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The bogeyman, boogyman, bogyman, boogey monster, or boogeyman, is a folklore or legendary ghostlike monster often believed in by children. The bogeyman has no specific appearance though it is very common that he resembles a zombie or frankenstein's monster^{[citation needed]}, and bogeyman can be used metaphorically to denote a person or thing of which someone has an irrational fear The bogeyman is not real, but parents say that if their child(children) is/are naughty the bogeyman will get them. The bogeyman legend may originate from old Dutch & other sailor's tales in reference to the particularly fierce inhabitants of a particular part of the Indonesian Islands - fierce enough to repel the Europeans and thus stand out markedly from other area inhabitants. Scotland, where such creatures are sometimes called bogles, boggarts, or bogies.^[1]

Bogeyman tales vary by region. In some places the bogeyman is male; in others, female. In some Midwestern states of the U.S. the bogeyman does not enter bedrooms but instead scratches on the windows. It is said that a wart can be transmitted to someone by the bogeyman.^[1] Bogeymen may be said to target a specific mischief – for instance, a bogeyman that persecutes children who suck their thumbs – or general misbehavior.

Popular portrayals of bogeymen include Raymond Briggs' Fungus the Bogeyman, as well as Victor Herbert's 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, in which children live in Bogeyland. The former relies on the children's slang word "bogey" (dried nasal mucus), a substance of which these bogeymen are particularly fond. "The Bogeyman" was a recurring villain in the successful 1980s children's cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters, whose episodes are regarded as the series's most popular. In 1999 Disney's TV Movie Don't Look Under the Bed, the main character, Frances Bacon, is framed for a series of practical jokes by the Bogeyman. She gets help from an imaginary friend named Larry. In The Nightmare Before Christmas, the bogeyman is called Oogie Boogie, an animated sack of bugs who enjoys gambling. In Terry Pratchett's Discworld, bogeymen are depicted as tall, rangy, hairy beings who are vaguely apish. They hide under beds, behind doors, and in closets, for no reason anyone can understand. The first bogeyman says, that they protect the children for evil things.

In Ireland they were a type of faerie that lived in the bog and kidnapped children so they could play with them. They made them stay a year and a day.^{[citation needed]}

The bogeyman appeared in the book Mythical Monsters and was after a boy who thought the bogeyman was his big brother playing a joke.

The word bogey is probably derived from the Middle English bogge/bugge^[2] (also the origin of the word bug). The words are linked to many similar words in other European languages, which may be cognates; bòcan, púca, pooka or pookha (Irish Gaelic), pwca, bwga or bwgan (Welsh), puki (Old Norse), pixie or piskie (Cornish), puck (English), bogu (Slavonic)^[3].

In Southeast Asia the term is commonly accepted to refer to Bugis ^[4] or Buganese ^[5] pirates, ruthless seafarers of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. These pirates often plagued early English or Dutch trading ships, namely those of the British East India Company or Dutch East India Company, resulting in the European sailors bringing their fear of the "bugi men" back to their home countries.

Another possible source for the word is the Russian word бог (God), pronounced "boag", rhyming with "rogue". Demonizing things, notions, even the name of God, from Eastern Europe and beyond is not without precedent in Western Europe and North America.^{[citation needed]}

Martin Mystery (TV Show)- Martin has to stop the Bogeyman from taking all the native naughty children in a small village in Scotland to his "Bog World".

• The Bogeyman of Earthquake Prediction (an example of the metaphorical use of "bogeyman")
• Online Etymology Dictionary - entry for "bogey".
• The Word Detective.