Bogeyman

Template:Otheruses2 The bogeyman, boogyman, bogyman, boogey monster, or boogeyman, is a folklore or 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. Parents often say that if their child is naughty, the bogeyman will get them, in an effort to make them behave. The bogeyman legend may originate from Scotland, where such creatures are sometimes called bogles, boggarts, or bogies.

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. Bogeymen may be said to target a specific mischief – for instance, a bogeyman that persecutes children who suck their thumbs – or general misbehavior.

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.

Origin of the word

The word bogey is probably derived from the Middle English bogge/bugge (also the origin of the word bug). The words are linked to many similar words in other European languages, which may be cognates; bòcan, púca, pooka or pookha (Irish Gaelic), pwca, bwga or bwgan (Welsh), puki (Old Norse), pixie or piskie (Cornish), puck (English), bogu (Slavonic).

Other purported origins

In Southeast Asia the term is commonly accepted to refer to Bugis or Buganese 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.

In popular culture

Popular portrayals of bogeymen include Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman. Babes in Toyland (1934 film) based on Victor Herbert's 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, portrays criminals exiled to Bogeyland. The Bogeymen are described as "horrible creatures; with hair all over their body and great big teeth where they eat you alive".

"The Bogeyman" was a recurring villain in the successful 1980s children's cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters. In 1999 Disney's TV Movie Don't Look Under the Bed, the main character, Frances Bacon, is framed for a series of practical jokes by the Bogeyman. She gets help from an imaginary friend named Larry. 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. The first bogeyman says, that they protect the children from evil things.

In The Simpsons episode Springfield, when Lisa wakes from a bad dream of the boogeyman, a gun-toting Homer hides himself and the children behind a mattress in terror, shooting from his cover at anything he thinks might be the boogeyman. Also the boogeyman is a minor character in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Some young children believe that he hides under their beds and eat them when they go to sleep. The Boogieman makes an appearance in The Powerpuff Girls as the disco dancing ruler of darkness, who temporarily managed to blot out the sun with an enormous disco ball.

External links

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