Is ‘The Boogeyman’ Based on a True Story? (2024)

Imagine this; you're a child and terrified to sleep at night because of the monster hiding under your bed or in your closet. You run and jump into your bed and dive under the covers after you turn off the light so he doesn't get you. You're careful not to let your foot hang off the bed so its grimy claws don't wrap around your ankle and pull you under and into the unknown. Adults and children alike unanimously know what this creature is, and its name is the Boogeyman. The nighttime terror that is the Boogeyman is widely known across many different cultures, with lore dating back to the 15th century. But is the Boogeyman just lore, or is any of his presence based on true stories?

RELATED: 'The Boogeyman' Review: Rob Savage's Horror Turns Stephen King Into 'Stranger Things'

Where Did Stephen King's 'The Boogeyman' Come From?

The highly anticipated Stephen King short story adaptation TheBoogeyman will hit theaters on June 2, and this won't be the first movie using the Boogeyman as the thing that terrorizes a family. In Rob Savage's version of King's short story, two sisters are dealing with the aftermath of evil. Their father's patient shows up at their door one day and leaves an evil presence that plans to wreak as much havoc as possible and feed off the fear that the family is experiencing. That presence is the Boogeyman. Stephen King originally published The Boogeyman in 1973 in Cavalier magazine and then again in 1978 in a short story collection titled The Night Shift. King's mind is incredibly unique, and he draws inspiration from real life as well as fictionalized work, but The Boogeyman is a work of fiction and not based on a true story.

What Is the Lore Behind the Boogeyman?

While it could date back further than the 15th century in other cultures, the creature known as bogeyman in Middle English means a frightening spectacle, and it has been scaring many for years. It is thought that the hobgoblins were the first mention of the boogeyman, and those are creatures that torment humans in England. The origin of the myth of the boogeyman is hard to track down as there are so many variations of the boogeyman across different cultures, but the impact of frightening children is strong across each. In Mexican culture, their version is a woman in a white dress known as La Llorona who steals children. The Bubak is the Czech version and is represented as a water spirit that can take on many different forms and entice adults and children alike.

In Australia, the Yar-ma-yha-who looks like a frog with bright red fur. In Spain, if a child is disobedient, Hombre del Saco steals children and puts them in a sack to sell or eat them. Namahage is the Japanese version that will take bad children away on New Year's Eve. No matter what culture you grew up in, the boogeyman was always there. Even though the shape, color, and presentation change across cultures, one thing remains the same: The boogeyman is there to punish or capture children. The lore was perpetuated as a way to get children to behave and remain obedient to their parents and essentially became divided into three different categories. There are the ones that punish misbehaving children, the ones that are violent towards or eat children, and the ones that protect the innocent.

What Horror Movies Has the Boogeyman Been In?

In horror movie culture, the boogeyman is the perfect entity to create fear and worry in unsuspecting viewers. Majority of movies lean into the category of being a violent boogeyman who will try to kidnap, possess, murder, or eat (or all of the above) the children or families in the movie. Since many of us have already grown up with the idea that there is a boogeyman, even if it's fake, a movie exposing those fears will be highly successful. Horror films have created some of the most well-known and diverse landscapes of boogeymen. Michael Myers is one of the most well-known boogeymen in pop culture. He stalks, he creeps, and he kills before you can even wrap your brain around what is happening.

In the Halloween films, Myers is often referred to as "the Boogeyman." Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On Elm Street is another slasher that can be considered a boogeyman because of his need to kill while his victims are fast asleep. Krueger really leans into the "hiding under your bed and in your dreams" narrative that parents push onto their kids. The boogeyman even crept into the animated world as Oogie Boogie in A Nightmare Before Christmas. Oogie Boogie is more of a traditional representation of what many believe the boogeyman to look like and fits perfectly into the Halloween theme of the movie. One of the more recent terrifying takes on a boogeyman would be Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King's novel It and the subsequent miniseries, and two movies. Pennywise takes many different forms and terrorizes children in the most maniacal ways.

Stephen King Loves the Film Adaptation

Savage's The Boogeyman already has everyone buzzing about how scary his adaptation of King's short story is. In an interview with Empire, Savage even mentioned how he received an email from King saying he couldn't stop thinking about his version. His short story was the inspiration, but he kept his involvement with the writing process to a minimum so Savage and his team could make their own thing, and that vision of The Boogeyman is being hailed as incredibly terrifying and chock-full of jump scares. This is perfect for the release being theatrically and not just on streaming, and writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods could not be more excited that it will be able to be viewed in all its glory on the big screen. The Boogeyman may not be real or based on a true event, but that doesn't mean that it won't make you think twice while in a dark room.

Be sure to check out The Boogeyman in your local theaters on June 2.