Historical Tidbit: The (Somewhat Creepy) History of the Jack-in-the-Box

**If you haven't yet, be sure to enter my Epic Giveaway! The grand prize is a Kindle Paperwhite! Click HERE to enter!**

Source

Did you know...

That the jack-in-the-box has its origins in the Middle Ages?

So at my writer's group last week, there was a story that contained a jack-in-the-box element. It actually wasn't a creepy story, but a literary one.

Anyway, at some point, the question was raised, "When were jack-in-the-boxes first sold?" So we, being children of the internet age, looked it up. I expected the answer to be somewhere around the 1930s. Oh how wrong I was!

The origin of the jack-in-the-box dates back to the 14th century, and a man named Sir John Schorne. He lived in Buckinghamshire, England, and a was great leader and healer in his small village. Folklore says he captured a devil in a boot, and he's often pictured holding the boot with the devil popping out of it. 

Source

This is the origin of this tenacious children's toy.

First of all, CREEPY! No matter how much you expect the jack to pop out, it still scares you, right? Perhaps that's because the jack is actually a symbol of the devil! *shivers*

That led me to another line of thinking. One of the most prevalent and violently phobic fears amongst us mere mortals is that of clowns. I've always wondered what it is about them that scares us so. 

(Don't get me wrong. I don't disagree with their creepiness. I've never experienced the phobia myself--even had a toy clown named Bilbo, of all things, as child--but I totally get why others think they're scary.)

I always figured it must have something to do with the fact that they wear masks, or their false happiness that just freaks us out, but I think there's a connection here. 

The jack is a symbol of a devil named Jack (in much the same way the jack-o-lanterns of Halloween are) and somewhere that got crossed with clown lore, which suggests the clown is also a symbol of the devil. Could this be why such a large portion of the population suffers from a phobia of them (coulrophobia)? 

Research shows that when human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some human observers. (Source)

And classically, this is exactly what a devil does. He tries hard to mimic human or god-like behavior, but can't ever quite do it. 

Two boys playing with a Jack-in-the-box in 1863
Source

Perhaps this is why we are so unsettled by clowns, and the jack-in-the-box in particular. I'd venture to say that perhaps our revulsion is not animalistic or juvenile, as so many of us have always believed. Perhaps it is something more: a sense that is spiritual.

Of course this wouldn't always hold true. "Clowns" from Shakespearean times were court jesters, and were often associated with wisdom, but that's not exactly what we're talking about here.

So, my writer's group were all sufficiently freaked out by the history of the jack-in-the-box. The more I thought about it, though, the more interesting it became to me. 

Besides, a devil living in a boot during the middle ages would make excellent historical fiction fodder, right? :D

Oh, and I'm a little creeped out by the Pop Goes the Weasel tune which often accompanies the Jack-in-the-Box. 

Lyrics: 

All around the mulberry bush (or cobbler's bench)

The monkey chased the weasel;

The monkey thought 'twas all in good fun, 

Pop! goes the weasel. (Source)

If we assume the monkey is the "jack" and the weasel is the human child, it becomes a little creepy.

What do you think of this history? Does it change your opinions of jack-in-the-boxes, or clowns?

Tweet