One of my all-time favorite TV shows was, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!”
Each year I anxiously waited, hoping this would be the year that the Great Pumpkin would come visit Linus in the pumpkin patch. And each year, more frustration and disappointment built as the Great Pumpkin never showed. Maybe next year…
As an adult, I decided it was time to research whether the Great Pumpkin existed. After hours of reading historical lore and fantasy, I found mention of the origins of the Great Pumpkin in a medieval time of castles, kings, evil witches and beautiful maidens!
During my quest to discover the origins of the Great Pumpkin legend, I found many references alluding to an ancient medieval kingdom situated in the Grampian Mountains, near the Scottish Highlands.
My plane landed at Inverness Airport near Loch Ness. Here, I discovered an ancient text that spoke of a place called the Blue Mountains. This name is nowhere to be found on any modern map. This would be my jump-off point, for what proved to be a very arduous, but wonderful journey.
Hiking into the dense forest, it was surreal as the trees blotted out the sun. It was as if the woods were in a perpetual shade that made it feel like early dawn or sunset. Running low on water I was relieved to find a singular moss-covered inn. It was not on my map of Inns and it seemed as if it was in the middle of nowhere, which, to me, it was.
The old wooden door groaned when I opened it. A few strategically placed candles provided the only light. A gruff-looking old man in thread-bare clothes with a long beard, eyed me up and down from a small table in the corner.
A old wench appeared behind the bar, but the old man waved her off while motioning me to join him. Happy to have someone to talk to who might know about the legend of the Great Pumpkin, I obliged. The old woman arrived with a glass similar to his which seemed a bit strange.
He recommended that I share some of his special-vintage wine.
When I sat down at the old man’s table, he smiled and introduced himself as Lothar. When I asked whereabouts he lived, he just smiled, ignoring my question. He recommended, instead of the ale set before me, that I should share some of his special vintage wine that he proudly claimed was from his vineyard. Lothar poured and we toasted to “The Great Pumpkin.” I took a big sip and my world changed forever.
After another sip, my head started to spin. It was difficult to focus on the old man’s face. He looked into my eyes and smiled. Suddenly, I was alone in the wilderness. A full Blood Moon lit up the path ahead in an ethereal glow.
With my thoughts creating the path ahead, my journey began as if I was flying, like in a dream. However, in a dream, you go where the dream takes you, but I seem to be able to go wherever my mind directs me. Flying above a gnarly tangle of trees and vines below; it was the Devil’s Swamp. (Don’t ask me how I knew the name of this place… I just knew it.”)
As I traveled lightly through the air, passing over the Devil’s Swamp, there was a beautiful pastoral countryside ahead. It was then that I heard the heavy pounding of a horse’s hoofbeats as they approached. A rider, bedecked in armor, dismounted from his panting black charger. This would be an opportunity for me to talk to the knight to find out where I was and why he was dressed in medieval armor. I stood on the path, directly in his way, and raised my hand for him to stop. He came up to me and… walked right through me as if he had no idea that I was there, as if I was a ghost. Although I could hear his steps and the horse’s clopping gait, the knight neither saw nor acknowledged me.
As the fearsome knight passed me, the words of the old man came flowing back. “After you encounter the Red Knight, you will find the Blue Mountains. And it is there that the Great Pumpkin came to life and saved the Kingdom. But, beware, there is powerful magic in this place.”
As he described, in a flash I came to a pastoral setting of shepherds tending their flocks and farmers toiling in their fields. Off in the distance, near the foot of the Blue Mountains, was a majestic white castle. “It is there that you will find out how the Great Pumpkin came to life.”
Where every tale begins with a whisper and ends with wonder. Step into the story. Discover worlds that spark your imagination and stay with you forever.