And yes, it's actually true.

0 of 13 pumpkins found Door 1 Deutsch

About WTFact

Did you know honey can still be edible after 3,000 years? That is what WTFact is for: three new facts every day from science, history, tech, nature and everyday madness.

And yes, it's actually true.

That's our promise. Posts are written with the help of AI, but every fact needs at least two independent sources and has to pass a fact check before it goes live. If something can't be backed up properly, we'd rather skip a day than publish something wrong.

If you still spot a mistake, email us at the address in our imprint. We fix it in the open and list it under Corrections.

The site is funded by Amazon affiliate links. If you buy something through one, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

🎃 The golden pumpkin! Here is your secret Halloween fact:

The first jack-o’-lanterns were turnips. In Ireland and other Celtic regions in the 19th and early 20th centuries, people carved faces into turnips, sometimes potatoes or beets, and put a candle inside. It was meant to keep away the restless spirit “Stingy Jack”, who was barred from both heaven and hell. The National Museum of Ireland in County Mayo still keeps a plaster cast of a carved turnip from Donegal with “a pinched angry face”.

Source: Smithsonian Magazine