Small, expertly done pumpkin carvings can be very impressive, but the folks at the Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze Halloween celebration in New York went in a different direction by making impressively massive arrangements entirely out of these Halloween decorations.

The event features more than 5,000 hand-carved jack-o-lanterns on their own or arranged in all kinds of impressive setups, including a massive skeletal triceratops and a terrifying human-spider skeleton hybrid. The epic Halloween celebration lasts for 25 days and features food, live music, art exhibitions, and other live events.

According to the event’s organizers, “the tradition of gourd carving dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries in rural Ireland and England. People carved jack-o-lantern faces for the old holidays of Samhain and All Souls’ Night when spirits were thought to be the most active. Grotesque pumpkin faces were meant to frighten away any ghouls seeking to do harm.”

The Jack ‘O Lanterns themselves, they say, come from a legend about a man named Jack who, rejected from both heaven and hell, was doomed to wander the earth with a lantern that he carved out of a turnip and lit with a candle.

For more examples of incredible Halloween pumpkin carvings, check out our posts on Ray Villafane’s pumpkin and gourd carvings. If you carve your own cool pumpkin faces, feel free to send us a picture or share it on our Facebook page!

Image credits: Historic Hudson Valley

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Image credits: joshbousel

Image credits: joshbousel

Image credits: joshbousel

Image credits: Mark Martucci

Image credits: Historic Hudson Valley

Image credits: joshbousel

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Image credits: joshbousel

Be sure to check out Amazing Pumpkin Carvings by Ray Villafane

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