Boggart
From Free net encyclopedia
- For boggarts from the Harry Potter novels, see boggart (Harry Potter).
In Celtic mythology, a boggart (or bogart, bogan, bogle or boggle) is a household spirit, sometimes mischievous, sometimes helpful. In Northern England, at least, there was the belief that the boggart should never be named, as when the boggart was given a name, it would not be reasoned with or persuaded and become uncontrollable and destructive.
The Boggart is a very mischievous type of ghost from the north of England. The Boggart crawls into peoples bed at night and puts a clammy hand on their face. Sometimes he strips the bedsheets off them. Sometimes they also pull on a persons ears. A horseshoe hung on the door of the house will keep a Boggart away.
It is also an agricultural goblin, responsible for missing impliments on the farm. This is why today the word boggart is a verb meaning to steal, to take more than one's fair share, or to refuse to share.
There is a large municipal park called 'Boggart Hole Clough,' which is bordered by Moston and Blackley in Manchester, England. 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 are said to be haunted by Boggarts. Supposed mysterious disappearances over the years, particularly in the early 19th century, were often attributed to the Boggart of the Clough.
On Puck, a moon of Uranus, there is a crater named "Bogle," in deference to the system of nomenclature on this satellite, whose features are all named after various mischievous spirits.
In the 1960's an incorrect origin of the word boggart surfaced, based on the actor Humphry Bogart smoking a cigarette down to the end without sharing it in the movie Casablanca.