| 1 | %%% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings! |
| 4 | %% |
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| 6 | |
| 7 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michael_whelan_boogeyman.jpeg]] |
| 8 | [[caption-width-right:300:[[https://www.michaelwhelan.com/galleries/boogeyman/ Crrrreeeeaaakkk...]]]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ->''"Bart! I don’t want to alarm you, but there may be a Boogeyman or Boogey[=MEN=] in the house!"'' |
| 11 | -->-- '''Homer Simpson''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | The [[OurMonstersAreDifferent monster]] living in your closet. The [[OurMonstersAreWeird creature]] lurking in the shadows underneath your bed. The thing hiding in your [[CreepyBasement basement]]. The guy who begins scratching his long, ''razor-sharp'' nails on your windowpane the instant you draw the curtains and turn out the lights. The guy that...[[Main/SelfDemonstratingArticle sorry if I'm getting too scary.]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | So just remember that the Boogeyman, the Golems, or the Oni is and are right there. In your closet. Under your bed. In the dark. At night. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | '''[[NightmareFuel Waiting]].''' |
| 18 | |
| 19 | There might be [[WhoYouGonnaCall somebody you can call]], but if not, just stay [[SafeUnderBlankets under the covers]]. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Often found in concert with an IronicNurseryTune. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused]] with being kept awake at night by your neighbors having noisy fun. Or with MonsterCloset, a video game trope about hidden enemies. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | See also NeverSleepAgain, MentalMonster, PoorlyLitPareidolia, SleepParalysisCreature. |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | !!The Boogeyman |
| 26 | [[folder:Description]] |
| 27 | The most infamous of these entities would be the one simply known as "the Boogeyman." (Also spelled "Bogeyman," "Boogieman," "Boogey Man,", etc.) Who or what this entity is varies wildly with time and culture. (See below under Mythology and Folklore) Sometimes there are several boogeymen, but usually, there's only one. He's also usually affiliated with [[FearTropes fear in general]], and terrorizing children specifically. Sometimes, he's just another TTGBITN. Sometimes, he's the [[TheDreaded scariest of them all]], and might be shown to be their leader. And ''sometimes,'' he may even be depicted as the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification physical incarnation]] of [[MadeOfEvil fear itself.]] So, when you're told not to be scared of the Boogeyman and that the only thing to fear is fear itself... You are almost really being told that you ''should'' fear him. His weaknesses also vary, though a common one is being repelled by light and/or needing to feed on the darkness in the farthest corners of your bedroom. He or his monster friends may be content to show up in some level of light, so long as said light is as [[EvilIsNotWellLit dimly-lit as can be]].\ |
| 28 | |
| 29 | |
| 30 | The Boogeyman, also known as the Bogeyman, is a recurring figure in folklore and urban legends across various cultures. This elusive and malevolent entity preys on children, lurking in the shadows and under beds, waiting to strike fear into their hearts. Its appearances and characteristics vary drastically across households and cultures. Most commonly, the Boogeyman is depicted as a masculine or androgynous monster that punishes children for misbehavior. These are a few of the Things That Go "Bump" in the Night. They are ''very'' real when you are six or seven years old, and even after you've (supposedly) grown up and moved far, far away... well, they're still back there somewhere. |
| 31 | |
| 32 | |
| 33 | The word is also known as “bogeyman” in England. Boogeymen trace back to Middle English, where they were known as “bugge” or “bogge,” meaning a “frightening spectre.” The concept of the Boogeyman likely predates the 15th century, making it an ancient and enduring figure in human imagination. Similar monsters exist in various cultures worldwide. These creatures may target specific acts of misbehavior or general disobedience. Often, invoking the Boogeyman serves as a warning from authority figures to children. Beyond its literal existence, the Boogeyman symbolizes fear—the universal emotion that transcends age and borders. It reminds us that fear is a fundamental part of the human experience. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | |
| 36 | And of course, while often he doesn't care who's naughty or nice and goes after all kids, another common component of his legend is that he targets only the naughty ones, such as [[BrattyHalfPint brats]] and [[TheBully bullies]], [[KarmicTrickster as punishment]]. Sometimes, this makes him a [[CreepyGood benevolent force]] merely looking to [[WellIntentionedExtremist rid the world of nasty kids]]. Other times, he is a [[KnightTemplar self-righteous]] flavor of [[StealthPun monster]]. If the former, then it tends to result in a [[{{Anvilicious}} none-too-subtle]] [[AnAesop aesop]] on why [[ScareEmStraight being a good little boy or girl is so important]]. If the latter, then the "naughty" children may be depicted as [[NaughtyIsGood champions of freedom.]]\ |
| 37 | |
| 38 | What he does to the kids that he or his monsters [[UnusualEuphemism "get"]] is also rather inconsistent, ranging from [[PeekABogeyman simply frightening them and then leaving them be]] all the way up to [[ImAHumanitarian eating]] [[ChildEater them]].\ |
| 39 | |
| 40 | Even his basic physical appearance is never consistent. He can go from a [[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy green goblin man]] to a [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls fuzzy pink beast]] to [[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians merely a pale man in black]]. He almost never looks the same, so if he has a [[ThisWasHisTrueForm true form]], it's probably unknown, again, making him creepier. Even TheGrimReaper and {{Satan}} have stereotypical appearances: a [[InTheHood robed]] [[DemBones skeleton]] wielding a [[SinisterScythe scythe]] and a [[BigRedDevil red-skinned humanoid]] [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils king]] with [[HornedHumanoid horns]], [[DevilsPitchfork a pitchfork]], and a [[PrehensileTail spaded tail]]. But the Boogeyman? Nothing.\ |
| 41 | |
| 42 | All of which perhaps makes him even scarier: how much ''[[NothingIsScarier mystery]]'' there is to this entity. With most legendary spectres, from {{Dracula}} to the HeadlessHorseman, their appearance, modus operandi, backstory and so forth are known. But so little about the Boogeyman is fixed that it can make his role as the embodiment of terror itself all the more effective. His moral alignment can shift from a vicious predator to a [[DarkIsNotEvil benign being]] or at least [[NecessarilyEvil one who supplies the world with its fear]] [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil in order to prevent]] [[BetterTheDevilYouKnow something worse]] from happening. In the end, [[TheSpook so little about him is known]] that he may be the most mysterious monster ever conjured up by the human imagination. |
| 43 | Whatever the case, if you're a child about to go to bed at night, ''especially'' one that's been bad... Watch out. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | ----- |
| 47 | !!Other examples |
| 48 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 49 | |
| 50 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 51 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRbn72gu_NQ One PSA]] against [[AbusiveParents child abuse]] uses this with a darker twist. A little boy looks under his bed and at his closet, seeing cartoon monsters. The narrator informs us that the real monsters [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters aren't under the bed or in the closet]]. [[spoiler:And then his father walks in.]] |
| 52 | * [[https://youtu.be/rXz49qUpxPE A Polaroid]] commercial sees a boy use the titular camera to try and prove that there's no monster under the bed. Turns out there is. |
| 53 | * A Advertising/{{Progressive}} Insurance commercial has a little kid calls for his parents in the night because he's scared but they assure him that there's no monsters hiding under his bed or in the closet, and he says that ''they'' said "they're always watching" but they clarify that they were talking about 24/7 protection from Progressive and leave him in the dark. When they've left, Flo comes out of his closet and says she was just checking his wiring. And then a ''real'' monster comes out from under the bed, but apparently isn't there to scare him and observes that the kid must be stressed over something else. |
