Bogeyman

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The bogeyman, boogyman, or bogyman, is a legendary ghostlike monster often believed in by children. The bogeyman has no specific appearance, and is sometimes equated with specific real-life persons, such as serial killer Albert Fish. The term 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 (eg, behind the door, in the closet, or under the bed), where he lies in wait before attacking the sleeper.

Bogeyman tales vary by region. In some places the bogeyman is male, in others, female. In some Midwestern states of the USA 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.^[2] Given the cross-culture similarities of the boogeyman and other stories of "monsters in the dark", some psychologists have postulated that the concept may derive from an evolutionary protection which prevented young children to become vulnerable to predators by wandering away from the group at night.^{[citation needed]}

Sometimes parents will, as a way of controlling their children, encourage belief in a bogeyman that only preys on children who misbehave. Such bogeymen may be said to target a specific mischief — for instance, a bogeyman that persecutes children who suck their thumbs — or just general misbehaviour.

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 1980's children's cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters, whose episodes are regarded as the series' most popular. 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. Detroit rap group Insane Clown Posse also released a song about the bogeyman called "Boogie Woogie Wu" on their 1997 album The Great Milenko.

Contents 1 Bogey Man in other Cultures 2 See also 3 Notes and references 4 External links

[edit] Bogey Man in other Cultures

• Azerbaijan - A bogeyman-like creature parents refer to make children behave is called khokhan ("xoxan").

• Brazil and Portugal- A similar creature with the same function (to scare misbehaving children) exists as the "Bag Man" (Portuguese: "homem do saco"). It is portrayed as an adult male, usually in the form of a bum, or a hobo, who carries a sack on his back (much like Santa Claus), and collects difficult children to sell. Parents may tell their kids that they will call the "Sack man" to collect them if they do not behave. A monster even more akin to the Bogeyman is called "Bicho Papão" (Eating Beast).

• Bulgaria - Bulagarian children are sometimes told that a dark scary monsterlike person called Torbalan (man-with-a-sack) will come and kidnap them with his large sack if they misbehave. In some villages people used to believe that a hairy, dark, ghost-like creature called a talasam (Tal-ah-SUHM) lived in the shadows of the barn or in the attic and came out at night to scare little children.

• Czech Republic - Bubak or hastrman (Bugbear, scarecrow, respectively) is the Czech boogeyman; he is like Torbalan in being a man with a sack who takes children. He also, however, takes adults, and is known for hiding by riverbanks and making a sound like a lost baby, in order to lure the unwary. He weaves on nights of the full moon, making clothes for his stolen souls, and has a cart drawn by cats.

• Denmark - The equivalent of the bogeyman in Danish is bussemand. It hides under the bed and grabs children who will not sleep. Like the English, it is also a slang term for nasal mucus.

• Egypt - In rural Egypt, children are warned not to play near water canals, lest the female El Nadaha (النداهة "The caller", "The siren") would lure them and drown them. This is probably to prevent children from straying too far, or falling and drowning in the canal.

• Finland - The equivalent of the bogeyman in Finland is mörkö. The most famous usage of the word these days takes place in Moomin-stories (originally written in Swedish) in which mörkö (the Groke) is a frightening, dark blue, big, ghost-looking creature.

• France - The French equivalent of the bogeyman is le croque-mitaine ("the mitten-biter") who hides under beds and in dark places. Another equivalent is le Père Fouettard, an evil man dressed in black who puts bad children in a big bag and hits them in it with a whip. Seems like a sort of evil Santa Claus ("Père Noël" in French).

• Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein - in Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein the bogeyman is known as Der Schwarze Mann (the black man) or the Butzemann. "Schwarz" does not refer to the color of skin but to his preference for hiding in dark places, like the closet, under the bed of children or in forests at night; nevertheless, the term is often used with racist connotations. There is also an active game for little children which is called Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann? (Who is afraid of the black man?). Other similar ceatures are the Nachtkrabb (a big bird-like creature that comes at night), the Nachtbock (a goat-like monster), and the Nachtgiger.

• Greece - in Greece the equivalent of the bogeyman is known as Baboulas (Μπαμπούλας). Most of the times he is said to be hiding under the bed, although it is used by the parents in a variety of ways.

