Basic Information
The bogeyman (also referred to as the boogyman, bogyman, boogieman, boogey monster or boogeyman) is a folkloric monster, tales of which are often used as a kind of behavioral modification tool by parents to frighten misbehaving children. Many children throughout the world believe in the creature as a result of such tales.
The bogeyman has no specific appearance, and conceptions of the monster vary drastically even from household to household within the same community; in many cases he simply has no set appearance in the mind of a child, but is just an amorphous embodiment of terror. The bogeyman legend may originate from Scotland, where such creatures are sometimes called bogles, boggarts, or bogies.
In general the bogeyman is an abductor - stealing the children (and, in some cultures, adults) for varying purposes (generally to eat or to enslave them), and in many cases will carry a sack into which the victims are stuffed.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Belief is what grants fears power, and fear of the bogeyman is no exception. The good intentions of parents the world over have generated enough belief in the bogey man to give that fear physical form.
- Numerous children have begun to disappear from a small town. Upon further investigation, it is determined that the only possible link between the missing children is that they were all well known for throwing tantrums, bullying others, or exhibiting similar behavioral problems.
- A reformed child killer is being released from the State Hospital, having recently been declared fit for reintegration into society. When initially arrested, the man claimed that the bogeyman killed his victims and that he had been wrongfully convicted. When he is released, the local killings resume.
- See also Mythago.
- And then there are those who regard bogymen as aspirational figures
