Is The Bogeyman real? I hope not.

I'm fascinated by the Paranormal. So i try to search about everything in this field. But when i was younger i came across some really freak story's of people who believed and had encounters with the legendary "boogeyman".

So there was this program "Beyond Belief" where they showed fact and real story's. The real story's were picked from alleged "true happening events". And there was this particular episode i couldn't find again about a boy around 12 who was bulled because he told everyone the Boogeyman was real and lived in his closet. Every night he has problems with sleep, because it was like if there was a storm happening inside his closet. So one day he decided to challenge the bullies and they entered in his house. To show him the Boogeyman wasn't real one of the kids decided to enter in the closet. Some seconds after the kid inside the closet started screaming like crazy, they tried to open it but was impossible even with the help of 5 people.

When they successive on opening the closet only the clothes of the boy were inside. After that even the parents of the boy believed in the Boogeyman, but not the cops who couldn't accept a "boogeyman" abducted the kid.

The entity never appeared again.
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In fact i was surprised that the history was alleged to be "real". So i searched more about similar stories, but they don't seem to be in the same level as this one. But there's still stories of kids who had their closets hunted by some ghosts
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Another story i found about the boogeyman. Anyway, it's pretty interesting and disturbing:

My name is Charmaine and this is my story… When I was about 7 years old I started seeing this small creature, it was the size of a dwarf, had sharp yellowish teeth, had red eyes and it’s fingers looked like they were sharpened. At first the creature didn’t do much, it just stood on my table in front of the bed and looked at me, it scared me. I couldn’t move, I was so scared. Later it would smile at me, the evilest smile I had ever seen, later it pointed and smiled. I tried to ignore it, but it wouldn’t go away. I was so scared to go to bed at night. It would appear each night, when the lights were turned off and my parents were sleeping. They never believed me when I told them about the ‘thing’.

After a few months I ignored it and it didn’t like that, he started to scratch the under side of my bed, I still ignored it… until one night that it jumped on my bed and scratched me. I screamed and my parents came, and told me I had a bad dream. The next morning there were scratches on my arm. This continued for over 6 years. I got fed up with it and one night I looked it in the eyes and told it to go away and it did.

I never saw it again, but felt it’s presence one more time. I was 16 at the time. I was visiting my friend and it was late so I decided to sleep there, we were sharing a bed (me, her and her boyfriend). I woke up because her boyfriend was freaking out and said that the boogeyman was here. I sat up and I could feel the ‘thing’, but didn’t see it. I ran to put the lights on and when we looked at her boyfriends arm there were scratches on it. He told me what he saw… he describe exactly the same thing that I saw years ago. I went cold and the fear came back.

I told him that I faced my fears and told it to go away and it did. This thing lives on fear. He tried it and after a while the thing went away.

Does anyone know what this thing is? Has someone else seen this too?

Sent in by Scared, Copyright 2010 TrueGhostTales.com

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Interesting.
.
I feel that accounts of boogy men are eerily similar to accounts of certain types of faeries or djinn. Each culture and time period just puts their own label on it.

I doubt that a boy disappeared in a closet but I would have bought it had they merely had the crap scared out of them .

Originally posted by rimjaja
Interesting.
.
I feel that accounts of boogy men are eerily similar to accounts of certain types of faeries or djinn. Each culture and time period just puts their own label on it.

I doubt that a boy disappeared in a closet but I would have bought it had they merely had the crap scared out of them .

Are all Djinns shapeshifters? if i recall only the anti-social ones are said to are (Forest green ones), if i'm wrong, then they are probably Fire Djinn.

reply to post by Frocharocha


It sounds like it could be a violent Shadow Person (as discussed here at ATS: "Shadow People: What do they do?")

It is an interesting angle, but I tossed them out due to the unreliable nature of a majority of the stories. Maybe I should look back into these?

Your childhood experience made me think of my own.I never saw a being that looked like what you describe,but i suffered awful nigh terrors for years,because of a recurring dream,from about age 3.This werewolfish shadowy creature would chase me (looked like a brown Balverine from Fable The Lost Chapter,though not as buff,more like a Balverine that "let itself go" as far as maintenance of an impressive physique) It always caught up with me,and then it would scratch my back,and i would wake up,still arching my back+screaming myself awake.There were no actual scratches,bt for minutes after i woke,i could still feel the tingling,tickling,and somehow "unclean" feeling from it's touch.Then after a few years of this,one night in my dream,i just decided-ENOUGH AREADY-it always gets me anyway.Im not gonna play anymore.So next time the dream started,i stood,didnt even try to run-and "thought" at it: "Ok,come on then,do your thing,lets get this over with" So it scratched me,i arched+screamed myself awake-AND IT NEVER RETURNED,NOT EVEN ONCE.It wanted the thrill of the chase,apparently,to relish my terror as i tried to get away.So when i refused to flee in terror+basically said:Oh do what you gotta+we can both go home:-) most of its fun was spoiled!

reply to post by Frocharocha


it's actually interesting what they say about it on wikipedia. They talk about the myth of the "bag man" (Uncle Gunnysack). In a lot of different cultures, it's the same. It's interesting how it could be connected to nursery rhymes and how Jung saw how it also connected to the collective unconscious. And, stories told to kids to scare them! I'm french-canadian and when I was a kid, and when I didn't want to go to bed, my father would say that a "bonhomme Sept-heures" (the 7nth hour man; best translation I could come up with...) would come and snatch me. Interesting subject, OP, I'll keep reading the wiki entry.take care.

reply to post by sebHFX



I like how Les Stroud aka Survivorman always talks about the Boogeyman on his expeditions.

