Jack O'Lantern

The Jack O'Lantern is one of the Monsters kept in the Facility. It is listed on the Whiteboard and is bet on by Security. It is also seen several times during the System Purge.

Physical Description and Attributes
The Jack O'Lantern is a seven-foot-tall, humanoid creature with a large round pumpkin for a head. On the pumpkin is carved a monstrous face with a huge, sharp-toothed grin. It wears a long, black, 17th/18th-century traveling coat with a white frilled collar, indicating it is from that time era and is hundreds of years old. It can breathe fire, which is how he kills his victims. How the Jack O'Lantern came to be is unknown, but it could be from a manifestation of folklore, or some supernatural occurrence, giving an ordinary man a pumpkin for a head and pyrokinesis.

Its possible a pumpkin like the one on on his head, or an item/trinket from that era could summon him.

Appearance
The Jack O'Lantern is released from his cell during a wave in the Purge. One of the CCTV cameras shows him burning people with his fire breath. In the behind the scenes footage of the film, a special effects pyrotechnician can be seen holding up the head of the Jack O'Lantern, with fire coming from its mouth, possibly for a scene that was later scrapped from the film.

Trivia

 * In the Official Visual Companion, he appears in the second wave of the Purge, hinting that he was supposed to have some screen time, but was replaced with the Alien Beast.

Inspiration
The Jack O'Lantern, besides resembling the classic symbol of Halloween, was possibly inspired by characters from urban legends and ghostly folklore from Colonial-era New England, particularly those told during Halloween. One likely inspiration is the Headless Horseman from Washington Irving's short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" who, in many interpretations, carried a jack o'lantern for a head. In appearance, he also resembles the characters of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps: Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns. The original Jack O'Lantern legend originates in Ireland and involves a spirit who is rejected by both heaven and hell and is cursed to wander the land endlessly; the burning embers of his head were a gift from the devil, provided so that he can see at night.