| 54 | * [=TurboTax=] did [[https://youtu.be/iBrtf-AweF4 a series]] [[https://youtu.be/nEKnpTV7nzw of]] [[https://youtu.be/ixD_J1pBwk0 commercials]] invovling seemingly scary monsters who turn out to be rather friendly. |
| 55 | * An Advertising/NJMInsurance commericial spoofs this by having a ''mascot'' under a kid's bed, the mascot being for Behemoth Insurance. When the kid's mother assures her that she doesn't need to worry about the mascot because they have NJM Insurance, which doesn't use gimmicks, the kid asks the monster "What's a gimmick?" to which he replies "Me... apparently." |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Audio Plays]] |
| 59 | * ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': Zagreus, a figure from Gallifreyan nursery rhymes, is this sort of thing: |
| 60 | -->Zagreus lives among the dead\ |
| 61 | Zagreus lives inside your head\ |
| 62 | Zagreus sees you in your bed\ |
| 63 | And eats you when you're sleeping. |
| 64 | [[/folder]] |
| 65 | |
| 66 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 67 | * ''ComicBook/AndThenEmilyWasGone'' has "Bonnie Shaw", a bogeyman who takes away children after their parents [[DealWithTheDevil make deals with it]]. |
| 68 | * ''ComicBook/TheCloset2022'': The creature hiding in Jamie's closet in the apartment in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity is some pitch black HumanoidAbomination that barely looks taller than Jamie does. Still, Jamie fears it with his very being. [[TheProtagonist Thom]] assures Jamie that, since they're moving to Portland, he'll be far away from the closet and never have to worry about it again. [[spoiler:At the end of Issue #2, [[CruelTwistEnding the closet appears in Mack's house, and the creature drags Jamie away into it]].]] |
| 69 | * ''ComicBook/CourtneyCrumrinAndTheNightThings'': The titular Night Things are varied and diverse, ranging from [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]] to TheFairFolk, but Tommy Rawhead and Bloody Bones ''is'' the absolute boogeyman (including his ability to hide in tiny dark places where he wouldn't normally fit). |
| 70 | * ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'': In the spoof of ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', there's a xenomorph lurking under Ripley's hospital bed in the CatapultNightmare scene. |
| 71 | * ''ComicBook/MoonKnight'' hunts a monster like this in one issue, a [[FairFolk Fair Folk]] who uses magic to crawl into our world from under children's beds. Particularly frightening, since it does so in order to literally ''[[ChildEater eat]]'' children in their beds. And it looks like [[http://ftg.operationsupplydrop.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MOON-KNIGHT-PG2.png this]]. [[NightmareFuel Yeah]]. Even worse [[spoiler: it's [[TheChosenOne a chosen avatar of Khonshu]], just like Moon Knight. This makes it clear to Marc that Khonshu isn't quite the odd but benevolent being he thought it was and is instead [[BlueAndOrangeMorality a strange creature with twisted morality]].]] |
| 72 | * ''ComicBook/{{Spook}}'' begins with the ghost Kurylenko attacking dignitaries from NATO with no one understanding why or what is happening to them. This attack kicks off the rest of the story which focuses on CIA officers searching for the boogeyman. |
| 73 | * ''Webcomic/SupernaturalLaw'': Subverted. The monster under the bed is inoffensive and the kid is a horrible brat who took a baseball bat to it. |
| 74 | * ''ComicBook/WayOfX'': It's shown that the mutant children on Krakoa have a new bogeyman: a being that lives in their dreams called the Patchwork Man. [[spoiler:The second issue reveals that it's actually '''Onslaught'''.]] |
| 75 | [[/folder]] |
| 76 | |
| 77 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 78 | * ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'': [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Binkley]]'s Closet of Anxieties is full of monsters, the most visible one being the Giant Purple Snorklewhacker, a purple, green-spotted monster with a rhino-like horn: as the strip goes on, this concept is expanded. Once Binkley is old enough to worry about more mature problems, avatars of said fears show up in the closet with the monsters, sometimes scaring the monsters themselves. For instance, in one strip, the Snorklewhacker gives Binkley a choice between a convention of ''PM Magazine'' hosts, Jesse Helms explaining at length why Martin Luther King Jr. was a communist, or a huge, Binkley-eating python. Binkley opts for the python, saying, "[[TakeThat Heck, I'm no glutton for punishment]]". Eventually the fear closets of other characters are also shown. |
