(19) BOOGEYMAN

 

“I don’t want to alarm you but there may be a boogeyman – or boogeymen – in the house!”

“The bogeyman also spelled or known as bogyman, bog, or bogey, and boogeyman in the United States and Canada is a mythical creature typically used to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearances, and conceptions vary drastically by household and culture, but they are most commonly depicted as…monsters that punish children for misbehavior.”

“The bogeyman, and conceptually similar monsters, can be found in many cultures around the world. Bogeymen may target a specific act or general misbehavior, depending on the purpose of invoking the figure, often on the basis of a warning from an authority figure to a child. The term is sometimes used as a non-specific personification or metonym for terror – and sometimes the Devil”.

There’s nothing really to add to that description, except for my fondness for the term bugbear which I understand to originate from the same etymology (and was adapted as a goblin-like creature in Dungeons and Dragons) – and that the Stephen King short story The Boogeyman remains one of my favorites.

“It is often described as a dark, formless creature with shapeshifting abilities. The bogeyman is known to satiate its appetite by snatching and consuming children. Descriptions of the bogeyman vary across cultures, yet there are often commonalities between them including claws/talons, or sharp teeth”.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)