INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world.
These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.
I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.
I’m back! I had a lovely little week off doing very little - I’ve been churning through indie cosy games for the last week, which has been so nice, and I’m a proper achievement hunter so it’s been very fulfilling. I’m hoping to get all of them finished before I start Baldur’s Gate 3 which I know will consume my life once I start it.
DESCRIPTION:
And this week, we’re going to look at a monster who’s featured in many video games themselves as well as other modern media - yes, we’re staying local and looking at a British folklore figure, the Boggart!
So what is a Boggart? I know exactly what most people are going to say - and that’s a wardrobe dwelling monster who transforms into your biggest fear. Well that’s not true - and it’s important we debunk this sooner rather than later, but it’s nothing to do with the monster you’ve seen in all the Harry Potter content. The Boggart is an English monster, much like the others in Harry Potter, but it has much deeper roots within British folklore than they get into within those books and media. I will also stress here that I’m saying British as it just feels more inclusive, but this is an English monster specifically - there were other monsters like this one in the other countries within Britain.
The Boggart is a malevolent spirit, who tend to live in marshes and swamps, but can get into households to create mischief for the inhabitants. They are generally described as being ugly, goblin looking creatures - if you’ve ever seen the 1986 movie Labyrinth, they kind of look like Hoggle. They are usually quite scruffy in their appearance, but tend to be around 3 or 4 foot tall, with long shaggy hair, big eyes and teeth. It’s sometimes said that they can take the form of animals such as horses and cows, but they’re most likely to be found in a humanoid like form. There are also reports of some Boggarts reporting to another creature, a Satyr or demon, but it depends on where you’re from in England for that one.
Location is really important to Boggarts, and to the people who tell their tales. They are most likely to be found in those swampy areas, which were much more widespread in Britain before industrialisation, but they were also known for living under bridges, holes in the ground or on dangerous bends in roads. A common cautionary tale around these marshes was that if you got lost, a Boggart would take you, and you would never return. The most common areas for Boggarts within England are Lancashire, Yorkshire, Northumberland and Lincolnshire - making them a Northern monster, so are obviously more likely to sing Don’t Look Back in Anger at you. But all Northerner jokes aside, this is actually really important to their history and origin, and we’ll get back to this later.
If they did get into your house, speaking of location, they would cause absolute mayhem - mainly because they would see you as their captor, even if they made it into the house themselves. They would move things so you wouldn’t find them, turn milk and dairy products sour, cause mould, animals to go lame as well as being a general pest. They would also steal your bedsheets whilst you were sleeping, or put their clammy hands on your face and pull your ears. They would also follow the family wherever they went, even if they abandoned the house because of the Boggart - and they become almost like a family curse.
In the most extreme cases, they would abduct children - however, this was more likely when they were in marshes and were mostly attributed as the swamp boogeyman in order to scare children away from the areas for fear of drowning or getting lost. The funniest fact I have about Boggarts is that if you found out their name, it could be considerably worse in terms of its mischief and it would become completely uncontrollable and destructive to the house. This is all to do with the true name myth that we have with fairies in folklore, that if you give your name to one that they have full power over you. E.g. Rumplestiltskin, and the Boggart is no different.
Whilst we don’t know much about their genders, although it is assumed that they are all male, or whether they eat or die - it is said that if you mistreat a fairy, sprite or brownie - all other English folklore creatures, they could transform into a Boggart and curse your family with their presence. However, one way to get rid of them would be to hang a horseshoe on the door of the house and leave a pile of salt outside each bedroom, which should keep the Boggart away, and they’ll eventually get bored and go back to their marshy home. As they are spirits, we have to assume they cannot die - but can be banished just like any other English spirit.
ORIGIN:
For etymology, the word Boggart is an Old English word, derived from the word pucel meaning Puck, which is a common name for a fairy or sprite here in the UK, but has its origins within Celtic languages such as Welsh, Irish, Cornish and Scottish, as well as the Old Norse, who had a big influence on Britain through a close location and the Viking invasions during the medieval times. But the actual word Puck and its etymology is lost, which is terribly sad - but we know it as fairy over here, and has been immortalised by Shakespere using it for the name of his mischievous hobgoblin in his play Midsummer Night’s Dream. I did say there were other names for this monster elsewhere in the UK too, such as Boggle in Scotland, puca in Irish and bwga in Welsh - all meaning the same thing.
In terms of history, this one is a little more complicated. The first mention I could find of a Boggart was a picture drawn in 1851, however, Boggarts are a type of household spirit, which we would link to a hobgoblin. Hobgoblins have been around in English folklore from about 1530, but to be honest, they were most likely around much longer through word of mouth to even make it into text of any kind. Therefore, we can make around the same time assumption with Boggarts too.
Before we go into some stories about Boggarts, we need to circle back to the location aspect and how their geography impacted their existence at the time. In the 1500’s, England was in the Tudor times with Henry 8th on the throne. Most of the country is debating whether to be Catholic or the newly created Protestant religion, but most importantly - this monster is Northern English. Back in the 1500’s, a lot of the land was still moors, marshes and swamps up from the midlands all to as far as the borders of Scotland - making this land uninhabitable, and useful for labourers such as pitch farmers. Some of these marshes still exist, but most have now been rectified for housing. With the amount of inhabitable and unsafe land, especially for children, it makes sense that these monsters were most prevalent within these areas as a deterrent to curious children who could easily drown within this environment, with no hope of rescue. The biggest area that we have now are the actual Fens within Lincolnshire, which is in the East Midlands, but the Boggart myth seems to still be very prevalent in the North in Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Now for some Boggart stories; I have two of them and they are very fun. The first is of the Farmer and the Boggart, which is from Lincolnshire and talks of a farmer coming to a deal with a Boggart that he can choose the part of the crop that grows below or above the ground of his farm. The Boggart first chooses the part below the ground, and so the farmer plants barley - leaving the Boggart within nothing but stubble. The second time, the Boggart chooses above, the farmer plants potatoes - leaving the Boggart with nothing. Lastly, the Boggart and the farmer come to an accord with a wheat field, with the farmer telling the Boggart he can have half the field if he reaps it. However, the farmer planted iron rods throughout the Boggart’s half, which blunts his scythe and the farmer reaps the lot.
