Black Jack O Lantern origin story.

 DID YOU KNOW this little horror history fact:

Most people don’t know that pumpkins come in other colors besides orange.

There is a classic horror story about a real, young Black child who lived in the 1800s. Can you guess what story it was? The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was not originally the fictional story of Ichabod Crane.

According to New York records of the time, Ephraim Brownsome was a student in a secondary school for free Black children before the tragedy. This event took the lives of twelve children and eight adults.

It began with the request of an abolitionist to integrate the schools of Boston, Massachusetts. Parents were excited to send their children, who represented the best and the brightest, and give them the opportunity study under elite scholars. It required the colored students to travel from New York to Boston.

The trip took days. They crossed lands with old plantations that had bloody slave revolts on them. Legend told that the lands were dangerous because the spirits of the slave owners would possess weak minds.

On the group’s return trip, Ephraim mocked slavery and slaves themselves. He said Africans had to be stupid to let someone enslave them. On the evening of the third day, young Ephraim murdered all of the children in his stagecoach and another one before his killing spree was cut short. He was shot down during the conflict.

While lying on the ground, the horses pulled the stagecoach wheel over his body and decapitated him. Both his head and body were brought back to Sleepy Hollow and buried in an old Dutch cemetery.

Months later, the cemetery had become overgrown with weeds and vegetation. On the night of All Hallows Eve, Ephraim rose from his grave. His body had pushed through the weeds and a pumpkin had grown nearby, replacing his head. A black pumpkin.

The possessed, black-pumpkin-headed body of Ephraim continued his murderous rampage. This time, he killed more than just Black children. The town’s militia was able to stop him again but not before fear struck the hearts of any and all survivors.

The story of this incident has changed over years and, due to racism, the young, Black Ephraim was replaced with the name of his first white victim - Ichabod Crane. Even the color of the pumpkin was changed to orange.

Only one photograph of Ephraim exists. If you look closely, you can see the face of a white man inside a black pumpkin. 

Check out his battle against the Black Leprechaun http://kck.st/3E51WBT Halloween Wars