| 79 | * ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin often has to battle under-the-bed monsters, never fully depicted but often shown as alien, tentacled... ''things'', never seen except for their eyes and occasional claws looming out of the shadows. One of the comic's strip collections is even titled ''Something Under the Bed Is Drooling''. Luckily, they're also not very smart; they'll leave Calvin alone if he leaves garbage under the bed for them to eat -- much to his parents' chagrin -- and their poor bluffing caused their ambushes to fail on [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/03/02 two]] [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/04/03 separate]] occasions. The collection ''The Essential Calvin and Hobbes'' contains an original poem (with some fantastic, if terrifying, illustrations) called "A Nauseous Nocturne," about such a monster attacking Calvin at night, but then getting [[HorrifyingTheHorror scared away]] by a sleeping Hobbes. |
| 80 | -->''Suddenly the monster knows I'm not alone! There's an animal in bed with me! An awful beast he did not see! The monster never would have come if he had known!'' |
| 81 | * ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': Gary Larson often used this trope: |
| 82 | ** One strip plugs a "Monster Snorkel", which lets you breathe under your bed-covers without exposing even an inch of skin to attack, demonstrated by a child using it to hide from a wolfman and a spiky dinosaur-thing. In the introduction to one of his strip collections, Larson notes that one of the monsters above the blanket (the wolf) is one of his own childhood boogeymen. He also tells how his older brother hid in his (Gary's) closet one night and sloooowly slid open the door... |
| 83 | ** Another strip features two boogeymen frightened by the possibility that there may be something lurking on ''top'' of the bed. |
| 84 | ** Another one invokes the trope in the title, and featured a boogeyman knocking his head on the top of the door frame while trying to sneak into the kid's room. |
| 85 | ** Parodied in one with a couple investigating a strange noise downstairs and finding a horrible towering monster... and being relieved, because it's "just Kevin" having a midnight snack. |
| 86 | ** One strip shows a monster eating breakfast with his wife and saying, "Dang! Look at the time! ... And I gotta be in little Billy Harrison's closet before nightfall!" |
| 87 | ** And one where the kid checks his closet, and it's empty for the moment.. except for the monster's chair, magazine, snacks, etc. |
| 88 | ** One nighttime monster is literally indescribable... because it's wearing a paper bag (with horn holes) [[BrownBagMask over its head]] to make sure the kid it's scaring can't actually describe it to his mother. |
| 89 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': In one series of strips, Snoopy starts to develop a fear of the dark, driving Charlie Brown nuts: |
| 90 | -->'''Charlie Brown:''' Don't tell me you're afraid of the things that go bump in the night?\ |
| 91 | '''Snoopy:''' I'm not afraid of things that go "bump" in the night, what shakes me up are the things that go... ''ARRRGGHH!!!'' ''(Cue JumpScare at Charlie Brown.)'' |
| 92 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'': One strip features Jeremy's childhood boogeyman -- a small, purple bogey with a rhino horn -- having upgraded his scare tactics to cater to more "adult" fears. As an example, he pulls out an image of Jeremy's girlfriend Sara saying "Let's just be friends." |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Fairy Tales]] |
| 96 | * Played with in Creator/TheBrothersGrimm fairy tale "The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear" (aka "The Youth who Could Not Shudder"). The titular youth had never figured out the concept of fear, so when he ends up spending three nights in a haunted castle full of things that really ''do'' go bump in the night, and is completely unfazed by them; because of this, he breaks a long-standing curse, and [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets a happy ending]] (including finally figuring out what all this fear stuff was about). |