Originally posted by sebHFX
reply to post by Frocharocha

 

it's actually interesting what they say about it on wikipedia. They talk about the myth of the "bag man" (Uncle Gunnysack). In a lot of different cultures, it's the same. It's interesting how it could be connected to nursery rhymes and how Jung saw how it also connected to the collective unconscious. And, stories told to kids to scare them! I'm french-canadian and when I was a kid, and when I didn't want to go to bed, my father would say that a "bonhomme Sept-heures" (the 7nth hour man; best translation I could come up with...) would come and snatch me. Interesting subject, OP, I'll keep reading the wiki entry.take care.

Yep. There's tales of the boogeyman in almost every country. With those story's there must be something behind it.

Originally posted by sebHFX
reply to post by Frocharocha

 

it's actually interesting what they say about it on wikipedia. They talk about the myth of the "bag man" (Uncle Gunnysack). In a lot of different cultures, it's the same. It's interesting how it could be connected to nursery rhymes and how Jung saw how it also connected to the collective unconscious. And, stories told to kids to scare them! I'm french-canadian and when I was a kid, and when I didn't want to go to bed, my father would say that a "bonhomme Sept-heures" (the 7nth hour man; best translation I could come up with...) would come and snatch me. Interesting subject, OP, I'll keep reading the wiki entry.take care.

OMG that brings back old memories....I went to bed many times as a kid worring about "Le Bonhomme Sept-Heure" comming to get me if I didn't go to sleep fast enough. I am also French Canadian as you figured, but unless I am mistaken, the proper translation is indeed "The Boogeyman". This is just how WE called him/it!

I think that from all of the stories that have been told about this "entity" (if I can call it that), at least some of it must have been true at some point in history, or else, where would all the stories come from, maybe very good imagination!

Great thread OP!! I will be reading into this topic also, but NOT before bed!

here in portugal we also have boogeyman stories to scare children and make them obey their parents. here's it's called "papão". The "papão" is always on the lookout and is attracted by disobedient children and he devours them.

Originally posted by rimjaja
Interesting.
.
I feel that accounts of boogy men are eerily similar to accounts of certain types of faeries or djinn. Each culture and time period just puts their own label on it.

That's because the "boogeymen" are fae. Bogeymen (etymologically, there's only supposed to be one "o") are actually bogies, bogles, and/or boggarts. They like dark spaces and to not be bothered. If they are bothered, they attack. Some bogies, like the phooka, actually hunt down people who are lost in the woods, offer them a ride on their back, then take off quickly, only to buck them off, injuring or killing the person, or drown them in nearby water sources. They don't usually hide under the bed of children, but some are known to kidnap children (and not just naughty children), especially human babies, leaving changelings in their place.

The ways to ward off bogies are the same as other fae: bells, crosses, holy water, holy salt, holy icons, a knife under the pillow, shoes pointing away from the bed, iron, steel, spilled salt, spilled rice/grain, scissors above the bed, etc.

Other bogies:
awd goggie
bugbear
bug-a-boo
bodach
buggane
Bendith y Mamau
barguest
bwga (in Gaelic languages, the letter "w" is a vowel that is pronounced "oo")
baubau
bobo
pixie/piskie
puka
pwka
puca
Puck/Robin Goodfellow
bögge/böggel-mann

There are many, many more, but I would have to go through my books to find them.

reply to post by Picollo30

In my country its called the Tokoloshe,its always been known to the black race here,and its feared by adults as much as children,especially in the rural areas.Its supposed to be a wizened,ugly,very old,very short man.The fear has been so deeply ingrained,for so long,that many blacks put their bed up on bricks.At night,i hear black mineworkers walking home from their shifts to their homes in the neighbouring township,talking loudly to each other,positively shouting a normal conversation-makes them feel safer,a bravado thing.This belief is so deeply ingrained+widely believed,it will never die out,it gets passed on from generation to generation.I myself believe in the Tokoloshe,though im not afraid of it.Ive experienced enough to know, that to laugh at+dismiss out of hand that which you yourself have'nt yet experienced,is the most ignorant and "backward" thing of all.

reply to post by MoonChild02

Have you read the "Odd Thomas" series by Dean Koontz? Thats where i first came across mention of Bodachs.He has a very interesting take on their possible origin-the way the world is going,not too implausible either.Terror-tourism(as in eco-tourism,eg) for the future Elite..but you have to read at least the first book in the series,to get what he theorises.

reply to post by Raxoxane


I haven't read that book series. I guess I'll have to look it up. Thank you for the reference! I've been researching fae my entire life, so I love finding new sources and stories.
The bodach is a faery from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and is an old legend that pre-dates most tourist-attracting stories. It was probably made up to keep the English out of those countries. Then again, I've encountered demonic-type spirits before, and it's also quite possible that it's not a folktale after all.