Yes, today’s topic is about the boogieman/bogeyman/bogieman/boogeyman. You know the hideously horrible creature that wears a leisure suit and has a gold medallion tucked into its pelt of chest hair. Often accompanied by the syncopated beat of Disco, this monster lives in the darkness and prepares to snatch up the unsuspecting and force them to Hustle all night.

I don’t care who you are, that’s scary.

What? Um, I’ve just been informed that contrary to logic the boogieman is not a cross between a zombie and John Travolta (but that hair made such a nice target).

Apparently, the real boogieman is  a made up creature that parents use to get their children to behave. He can come scratching at your window or in a green fog. He is known to inhabit closets or cohabitate with the dust bunnies under the bed. I, of course, use the he loosely as the boogieman could be a boogiewoman.

No one knows where the boogieman really came from. In parts of the world, he is mostly harmless–sneaking into rooms to tickle feet (sometimes leaving a wart behind). In other places, he carries a sack in which he puts the bad children and carries them off. This kiddie-harvest is sometimes sold, murdered, or eaten.

Here are three of my favorite boogieman stories:

Darkness Falls

Monsters