| 97 | [[/folder]] |
| 98 | |
| 99 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 100 | * ''Fanfic/TheCrystalCourt'': Steven's magic, which he has little control over, causes his belief to warp reality around him, which results in things such as monsters appearing under his bed and in his closet. |
| 101 | * ''Fanfic/StarWarsGalacticFolkloreAndMythology'': The Voice-Taker is an undead creature from Sullustan folktales with an oversized mouth and a beard of flies and maggots, who steals away the voices of rude or noisy children. |
| 102 | * ''Fanfic/TheTwoSeers'': After Camilio has a run in with Mirabel for the first time in years in the family kitchen, he ends up creating an urban legend around the village based on her; "La Esmerelda", a witch with glowing green eyes that inflicts one's worst fear on them if she looks at them. |
| 103 | * ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12041130/1/Wet-Genius Wet Genius]]'': Lisa has a nightmare about the Boogeyman, which embarrasses her since she knows he isn't real. |
| 104 | [[/folder]] |
| 105 | |
| 106 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 107 | * ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Discussed when Gru tries to scare his three adoptive daughters by saying that there's probably "something" in their closet. It only really works on Agnes, the youngest. |
| 108 | * ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc1'' depicts this general situation from the monsters' point of view. In their world, they get their power via engines fueled by screams of fear, thus requiring them to scare children; a major plot point is that there is a power shortage due to this generation's kids being desensitized and harder to scare. |
| 109 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': |
| 110 | ** The opening sequence, which pans through Halloween Town to show its various ghoulish, ghostly, and long-leggety denizes, features a number of these, such as an unseen monster beneath a bed; a hulking, snake-fingered figure in a hallway closet, and an animated shadow passing over the moon. |
| 111 | --->I am the one hiding under your bed\ |
| 112 | Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!\ |
| 113 | I am the one hiding under your stairs\ |
| 114 | Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair.\ |
| 115 | \ |
| 116 | I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"\ |
| 117 | I am the wind blowing through your hair.\ |
| 118 | I am the shadow on the moon at night\ |
| 119 | Filling your dreams to the brim with fright! |
| 120 | ** The film's main antagonist, Oogie Boogie, is a sack man filled with terrible things, such as insects and snakes. He refers to himself as the Boogie Man once: |
| 121 | --->Oh, the sound of rollin' dice\ |
| 122 | To me is music in the air\ |
| 123 | 'Cause I'm a gamblin' Boogie Man\ |
| 124 | Although I don't play fair. |
| 125 | * ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'': The Boogeyman aka [[DarkIsEvil Pitch Black]] is the BigBad. In [[TheDarkTimes his heyday]], he wielded great power. Now, he is mad about being written off as just a bad dream and wants to restore his former glory and engulf the world in fear and darkness. |
| 126 | [[/folder]] |
| 127 | |
| 128 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 129 | * ''Film/Boogeyman2005'': The creature lives in the closet of [[TheProtagonist Tim]]'s childhood home, and took his father right in front of him. [[spoiler:Tim kills the Boogeyman by destroying the things from his childhood that gave him physical form.]] |
| 130 | %%* [[SimilarlyNamedWorks And]] ''Film/TheBoogeyman1980'' series of films. |
| 131 | %%* Along with Creator/{{Syfy}}'s [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie original movie]] ''Boogeyman''. |
| 132 | * ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'': Cesare has some aspects of this, a sinister, [[LooksLikeCesare bedraggled figure]] who sneaks into people's bedrooms at night. He's certainly very boogeymannish. |
