The Post Quiz: Pumpkin Lore - Answers
Created | Updated Oct 25, 2015
Don't you love it when the jack-o'-lanterns peek out at you from the dark?
Pumpkin Lore: Answers
Do you have a sugar rush from all that Halloween candy? Sober up with some pumpkin pie.
- Although the average pumpkin is a puny 13 pounds, they've been known to weigh a tonne. True. There are giant pumpkins. They are used as tributes to the Great Pumpkin, no doubt.
- Pumpkins are unhealthy, and should not be eaten. False. They are high in potassium and other Good Stuff. Eat them.
- Pumpkins are high-calorie. False. Pumpkins are 90% water, with Good Stuff added.
- Pumpkins can have sex with themselves, but only if bees are around. True. They have both male and female flowers, so there.
- Pumpkins used to be used to remove freckles. True. (We don't know if it worked.)
- American Indians made doormats out of dried pumpkins. True. American Indians are very inventive, and linoleum wasn't invented yet.
- It is illegal to smash pumpkins in Delaware. False. Are you kidding? It's the Pumpkin Chunkin' capital of the US. Trebuchets, anyone?
- The word 'pumpkin' was made popular by the fairy tale Cinderella. True. Perrault made up the pumpkin coach, and it fired imaginations.
- Pumpkin flowers are poisonous. False. They're edible.
- A short story about a witch and a pumpkin-headed scarecrow was banned in New England in 1852. False. Hawthorne's short story, 'Feathertop', was a big hit. It's a moral tale with a plot similar to Philip K Dick's 'Imposter', only plus witch and minus explosion.
Enjoy your jack-o'-lantern. And don't forget to bake some pumpkin pies for the Bake-Off.