The bogeyman, boogyman, bogyman, or boogeyman, is a legendary ghostlike monster often believed in by children. The bogeyman has no specific appearance, and bogeyman can be used metaphorically to denote a person or thing of which someone has an irrational fear. The bogeyman legend may originate from Scotland, where such creatures are sometimes called bogles, boggarts, or bogies.^[1]

The most common childhood conception of the bogeyman is that of someone (usually a monster) lurking in bedrooms (e.g., behind the door, in the closet, or under the bed), where he lies in wait before attacking the sleeper.The bogeyman was said to look like a deformed man,slightly larger than a grown man,with light blue skin thats covered in warts and boils.He also drools blue slime,has huge eyes,torn clothes,sharp teeth and sharp fingernails to tear through bedsheets and get childern.He only gets children who are naughty.

Bogeyman tales vary by region. In some places the bogeyman is male, in others, female. In some Midwestern states of the U.S. the bogeyman does not enter bedrooms but instead scratches on the windows. It is said that a wart can be transmitted to someone by the bogeyman.<ref name="McNab" /> Bogeymen may be said to target a specific mischief – for instance, a bogeyman that persecutes children who suck their thumbs – or just general misbehavior.

Popular portrayals of bogeymen include Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman, as well as Victor Herbert's 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, where they lived (unsurprisingly) in Bogeyland. The former relies on the children's slang word "bogey" meaning dried nasal mucus, a substance of which these particular bogeymen are particularly fond. "The Bogeyman" was a recurring villain in the successful 1980s children's cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters, whose episodes are regarded as the series' most popular. In 1999 Disney's TV Movie Don't Look Under the Bed, the main character Francis Bacon is being framed for a series of practical jokes by the Bogeyman, She gets help from an imaginary friend named Larry. Pixar's animated film Monsters, Inc., (2001) depicts an entire economy that dictates the operations of the various monsters that scare children at night. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, the bogeyman is called Oogie Boogie, an animated sack of bugs who enjoys gambling. In Terry Pratchett's Discworld, bogeymen are depicted as tall, rangy, hairy beings who are vaguely apish. They hide under beds, behind doors, and in closets, for no reason anyone can understand, or at least no reason they are willing to disclose; in Ankh-Morpork bogeys sometimes pop off to Beirs for a quiet drink.In one madeup story,Stitch killed the bogeyman.

Origin of the word

The word bogey is linked to many similar words in other European languages, which may be cognates; púca, pooka or pookha (Irish Gaelic), pwca, bwga or bwgan (Welsh), puki (Old Norse), pixie or piskie (Cornish), puck (English), bogu (Slavonic)^[2].

In Ireland they were a type of faerie that lived in the bog and kidnapped children so they could play with them. They made them stay a year and a day.

The bogeyman appeared in the book Mythical Monsters and was after a boy who thought the bogeyman was his big brother playing a joke.

Another possible source for the word is the Russian word бог (God), pronounced "boag", rhyming with "rogue". Demonizing things, notions, even the name of God, from Eastern Europe and beyond is not without precedent in Western Europe and North America.

In Southeast Asia the term is commonly accepted to refer to Bugis ^[3] or Buganese ^[4] pirates, ruthless seafarers of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. These pirates often plagued early English or Dutch trading ships, namely those of the British East India Company or Dutch East India Company, resulting in the European sailors bringing their fear of the "bugi men" back to their home countries.

See also

• Nanny Rutt - a folk legend from Northorpe, Lincolnshire.
• Oogie Boogie - a character from the Tim Burton film The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Michael Myers - a character from the Halloween film series who is analogous to the Boogeyman (referenced especially in the first film)
• Marty Wright - professional wrestler under the name "The Boogeyman"
• Freddy Krueger - monster in Nightmare on Elm Street films. Directed by Wes Craven
• The boggart in the Harry Potter series is considered a boogeyman.
• Boogeyman - a film about a man who has to face the boogeyman, who had supposedly taken his father right in front of him as a child.
• The Powerpuff Girls-a villain named the boogieman.
• Derek Boogaard- NHL player whose nickname is The Boogieman
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy - A villain of the series and old arch-enemy of Grim's since junior high school.
• Krampus - a bogeyman-like companion of Saint Nicholas.
• Little Fears (RPG) - The Bogeyman is one of the seven kings of Closetland.

References

External links

• The Bogeyman of Earthquake Prediction (an example of the metaphorical use of "bogeyman")
• Online Etymology Dictionary - entry for "bogey".
• The Word Detective.