Aliases: bogyman, boogyman, boogieman, boogeyman or “bag man”

The boogyman is an interesting phenomena that seems to embody a child’s fear of the unknown. He has no set appearance or characteristics, and there are several tales of boogymen in practically every major culture around the world. Most of the tales revolve around misbehaving kids, and tales of boogymen are told by parents as a way to keep kids from misbehaving. The origin of the English word boogyman is thought to have been derived from the Scottish word for similar creatures called boggarts. Other languages it may have came from include the Middle English word for bug, bogge/bugge and the German word bögge. Several other European languages also have similar words.

In American tales of the boogyman, he may scratch at the window and comes upon his victims as a fog. Several tales of the boogyman involve him appearing from either a child’s closet or from under their bed. This follows through in many other countries as well, with the boogyman preferring to hide in dark places. In some countries such as Brazil, the boogyman is referred to as “Bag-man” and often carries a bag with him to kidnap children.