• Haiti - in Haiti, the bogeyman is a giant, and a counterpart of Father Christmas, renowned for abducting bad children by putting them in his knapsack. His name in the Haitian creole language is Tonton Macoute.

• Hungary - in Hungarian a creature known as the mumus is used to discipline children. The hungarian bogey man is Tako.

• India - In India, the entity is known by different names.
  • North India - Children are sometimes threatened with the Bori Baba, who carries a sack (bori) in which he places children he captures. A similar character is the Chownki Daar, a night shift security guard who takes children who refuse to go to sleep.
  • South India - In the state of Tamil Nadu, children are often mock threatened with the Rettai Kannan (the two-eyed one) or Poochaandi. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, the equivalent of bogeyman is Buchadu.

• Iran - In Persian culture, children who misbehave might be told by their parents to be afraid of lulu (لولو) who eats up the naughty children. Lulu is usually called lulu-khorkhore (bogeyman who eats everything up). The threat is generally used to make small children eat their meals.

• Ireland - The bogeyman is always accompanied by a smaller version of himself, typically known as the "Little Boogeyman" or "Little Boogey Bastard" on occasion. The small version is often known to attack leprechauns, while the regular Boogeyman has a love of people who love to fight.

• Italy - The Italian equivalent of the bogeyman is l'uomo nero ("the black man"), portrayed as a tall man wearing a heavy black coat, with a black hood or hat concealing his face. Sometimes parents will knock loudly under the table, pretending that someone is knocking at the door, and saying: "Here comes l'uomo nero! He must know that there's a child here who doesn't want to drink his soup!" L'uomo nero is not supposed to eat or harm children, just take them away to a mysterious and frightening place. A popular lullaby says that he would keep a child with him "for a whole year" given the fact that in Italian 'whole' rhymes with 'black'. As the color black is associated with fascist Italy, in adult language l'uomo nero is often used in political puns. Since the 1980s, "nero" has also replaced "negro" as a term for black-skinned people, so the expression "uomo nero" is also sometimes heard in racist puns. Another Italian version of the bogeyman is the Carthaginian general and statesman, Hannibal Barca, regarded as the greatest enemy Rome ever faced. The threat he posed to Rome was so great that he became associated with fear; to this day, Italian parents use the character to correct a misbehaving child, often by saying, "Behave well or Hannibal will come and get you."

• Japan - Namahage are demons that warn children not to be lazy or cry, during the Namahage Sedo Matsuri, or "Demon Mask Festival", when villagers don demon masks and pretend to be these spirits.

• Latin American countries. The bogeyman is known as Cuco, Coco or Cucuy.
  • Mexico - El Cucuy. "Social sciences professor Manuel Medrano said popular legend describes el cuc as a small humanoid with glowing red eyes that hides in closets or under the bed. 'Some lore has him as a kid who was the victim of violence ... and now he’s alive, but he’s not,' Medrano said, citing Xavier Garza’s 2004 book Creepy Creatures and other Cucuys."^[3]

• Malta - On the Mediterranean island of Malta, the babaw is commonly held by children to be a nocturnal ghostlike monster. The creature is said to hide under beds and stairs to frighten children while parents are away. The term babaw is also a term associated with anything that creates fear or apprehension.

• Norway - Busemannen

• Netherlands - Boeman

• Philippines - Pugot, Mamu (only in most Ilocano regions)

• Poland - In some regions, like Silesia or Great Poland, children are mock-threatened with bebok (babok, bobok), a bogeyman-like creature from old Polish legends.

• Quebec - In this French-speaking province, the Bonhomme Sept-Heures (7 o'clock man) is said to visit houses around 7 o'clock to take misbehaving children who will not go to bed back to his cave to feast on them. Some believe the word to be derived from the English "bone setter".^{[citation needed]}

• Romania - In Romania, the equivalent of the bogeyman is known as bau-bau (pronuonced "bow-bow"). Bau-bau stories are used by parents to scare children who misbehave.

• Russia - Usually said to be hiding under the bed, babay ("бабай") is used to keep children in bed or stop them from misbehaving. 'Babay' means 'old man' in Tatar. Children are told that "babay" is a monster or an old man with a bag, who will abduct them if they misbehave.

• Serbia & Croatia - Babaroga (Baba - old woman, rog - horn) is a female monster usually said to kidnap or eat children. The legend is used by parents to threaten difficult children, and is probably derived from the Slavic mythological witch, Baba Yaga.

