 The Bannister Hall Doll, a boggart said to have haunted Bannister Hall inHigher Walton, Preston, in two of its forms | |
| Grouping | Folklore creature |
|---|---|
| Sub grouping | Household spirit, orogre attached to a particular location |
| Similar entities | See here |
| Folklore | English folklore |
| Other name(s) | Boggard (inYorkshire) |
| Country | England |
| Region | Parts ofNorthern England, particularly theNorth West |
| Habitat | Both within homes and outside in the countryside. |
Aboggart is a supernatural being fromEnglish folklore. The dialectologistElizabeth Wright described the boggart as 'a generic name for an apparition';[1] folklorist Simon Young defines it as 'any ambivalent or evil solitary supernatural spirit'.[2]Halifax folklorist Kai Roberts states that boggart ‘might have been used to refer to anything from a hilltophobgoblin to a household faerie, from a headless apparition to a proto-typicalpoltergeist’.[3] As these wide definitions suggest boggarts are to be found both in and out of doors, as ahousehold spirit, or a malevolent spirit defined by local geography, agenius loci inhabiting topographical features. The 1867 bookLancashire Folklore byHarland and Wilkinson, makes a distinction between "House boggarts" and other types.[4] Typical descriptions show boggarts to bemalevolent. 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.[5] The household boggart may follow a family wherever they flee. One Lancashire source reports the belief that a boggart should never be named: if the boggart was given a name, it could neither be reasoned with nor persuaded, but would become uncontrollable and destructive (seeTrue name).[6]
Boggart is written in many different forms: "boggard" (particularly inYorkshire), "baggard", "bogerd", "boggat", "bogard", "boggerd", "boggert", "bugart", "buggard", and "buggart".[7] Boggart is ultimately the typicalLancashire dialect form. These forms all point to an origin with theMiddle English wordbugge (a spirit or monster) with an aggrandizing suffix making boggart, a great bigbugge. This also makes boggart a close linguistic cousin of "bogle" (or boggle, a Scots variant), 'bugaboo', "bugbear", "bug", "bogeyman" and "bogie", all of which also derive frombugge.Bugge may, in turn, be related to other British andIrish supernatural terms like "bucca", "pwca", "Puck" and "pooka", but this is uncertain.[8]
In north-western dialects the word 'boggart' was used in a number of sentences. InLancashire, a skittish or runaway horse was said to have "took boggarts"—that is, been frightened by a, usually invisible, boggart.[9] 'Boggart muck' seems to have been a word forowl pellets in much ofNorth West England.[10]
The recorded folklore of boggarts is remarkably varied as to their appearance and size. Many are described as relatively human-like in form, though usually uncouth, very ugly and often with bestial attributes. T. Sternberg's 1851 bookDialect and Folk-lore of Northhamptonshire describes a certain boggart as "a squat hairy man, strong as a six year old horse, and with arms almost as long as tacklepoles".[11]
Other accounts describe boggarts as having more completely beast-like forms. The "Boggart of Longar Hede" from Yorkshire was said to be a fearsome creature the size of a calf, with long shaggy hair and eyes like saucers. It trailed a long chain after itself, which made a noise like the baying of hounds.[12] The "Boggart ofHackensall Hall" in Lancashire had the appearance of a huge horse.[13]
At least one Lancashire boggart was said to sometimes take the forms of various animals, or indeed more fearful creatures.[14] The boggarts of Lancashire were said to have a leader, or master, called 'Owd Hob', who had the form of asatyr or archetypical devil: horns, cloven hooves and a tail.[15]
The name of at least one Lancashire boggart was recorded, "Nut-Nan", who flitted with a shrill scream among hazel bushes inMoston near Manchester.[16] InYorkshire, boggarts also inhabit outdoor locations, one is said to haunt Cave Ha, a limestone cavern atGiggleswick nearSettle.[17]
A piece of folklore concerning aLancashire boggart was first published in 1861; the author,Edwin Waugh, had a conversation with an elderly couple one evening about their local boggart. They maintained that the boggart was buried at a nearby bend in the road under an ash tree, along with a cockerel with a stake driven through it. Despite being buried, the boggart was still able to create trouble. A farmer's wife, the old couple claimed, just two weeks earlier had heard doors banging in her farmhouse at night, then loud laughter; she looked out to see three candles casting blue light and a creature with red burning eyes leaping about. The following morning many marks of cloven hooves were seen outside the house. The couple claimed that the boggart had unhitched their own horse and overturned their cart on occasion. "Never name it [the boggart]" the old woman repeated, and her husband stated that he would never dig near its grave.[18]
In one old tale, said to originate from the village ofMumby in theLincolnshire countryside, the boggart is described as being rather squat, hairy, and smelly. In the story, a farmer offers a deal to a boggart inhabiting his land; the boggart may choose either the part of the crop that grows above the ground or the part below it. When the boggart chooses the part below the ground, the farmer plants barley; at harvest time, the boggart is left with only stubble. The boggart then demands the part above ground instead, so the farmer plants potatoes. Once again left with nothing to show for his efforts, the enraged boggart leaves the area.[19]
An alternative telling includes a third episode where the farmer and the boggart are to harvest the crop (wheat) from either side of the field, each getting what he harvests. However the farmer plants iron rods in the boggart's half before the reaping, blunting his scythe, and allowing the farmer to harvest almost the entire field.[20]
This story is identical to the European fableThe Farmer and the Devil, cited in many seventeenth-century French works. (See Bonne Continuation, Nina M. Furry et Hannelore Jarausch).
