The pumpkin has been associated with vampire lore and although this may be a joke, it's a joke that many peasants took seriously back in the day. If a picked pumpkin was left outside for too long, it was believed that it would transform itself with vampiristic qualities, especially if it wasn't eaten before Christmas. Which is an odd way to think about food going off. Now, there are a few different options as how to deal with these deadly pumpkins. Firstly, they were considered to be a low level threat as they couldn't grow teeth, and for vampires, having fangs is sort of essential. They did not grow in size and retained the same colour, but there is a process that you must adhere to in order to successfully vanquish this vampire pumpkin. You need to boil it in water and then brush it with a broom; the water must be thrown away with the pumpkin and the broom must be burnt. Other theories are that the pumpkin can move by itself and ooze blood, terrifying whoever sees it. Various other legends state that the pumpkin would also grow in size; the size of it being the biggest threat. It would not grow teeth but because it would grow so large and could move by itself, it would have the ability to squash people and kill them that way. Which is definitely where Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes came from.
