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Happy Halloween 2013, Mad Art Lab!

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My Jack O’ Lantern: The Invisible Pink Unicorn symbol

I thought I’d bring a little bit of Halloween to the lab today. Our family loves Halloween; for us, it’s something we all participate in and enjoy. I will reveal our costumes from this year in a future post.

Today, I wanted to share the pumpkins our family carved into Jack-O-Lanterns.

For a nice bit of history, visit the “Why Do We Carve Pumpkins on Halloween?” page over in the Urban Legends section at About.com. Some interesting tidbits from the page include:

  • – Jack O’ Lantern means “man with a lantern”, which refers to the night watchmen that would keep a lookout in the 17th century
  • – Jack O’ Lantern is also a sobriquet for the strange, natural occurrence ignis fatuus (fool’s fire) or “will o’ the wisp” . (On a side note: This phenomenon has a rich history, for sure, and is the topic of many a folklore. Today most scientists agree that ignes fatui are caused by the oxidation of phosphine (PH3), diphosphane (P2H4), and methane (CH4) , which create an atmospheric light that usually transpires over bogs, swamps or marshes.)
  • – People of yesteryear originally carved turnips!

 

Scroll farther down the page to view all of our Jack O’ Lanterns.

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Rob paid homage to the Flying Spaghetti Monster by carving a pirate
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Scout carved something truly horrifying and 100% real (unlike ghosts): an angler fish
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Briar created a mouse, which on the surface seems cute, but let’s see how terrified you’d be if you found one in your pantry
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Jude went the more traditional route, but with a twist: 3 eyes instead of two
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Zoë created “Meta-Jack”: a picture of a Jack O’ Lantern carved into a Jack O’ Lantern

Happy Halloween, all of you boo-tiful people!

Gigi Chickee

All photos are taken by me, Gigi Chickee, unless otherwise noted. Photography Correspondent here at Mad Art Lab. Wife to my gorgeous husband, Rob. Mother to my four girls. Proud Secular Homeschooler. Photographer when the occasion arises. Seamstress in training. Skeptic always. Follow me and my musings on Twitter: @gigichickee

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