The word 'boggart' is especially associated withLancashire. But distribution maps show that "Boggartdom" (the area in which stories of boggarts are found) extended to northernCheshire, much ofDerbyshire, northernLincolnshire, the oldWest Riding of Yorkshire, parts of theNorth Riding, the fringes ofWestmorland, and perhapsNottinghamshire, and possibly, at one time, as far north asCleveland and as far south asSkegness.[21] In other parts of northern England and the ScottishLowlands, alternative 'bog' words were used such as 'bogie' and 'bogle'.
A variety of geographic locations and architectural landmarks have been named for the boggart. Most famously there is a largemunicipal park calledBoggart Hole Clough, which is bordered by Moston andBlackley inManchester. "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 is said to be inhabited by boggarts.[22] The clough is the setting for many boggart stories, including one of how a local farmer, George Cheetham, and his family were forced to leave their home due to the torment inflicted by a boggart. However, as they were taking their possessions away in a cart, the voice of the boggart was heard issuing from a milk-churn on the cart. Unable to escape the boggart, they returned to their farm.[23]
There is a Boggart Stones onSaddleworth Moor where theMoors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, buried the bodies of Pauline Reade and Lesley Ann Downey, children they had abducted, in 1963 and 1964. The children's bodies were buried just below the location, and in sight of, Boggart Stones (OS Map 1864). There is a Boggart Bridge in Burnley,Lancashire. Tradition says that whoever crosses the bridge must give a living thing to the boggart or forfeit his or her soul. Boggarts Roaring Holes are a group ofpotholes on themoors of Newby Moss nearClapham in theYorkshire Dales. Legend has it that these potholes are the dwelling place of grotesque flesh-eating boggarts whose angry growls have allegedly been heard reverberating from the depths of the dark caverns beneath (hence the name). In theSeacroft area ofLeeds inWest Yorkshire there is acouncil estate named Boggart Hill; Boggart Hill Drive, Boggart Hill Gardens and Boggart Hill were all given the name of the estate area. Boggard Lane, between the villages ofOughtibridge andWorrall in South Yorkshire, is generally believed to derive from the term "boggart". There is also a Boggart Lane atSkelmanthorpe.
OnPuck, a moon ofUranus, there is a crater named Bogle, in deference to the system ofnomenclature on this satellite, whose features are all named after various mischievous spirits.
In 2019 folklorist Simon Young launched a survey to test modern understandings of the word 'boggart' in England and particularlyLancashire,Cheshire,Derbyshire andYorkshire. Young collected 1,100 accounts, including about 400 negatives ('from the middle-aged and the elderly saying that they had never heard of boggarts while growing up').[24] The census was released freely online byUniversity of Exeter Press as an open access pdf.[25]
Boggarts feature prominently in a number of popularfantasy novels, in various incarnations.[26] These include the boggart inSusan Cooper'sThe Boggart andThe Boggart and the Monster, the boggart in theSeptimus Heap series, the boggarts inJoseph Delaney'sSpook's series, and the boggart inWilliam Mayne'sEarthfasts, andTasha Tudor'sCorgi-related picture books.
A boggart appears inPeter S. Beagle's novelTamsin. He is described as a humanoid creature about a meter high who resents humans moving into his house and torments them with pranks and thievery. It seems he can become invisible at first, but it is later determined that he can hide in narrow cracks such as those between cupboards and under bathtubs. As are many magical creatures in the book, the boggart is mortally afraid of cats.
Theboggarts inJ. K. Rowling'sHarry Potter are shape-shifters whose true form is unknown, that change shape to resemble their beholder's worst fear (possibly inspired by the "clutterbumph" inPaul Gallico'sManxmouse). They are unlike most boggarts of British folklore, whose appearance is fixed. Their closest parallel for a boggart able to change shape at will is probably to be found in a reference to a Lancashire boggart in the bookLancashire Folklore of 1867.[14]
In some contemporary fantasy fiction and films such asThe Spiderwick Chronicles[citation needed],Mark Del Franco's Convergent World books, and the fantasy writing ofJuliana Horatio Ewing, boggarts arebrownies who have been angered or become malevolent. This has been adopted into folklore studies but is not found in traditional sources.[27]
In the 2014 fantasy filmSeventh Son an enormous malevolent boggart attacks the protagonists while they are on their journey to find the antagonist character. Boggarts also appear in the film's original source material,The Spook's Apprentice. In theCITV children's showThe Treacle People, boggarts are furry, gremlin-like creatures that originate from the Treacle Mines. They are mischievous, frequently playfighting and causing a mess. They serve as pets, friends and pests to the townspeople. They have the ability to walk up walls and other inclined surfaces due to their feet, which resemble plungers.Kamen Rider Wizard features a villain of the week based on the boggart.
In theMagic: The Gathering card game'sLorwyn block, the native goblins of the plane are called boggarts. In role-playing games, the boggart appeared as the immature form of awill-o'-wisp with shape-shifting abilities inDungeons & Dragons[28] as well asNecromancer Games.[29] A boggart appears in the gameHome Safety Hotline[30]
The connection between the word boggart and 'bog' depends onfolk etymology: there is no obvious association in many earlier sources between boggarts and the word 'bog'; though this is frequent in post-war accounts.[31] However, in Lincolnshire, the intimate connection of boggarts with marshland is attested in a 19th-century account. In this account the descriptive phrase 'swamp bogles' is also employed.[32] In 1882, the weekly journalAll the Year Round, then edited byCharles Dickens Jr., describes a marsh-dwelling boggart, who milked farmers' cows at night.[33] In Lancashire, when a person got lost in a marsh and was never seen again, the people were sure that a boggart had caught the poor unfortunate and devoured him.[15]
