Halogen lamps light giant pumpkin

ASPINWALL, Pa., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania man said he uses three halogen lamps to light a giant Halloween pumpkin that weighed 1,261 pounds before it was carved.

Joel Keefer, 58, of Aspinwall, said the lamps not only light the pumpkin, which he purchased at the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off in Canfield, Ohio, but they also cook the gargantuan fruit, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Wednesday.

Keefer said he sprinkled the inside of the pumpkin, which stands on his porch, with spices to create the smell of pumpkin pie while the lights cook the squash.

"With the heat from the lights, we have to add cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves inside it so it smells like pumpkin pie," Keefer said. "If you didn't put the spices in, after a while it would just smell like rotting fruit."

He said he bought his first large pumpkin, which weighed 420 pounds, on a whim 15 years ago and it was a hit with his neighbors.

"The kids and the neighbors kind of expect it, and I enjoy trying to find bigger and bigger pumpkins every year," he said. "It's kind of a tradition now."