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Boggart

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For other uses of the word, see Bogart (disambiguation).
Boggart
GroupingFolklore creature
Sub groupingHousehold fairy
Other name(s)Bogart
Bogle
Boggle
CountryEngland
RegionNationwide
HabitatWithin the home

In English bober folklore, a boggart (or bogart) is a household fairy which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, for when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with or persuaded and become uncontrollable and destructive.

It is said that the boggart crawls into people's beds at night and puts a clammy hand on their faces. Sometimes he strips the bedsheets off them. Sometimes a boggart will also pull on a person's ears. Hanging a horseshoe on the door of a house is said to keep a boggart away.

In the folklore of North-West England, boggarts live under bridges on dangerous sharp bends on roads, and it is considered bad luck for drivers not to offer their polite greetings as they cross.

The Scottish variant is the bogle (or boggle).

The Farmer and the Boggart

In one old tale said to originate from the village of Mumby in the Lincolnshire countryside, the boggart is described as being rather squat, hairy and smelly. The story goes that a farmer bought a patch of land that was inhabited by the boggart. When the farmer tried to cultivate the field the boggart got angry, but after much arguing they decided to work the land together and share the bounty. The farmer, however, being greedy, began to ponder a way to cheat the boggart out of his share. When they were debating what to plant, he asked the boggart, 'Which half of the crop do you want for your share, the part below the ground or the part above it?' The boggart thought for a while before answering 'The part below the ground.' The farmer sowed the field with barley. At harvest time the farmer boasted a big pile of barley while all the boggart had to show for his work was stubble. It flew into a rage and screeched that next time it would take what lay above the ground. The next time the farmer sowed the field with potatoes. At harvest time the farmer laughed as he claimed his massive pile of potatoes while the boggart was yet again left with nothing to show for his efforts. Simmering with rage, the boggart stormed off, never to return again.

This story is identical to the European fable The Farmer and the Devil, cited in many 17th century French works. (See Bonne Continuation, Nina M. Furry et Hannelore Jarausch)

Geographical names

Boggart Hole Clough Brook

There is a large municipal park called 'Boggart Hole Clough,' which is bordered by Moston and Blackley in Manchester, England. Clough is a northern dialect word for a steep sided, wooded valley; a large part of Boggart Hole Clough is made up of these valleys and are said to be[who?] inhabited by Boggarts. Supposed mysterious disappearances over the years, particularly in the early 19th century, were often attributed[who?] to the Boggart of the Clough.[citation needed]

Half the way between Scarborough to Whitby, on Robin Hood's Bay, there is a place called Boggle Hole. In the local mythology, a Boggle is the local name for a hobgoblin, mischievous 'little people' that were thought[who?] to live in caves along the coast. Boggle Hole is a natural cave formed by wave action where smugglers used to land their contraband in past times.[citation needed]

Boggarts feature prominently in a number of popular fantasy novels, in various incarnations. These include the "boggles" of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, the boggarts of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, the boggarts in Joseph Delaney's The Wardstone Chronicles (called The Last Apprentince in the United States.) Other books, including Tasha Tudor's Cori-related picture books and The Spiderwick Chronicles, feature brownies which turn into boggarts given a specific set of circumstances.

Boggarts can also be found in a variety of role-playing games. In the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor blocks of the Magic: The Gathering trading card game, Boggarts are that block's version of Goblins. Facevaulter The White Wolf game Changeling: The Dreaming contains Boggans as a playable race (or Kith), which are portrayed as helpful, gossiping creatures occasionally found in Hearths who enjoy housework.

A variety of geographic locations and architectural landmarks have also been named for the bogart. There is a Boggart Bridge in Burnley, Lancashire, where tradition says that whoever crosses the bridge must give a living thing to the boggart or forfet his or her souls. On Puck, a moon of Uranus, there is a crater named "Bogle," in deference to the system of nomenclature on this satellite, whose features are all named after various mischievous spirits.

See also

References

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