.org/stories.
