Exactly what the title says it is.
This is adapted from Monsters and Villains of the Movies and Literature by Gerrie McCall, Dragons: Fearsome Monsters from Myth and Fiction by Gerrie McCall, and Mythical Monsters by Chris McNab.
All the information...
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EYES: Large, dark and bulbous, the boogeyman's eyes are adapted to coping with the low light levels found under the bed and inside bedroom closets.
NOSE: This is wide and flat, ideal for sniffing out young victims. FINGERNAILS: Long and terrifyingly sharp, these weapons rip through bedclothes to reach petrified victims cowering underneath. SKIN: The boogeyman's skin is covered in warts and boils he is keen to pass on. If you've got a wart, the boogeyman might have paid you a visit.
Once you switch off the bedroom light at night, your room suddenly turns into an unfamiliar place of strange shapes and eerie sounds. This is the domain of the boogeyman. One of the most common and widely feared monsters of North America, he's most likely to appear when you're in bed asleep. Angry parents sometimes threaten their children with a visit from this ogre.
A young boy lies in bed, too frightened to move as moonlight streaks through the curtains and throws eerie shadows across his blankets. His big brother had warned him that the boogeyman would get him if he was naughty. He had seen his brother dressing up as a monster for a Halloween party, and so he expects to get a scary visit. Then out of the corner of his eye, he notices a shadowy form taking shape in the light streaming from a widening gap in the doorway. The door fully opens and there appears a gigantic form silhouetted against the light. Convinced that his brother is playing a trick, the boy throws back the covers and leaps on the bed to confront him. "Stop it! It's not funny," the boy screams. But, relentlessly, the figure shuffles closer. As the mysterious form looms over his bed, the boy begins to wonder if it really is his brother after all...
DID YOU KNOW? American communities often give the boogeyman local names such as "The Shape," "Rawhead Rex," and "The Hook."
The word "boogeyman" may have come from Scotland, where mischievous goblins are called bogles, bogeys, and boggarts.
There is a boogeywoman who haunts the midwestern USA, where she scratches on bedroom windows to scare small children. England also has a boogeywoman tale. Jenny Greenteeth haunts the county of Lancashire UK, where she preys on children who play too close to streams and ponds. Green slime on the water's surface is taken as a sign of her presence.