The second story is of the Grizlehurst Boggart, which is from Lancashire. This was from an elderly couple who were interviewed by an author in the 1860’s, and told him that a Boggart was buried at a bend in the road near their house alongside a cockerel with a stake driven through it. Even though it was dead and buried, it still caused havoc, including smashing doors at night, laughing loudly and three blue candles lit outside with two red glowing eyes looking at the woman. They would find cloven hoof marks in the grass the next day and they claimed that the Boggart also released their horse and overturned the cart on occasion too. The old man stressed that no one should ever name the Boggart and that he would never dig near its grave.
For comparisons, we can certainly link this to poltergeists, especially with this last story, however, the link to a boogeyman figure is also quite prevalent due to the swamp warning nature of this story. Probably the most relevant one we can link them to though is fairies, goblins and brownies - all of which come under the traditional fae from English folklore. This is quite common around Europe as well as the UK, with tales such as Rumplestiltskin coming from Germany as a Grimm tale - but you can definitely see the fairy influence with the names as well as the general household nuisance of the brownies and goblins.
There are a few English boogeymen like the Boggart that haunt places, such as Black Annis in the Midlands, Jenny Greenteeth or Peg Powler - acting as deterrents to the dangerous landscapes they haunt for children and travellers, and the Boggart is no exception. We’ll cover all of these others, but I did a Black Annis episode not too long ago if you want to check out more on this figure.
There’s not really a real life comparison to this one, I can’t think of anything other than spooky poltergeists that could be linked to this - and even they are debatable within the ghost and paranormal communities, but it’s a good little comparison in the loosest terms of confirmed existing things!
For a bit of real life facts though, there are a few places in England named after Boggarts, such as Boggart Hole Clough in Manchester - which is a park. This has a Boggart story attached, that a local farmer and his family were forced to leave their home due to Boggart torment, and when they tried to leave - they heard the Boggart within their possessions and knew they would never escape, so they went back and lived with it. The place is still famous for Boggart sightings even now.
There also are Boggart stones on the Saddleworth Moors, which are unfortunately famous for the Moors Murders, and one of the bodies was discovered right next to the stones. There’s a Boggart bridge in Burnley, Lancashire, Boggle Hole in Scarborough, which was the name of a local hobgoblin and used by smugglers, and lastly on Puck - one of the moons of Uranus, there’s a crater called Bogle and the rest of the system is named after mischievous spirits from folklore too!
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Now onto modern media, there are barely any for Boggarts themselves but the few that they are in are big deals. However, I’ve put in some nasty household sprite media too, feels specific but it’s the best match for this!
For art, there are very few images of Boggarts that are not independent, even though they are quite old - but there are some fantastic D&D inspired artwork pieces of them, so do check them out!
In movies, we have; Seventh Son, Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Spiderwick Chronicles & Winnie the Pooh.
For TV, we have; Kamen Rider Wizard, One Piece, Dead Like Me, Fairly Odd Parents, Rocko’s Modern Life, South Park, Teen Titans Go!, The Treacle People & Hilda.
In video games, we have ones such as; Hogwarts Legacy, LEGO Harry Potter, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, The Witcher, The Sims, Pokemon, Touhou Project & Yo-Kai Watch.
My book recommendation this week is for A Treasury of British Folklore: Maypoles, Mandrakes and Mistletoe by Dee Dee Chainey which is one of my favourites for British folklore and Faeries, Elves and Goblins: The Old Stories by Rosalind Kerven for some more specific tales about fae in the UK.
DO I THINK THEY EXISTED?
Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? 1610
I’m honestly a bit unsure about this one, it might be because this one is a little closer to home, and we English are crazy about fae in certain circles. I grew up believing that fairies were very real, and that you should never answer your own name in a wooded area or step into a ring of mushrooms or flowers at the risk of annoying some fairies or brownies. So this one isn’t too far fetched for me - but I think the thing that keeps me thinking it’s a no is the sheer size of these monsters and how they look, they seem too big to be able to get away with, and I’m just picturing Hoggle from Labyrinth.
What I do like is the idea that way back when, that we would rather believe in a child-sized goblin breaking in and causing a ruckus rather than something like a poltergeist - I like to think that it’s because the English are still quite in touch with their Pagan roots somewhere, but it might just be because we’re traditional like that.
When I think of Boggarts, I think of Harry Potter because who doesn’t - but I also think of one of my favourite games of all time - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, as it’s all based around British and Celtic folklore and Boggarts are these wooded-masked little fellows who roll into you to attack, they’re cute until they poison you, but that’s what I think of.
But what do you think? Did the Boggart inhabit British houses and cause mischief? Let me know on Twitter!
OUTRO:
An interesting monster this week, that has been changed so recently to something completely different all through modern media - it’s a wild one, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.
Next week, we’re heading over to the US and looking at a cryptid that is the icon of a small town in Wisconsin, yes - it’s the Hodag! Get ready to learn all about this weird local legend next Thursday!
For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.
Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.
But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.