• Spain - The Spanish bogeyman is known as El Cuco, or, more often in Spain, El Coco (also named in some parts of Spain as El Ogro), a shapeless figure, sometimes a hairy monster, that eats children that misbehave when told to go to bed. Parents will sing lullabies or tell a rhyme to the children warning that if they do not sleep, El Coco will get them. The 17th century rhyme has evolved over the years, but still retains its original meaning. The legend is also used in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. The aforementioned Brazilian "Bag Man" also exists here in the form of the Hombre del Saco or Hombre de la bolsa, who is usually depicted as a mean, hideous and skinny old man who eats the misbehaving children he collects. A Galician variant of the legend is the "Sacauntos" (ie, the "Fat Taker"), who would kidnap wandering children to take their body fat and sell it. This character is related to serial killers said to suffer mental lycanthropy.

• Sweden - In Sweden, the bogeyman is referred to either as Monstret under sängen which essentially means "the monster under the bed", or Svarta mannen; "the Black man".

• Slovenia - The Slovenian bogeyman is called Bavbav, which does not have a particular form, and is often not defined as anything human. Bavbav can be thought of as a kind of sprite or spirit, though the word "spirit" does not adequately describe it.

• Switzerland - In Switzerland, the bogeyman is called Böögg and has an important role in the springtime ceremonies. The figure is the symbol of winter and death, so in Sechseläuten ceremony in the City of Zürich, where a figure of the Böögg is burnt.

• Turkey - In Turkey, there is an old lullaby about a creature called Dunganga, who puts misbehaving children in its basket to take them back to its cave to be eaten.

• Ukraine - The Eastern part of Ukraine has babay legend, possibly due to Russian influence. (See entry for Russia above).

• Vietnam - The story of ông ba bị (in the North, literally meaning "mister-three-bags") or ông kẹ (in the South) is used to make small children eat their meals or to scare children who misbehave, usually in a mock-threatening way.

[edit] See also

• Nanny Rutt - a folk legend from Northorpe, Lincolnshire.
• Boogeyman - a 2005 horror film.
• The Bogie Man - a comic book about an insane Scotsman who thinks he's Humphrey Bogart.
• 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"
• Bogeyman - a recurring villain in "The Real Ghostbusters" animated series.
• The Great Milenko - album by the Insane Clown Posse. Track #11, titled "Boogie Woogie Wu", tells the story of what the Boogieman does once you fall asleep.
• The Powerpuff Girls - the series' fifth episode portrays the Boogie Man as a sun-hating, villainous monster, which behaves as in the seventies.
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy - In one episode, the Boogeyman appears as an old rival and bully of the Grim Reaper from their high school at the underworld.
• Little Fears - The Bogeyman is the King of Greed in this 2001 roleplaying game
• Marina Warner - No Go the Bogeyman, Vintage ISBN 0-09-973981-X, an analysis of terror and the strategems to allay the monsters we conjour up. Literary criticism/Folklore
• Boogeyman is Monster in My Pocket #112.
• Freddy Kreuger-Monster in Nightmare on Elm Street films. Directed by Wes Craven
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie - Ivan Ooze referred to himself as the Boogeyman.
• Renán Almendárez Coello is a Hispanic radio host who describes himself as "El Cucuy de la mañana" which means "the boogeyman of the morning".
• John Entwistle of The Who has a song called Bogeyman, which included Keith Moon on drums.
• The boggart in the Harry Potter series is considered a boogeyman.

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ McNab, Chris. Mythological Monsters. New York : Scholastic, Inc., 2007. (ISBN 0-439-85479-2)
2. ^ Same as ref. 1.
3. ^ El cucuy has roots deep in border folklore

The bogeyman is also a wwe super star

[edit] External links

• The Bogeyman of Earthquake Prediction (an example of the metaphorical use of "bogeyman")
• Napoleon.org - fun stuff (describing the origins of the term 'bogeyman' - an English reference to the infamous diminutive Corsican conqueror)
• Online Etymology Dictionary - entry for "bogey".
• The Word Detective
• Encylopedia Mythica - cites "Bugis" origin for "bogeyman".
• Krampus - a bogeyman-like companion of Saint Nicholas.