Elbow deep in a mound of pumpkin guts, wrenching out the last of that stringy pulp you’ll spend the next day fishing out of your hair? Probably not the best time to ponder the history of the jack o’ lantern. But once your squashy horror is grinning from your porch, peering out the kitchen window, or waiting for some hooligan or other to smash it on the driveway, take a moment and think: who actually came up with this bizarre Halloween tradition? While the NYBG is rolling out its own orange horrors courtesy of Ray Villafane, carving out this story means hopping a boat across the Atlantic to greener pastures, a place older and somewhat more partial to ghost stories (and dark, delicious stouts) than the United States.

If you guessed Ireland, you’ve got the pumpkin pegged. Or should I say turnip? As historical records tell it (there are still plenty of arguments on who inspired what), the holiday tradition of carving up starchy vegetables dates back generations in Ireland. But there was no train of cargo ships itching to haul the North American pumpkin to the shores of the Emerald Isle, as I’m sure you can gather. Instead, the Irish hollowed out their local root vegetables, adorned them with frightful faces, and lit them with embers or candles, a fall tradition brought out during Samhain–or “Sawin,” a fanciful celebration to mark the end of the fall harvest and the beginning of winter in the British Isles.
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It’s an early weekend update today! This Saturday and Sunday, the NYBG plays host to an event that never fails to have us bouncing off the walls with anticipation: the Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend. But before we set up New York’s most original Halloween horrors here at the Garden, Ray Villafane and his crew of sculptors are taking their talents–and one or two giant pumpkins–to midtown. Naturally, we’re not about to let them gallivant through Manhattan without us, so a few of us from the Plant Talk offices are picking up and shipping off to join in on the fun.

If you happen to be in midtown through this afternoon, you’re welcome to stop by! We’ll be setting up shop at Grand Central Terminal this morning outside the west entrance, just off Vanderbilt Avenue. You can watch as Ray’s team carves up a display pumpkin of gargantuan proportions, while Ray himself works on the centerpiece of our Halloween spread–the pumpkin patch zombie. Each sculpture will then shuffle its way to the Garden proper to become part of the main event this weekend.
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At the height of my own pumpkin artistry, I splattered the dining room table with gourd guts, plastered seeds in my hair, and stepped back to admire what could have been a crooked smiley face…if you tilted your head a few degrees. And squinted. It also sort of looked like a bear, I guess. And while being 11 years old was an acceptable excuse at the time, I’m not ashamed to admit I haven’t gotten any better. Of course, coaxing out hidden Halloween talents would have been heaps easier with a champion pumpkin sculptor in my corner. Someone like Mr. Villafane.

For those with young gourd gougers in their midst, October’s Priceless® Budding Masters event offers just the kind of tutelage needed to make a masterpiece of an average pumpkin. Ray Villafane is considered by many (especially me and anyone who’s heard me say this) to be the Michelangelo of the pumpkin carving scene, or the Bernini of “Boo!” if you want to be a goof about it. During last year’s Haunted Pumpkin Garden, our staffers were practically picking jaws up off the floor as visitors stopped to watch Ray in action, conjuring skeletons, zombies, and monstrous spiders from nothing more than a few record-breaking vegetables. This year, he’s back to one-up himself several times over, but not before sharing his unparalleled techniques with a class of young carvers in the making.
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Ron Wallace and his heavyweight pumpkin (The Boston Globe, 2012)

It’s October 1, and that means exactly one thing: you can throw the unwritten embargo on Halloween decorations out the window! No more tamping down the urge to buy orange string lights. No more nibbling your nails as you scurry past the candy aisle. Free reign to stake your front yard with frightful scarecrows and tombstones, whether your neighbors scowl or not. And at the NYBG, we get to ramp up our coverage of the season’s holiday excitement! You may not think there’s much to celebrate in a simple gourd, but trust me, there’s nothing simple about a one-ton pumpkin.

