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A man was left terrified after his Halloween cooking session led to a spooky surprise.
Chris Herbert, 49, had been preparing some pumpkin wedges in time for Halloween on Sunday night (October 30) when the olive oil he was using to roast them began "taking shape" on a baking tray and turned into "Mr Pumpkinhead".
Complete with a "stalk", huge eyes and an eerie smile, the spine-chilling spectacle was so terrifying it almost made Chris, from East Sussex, drop the tray in horror.
READ MORE: People are only just realising the spooky reason we celebrate Halloween
Speaking on Halloween, dad-of-two Chris said: "I was just putting the tray into the oven to heat the oil up for the pumpkin wedges when I looked down and saw Mr Pumpkinhead staring back at me."
Chris was so shocked by what he saw that he called over his wife Chey, 43, and kids, Freddie, 11, and Lois, 9, to come and take a look at the terrifying shape.
Chris recalled that while he and his wife were shocked by the ghoulish gourd that had appeared before him, his kids weren't so convinced.
"We were a bit shaken up by it, but the kids told us we were being scaredy cats and to stop being daft."
The comms boss added: "I've never seen anything quite like it – it was like something from a horror film."
The family eventually abandoned their plans to make pumpkin wedges in time for the spookiest night of the year as the squash-shaped apparition left them so shaken.
"We decided to order a takeaway in the end… I couldn't face roasting the pumpkin," Chris added.
Chris may have had a seasonally appropriate scare from his pumpkin lookalike, but Halloween hasn't always been about scary pumpkins and dressing up.
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According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Halloween has been celebrated for more than a thousand years and began as a religious festival that gradually transformed over a period of centuries into a holiday for wearing costumes and eating a few too many sweets.
It is believed spooky season began as an ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain, a pagan celebration that marked the end of the harvest season and where it was believed the souls of the dead returned to their homes to be reunited with loved ones.
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- Halloween
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