Boggart

In Celtic mythology, a boggart (or bogart, bogan, bogle or boggle) is a household spirit, sometimes mischievous, sometimes helpful.

Nature

Ethymology

Hobgoblins, Bogans, Bauchans, Gobelins, the Boogey Man, Boogies, Padfoot, Hobbers, Gobs, Blobs.

Today the word boggart is a verb meaning to steal, to take more than one's fair share, or to refuse to share.

Description/Morphology

A male dwarf with a squat and distorted form.

Iconography

Insert an image of the creature (ask Loki or DV if you cant find it).

Family

Cousin of the Brownie but more ill-tempered and greedy.

Element

   [Earth]

Behavior

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. A horseshoe hung on the door of a house will keep a boggart away.

More extreme specimen squats sometimes houses that the utterly destroys. The Boggart especially loves to eat smooth wood like a termite and to torment children.

It is also an agricultural goblin, responsible for missing implements on the farm.

Powers/Weaknesses

In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, as when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with or persuaded and become uncontrollable and destructive.

One of the best ways to get rid of him is to ask the boggart to leave the house and stay out as long as 'the hollies are green'. It will mostly likely take at least two seasons for him to remember that hollies are always green and that he has been tricked. His resulting anger most likely needn't be feared as he will never be able to enter the house again.

History/Beliefs

Culture

Scottish lore.

Famous

There is a large municipal park called 'Boggart Hole Clough'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 haunted by Boggarts. Supposed mysterious disappearances over the years, particularly in the early 19th century, were often attributed to the Boggart of the Clough.

Quote

           One wee little Hobgoblin
           All dressed up in red,
           Was spying on a farmhouse
           With mischief in his head.
           "this place," said the little Hobgoblin,
           "It could be lots of fun,
           Everything's so clean and tidy,
           And begging to be undone."
           So the wee little Hobgoblin
           He went to work with glee,
           He let the cattle out the gate
           And set the piglets free.
           He spilled some milk in the kitchen,
           And overturned the butterchurn.
           He yanked the laundry off the line
           And caused the soup to burn.
           He pinched the baby and scared the cat
           And had the mostest fun.
           And when his spree was over
           He said, "That's a job well done!"

           Mark Shapiro The Wee Little Hobgoblin