Hail ye, One-Eyed Jack!

The droning pumpkin chorus was directed at the newcomer. Who fixed his good carved eye on the unfortunate trio of crows.

Well, well, well. Invaders in the Master's forest. We'll have to make them welcome, won't we, boys?

Look here, you deformed turnip lump -- we demand to see your leader or else!!!

Yes, folks, Reggie was wearing the wrong hat, but he did speak the right words -- a shudder passed through the crowd of pumpkins at this suggestion. Even One-Eyed Jack received this request with a grim reflection, before chortling.

All right, then. I'll take you to him.

Well, what have we here? Pumpkin hunters?

The pumpkins gathered around the crows, a pack of ghoulish, grinning Jack o' Lanterns!

Um, we're just on a nature hike ... in search of pumpkins.

Yeah, well, beat it if you know what's good for you.

You face them, Reggie. This is your area of expertise.


Trust us -- you should leave this place immediately! The pumpkin urging them didn't look menacing, so much as frightened. Hurry, before it's too late!

Before the boys could react, as if on command, the pumpkins parted with a murmur to let another take center stage. A gruesome pumpkin, whose carved features were mutilated....

We Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Story ...

When we last encounter our heroes, they were off to the forbidden forest, in search of the world's only unpicked pumpkin patch and a prize Jack o' Lantern.

Despite high spirits and song-singing, however, they couldn't help but notice the forest seemed dark and...well, forbidding. As the trees closed over them in a tight canopy --

-- the first signs of evil emerged from the shadows!

News Flash!! Ancient Video Archives Uncovered!

Wrong story, Reg. Pirates were last month.

Really? Oops, sorry about that.


Forewarned by the Wise Old Owl that the forest was haunted by evil forces, the trio was pressured to give up their quest to find a Jack o' Lantern in the only unpicked pumpkin patch in the country ...

Well, I suppose this means we're going home empty-handed, Gussie complained. If we only had a Jack O' Lantern...

Never fear, boys! We're not giving up just because of a so-called menacing pumpkin -- it's onward ho to the Jack o' Lantern patch!

The Creepy Old Forest

But it's just a forest ... okay, maybe it's a little creepy, all that fog and those tree branches like pointy claws ... but that's not enough to scare us away.

Maybe not, but this is.

Without further delay, the Wise Old Owl hauled out a massive dusty Book o' Knowledge from within the sycamore tree's hollow trunk.

You carry that around with you wherever you go? Gussie was tremendously impressed.


Young man, this happens to be my home -- I most certainly do NOT haul this around like an idiot!

With that, the Owl flipped open the book and pointed with feathered finger to one of its pages.

"The Master Pumpkin?" read aloud Reggie.

Indeed. The most dangerous, most powerful figure in all the forest. The Wise Old Owl bowed his head.

You mean a giant Jack o' Lantern is lying in wait just beyond those trees?

No one has seen or spoken to the Master Pumpkin. But they say the forest is haunted by his minions, gathered in the pumpkin patch hidden in the forest.

No wonder this place still has all its pumpkins, Bertie complained.

Never fear! declared Reggie. Master Pumpkin or no, we're going in to get our pumpkin!

Excuse me, young lads -- just where do you think you're going?

Our heroes departure is interrupted suddenly by the presence of a large owl in a nearby sycamore tree.

We're off to the pumpkin farm--although I can't see why you care.

I care because I am the Great Wise Old Owl of the Forest ... not that you recognize me, of course.

You're the Wise Old Owl? I always thought that was a story somebody made up.

Well, it's not. And I'll thank you to show some respect to your elders next time they trouble themselves to give you a Dire Warning before you do Something Stupid.

You, my friends, were about to enter the most dangerous part of the woods ... and encounter its most dangerous inhabitant -- without warning!

We Interrupt this Story ...