Don’t bother with a double-take–that wasn’t a misread. Early predictions from farmers close to the Garden hinted that drought and heat would lead to a disappointing harvest, but pumpkin crops have pulled out a clutch win, with some gigantic gourds already smashing weight records in our neck of the woods. Included is the latest champion, a 2009-pound behemoth out of Rhode Island that took the title for grower Ron Wallace on Friday, September 28, at the Topsfield Fair in Massachusetts; that’s nearly 200 pounds heavier than last year’s winner. But the challenge isn’t settled just yet! Rumor has it there are still a few contenders lurking in the wings, not only in the northeast, but on the west coast and the continent, as well. We could see the record snapped more than once before 2012 crowns its prince of pumpkins.
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Bats in the trees, ghosts in the garden, and jack-o’-lanterns every which way you look–Halloween is soon to creep its way back into the NYBG. And even for someone like me, who’s usually too busy to realize what time of year it is until the spirit is sneaking up behind me (the best way to experience the holiday, I suppose), there’s too much incoming excitement for us to let it wait until later.

This year, the Garden’s madcap Halloween events are back and even bigger than 2011′s. That’s if you can imagine us topping a cadre of record-breaking pumpkins carved into the stuff of nightmares. But we absolutely plan to! Plans are in the works to again feature the gargantuan gourds of the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, which will once again go under the knife of master carver and ghoul-whittler extraordinaire, Ray Villafane. Together with his team of skilled pumpkin sculptors, he’s on track to top last year’s masterpieces a few times over.
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We’re still basking the freakish glow of superstar sculptor Ray Villafane’s (on the right in this photo) wild zombie sculpture he constructed at the Garden using two of the world’s largest pumpkins. But by no means are the creepy carvings over with! This weekend will feature the supremely talented artist Michael Natiello (under the zombie’s hand)–the brains behind the spectacular Great Jack ‘O Lantern Blaze as well as our Haunted Pumpkin Garden here in the Children’s Adventure Garden.

Weather permitting however, Villafane’s pumpkin creation will only be on display for as long at it stays presentable and also as long as we can keep the wily Bronx wildlife from having their own pumpkin feasts.

For those of you who couldn’t be here last weekend, we put together a short video of Ray in his own words describing his process. All the gory, gourdy goodness is below!

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They came. They saw. They conquered! And lucky for us, everyone still has their brains in place.

Couldn’t make it to the Garden this weekend to watch Ray Villafane transform two of the world’s heaviest pumpkins (including the world record-holder) into a super-creepy zombie tableau? Never fear!

We caught all the action via time-lapse camera and in a slideshow. Head below the jump to see them … if you dare!

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I got a nice surprise this morning when I stopped by the big pumpkins; I found Brant and Elanor Bordsen, of Marysville, Calif. standing beside their beautiful, pearly pumpkin chatting with Garden visitors and staff. I told them I was surprised and excited to see them here (I had no idea they were coming!), and they said that they decided that they wanted to be here when Ray Villafane cut into their 1,693 pounder, to remove the seeds themselves, and to watch the progress of his sculpture. I asked them if they had seen the concept drawing for his sculpture yet. They said no, so I pulled it up on my BlackBerry and showed it to them. They agreed that it was certainly spooky and would be quite the spectacle!

Learn more about why the Bordsens flew all the way from California for pumpkin seeds below.

We’ve heard that people want to meet the pumpkins officially, so here they are! Introducing the four heaviest pumpkin the world, currently on display as part of the Haunted Pumpkin Garden.

1,693 pounds - Grown by Brant and Eleanor Bordsen, Marysville, Calif.

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Photos by Ivo M. Vermeulen

The world’s four biggest pumpkins are now all safely ensconced in the Bronx.

The first two to arrive flew in from California, and were fetched from the American Airlines cargo hold at JFK this morning.

Brant Bordsen's 1,693 pound pumpkin at JFK

Check-out all the pumpkin pix below!