| 133 | * ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron%27s_Closet Cameron's Closet]]'' has a murderous, demonic shapeshifting entity attempting to use the eponymous young boy's burgeoning PsychicPowers to manifest fully into our world... and is hinted at being [[EldritchAbomination something much worse]] than most boogeymen. |
| 134 | * ''Film/{{Candyman}}'': The Candyman is treated as a kind of boogieman by his "congregation" -- the people who fear him and continue to spread his legend. He also invokes real-world UrbanLegends like Bloody Mary (he is summoned by [[SpeakOfTheDevil saying his name]] into a mirror) and the HookHand campfire story. |
| 135 | * ''Film/DarknessFalls'' transforms the otherwise innocuous childhood mythological figure of the Toothfairy into one town's bogeyman, and one man's life-long nightmare. |
| 136 | * ''Film/DontBeAfraidOfTheDark'' (Creator/GuillermoDelToro seems fond of the trope) has its little horrors entirely too interested in young children sleeping in the mansion they call home. |
| 137 | * ''Film/DontLookUnderTheBed'': Boogeymen are what {{Imaginary Friend}}s become when their children stop believing in them. The main character is tormented by a boogeyman, who turns out to be [[spoiler: her [[ForgottenChildhoodFriend forgotten imaginary friend from her childhood]], seeking revenge for being abandoned]]. |
| 138 | * ''Film/TheFieldGuideToEvil'': In "The Sinful Women of Höllfall", the Trud is a monster that is attracted to sin. After Kathi's sexual liaison with Valerie, the Trud appears in her bedroom. |
| 139 | * Michael Myers, in the original ''Film/Halloween1978'', is repeatedly compared to the boogeyman, apparently unkillable, and deeply enigmatic. He also seems to particularly target teenagers who are transgressive against social norms. In a subversion of this particular trope, he doesn't show much if any interest in actual children. This changes in some of the later films in the franchise, with his [[EvilUncle targeting of his niece Jamie Lloyd]]. |
| 140 | * ''Film/{{Hellboy|2004}}'': |
| 141 | --> '''Professor Broom:''' There are things that go bump in the night, Agent Myers. And we are the ones who [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu bump back.]] |
| 142 | ** Tooth Fairies are given this treatment in ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'', depicted as [[TheSwarm a swarm]] of [[PiranhaProblem piranha]]-like fliers. As Prince Nuada puts it: "I will show you why you once feared the dark." |
| 143 | * ''Film/JeepersCreepers'' has the Creeper. A supernatural, cunning, and nigh unkillable predator. While it can operate in daylight easily enough it still has a lot of boogeyman like aspects to it, including a preference for children and teens. |
| 144 | * ''Film/LittleMonsters'' is based on this trope, though the monsters from the under-the-bed dimension are thrive more on mean-spirited pranks than scaring people. They're also apparently all children that followed a monster under the bed and stayed there for over a day. There's also some aspect of losing morality contributing to becoming a monster. |
| 145 | * ''Film/MonsterInTheCloset'' is a comedic riff on this idea, in which it is revealed that the indestructible eponymous entity [[spoiler:needs closets to survive, and the only way to kill it is to destroy every closet in the world]]. Also a pun. The compulsory TouchOfTheMonster moment is not with a woman but ''[[HoYay a man]]''! |
| 146 | * ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'': Briefly shows up when the {{Mummy}} is hiding in one kid's closet. His dad, [[AdultsAreUseless naturally]], doesn't believe him. |
| 147 | * ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet''. Freddy Krueger is a supernatural slasher villain who murders children and teenagers by [[YourMindMakesItReal stalking them in their dreams]]. His backstory features prominently in the local folklore as well, even making its way into an [[IronicNurseryTune eerie jumprope chant]]. |
| 148 | -->One, two, Freddy's coming for you... |
| 149 | * ''Film/{{Sinister}}'': The Babylonian deity Bughuul, which would kill entire families and steal their children to feed on their souls. He's also supposed to be the origin of the boogieman myth, hence the name. |
| 150 | * ''Film/TheSummerOfMassacre'': "Mr. Boogens" from the segment ''Son of the Boogyman'' is a fat, deformed and seemingly supernatural man who raped and impregnated a teenage girl, and has been stalking her ever since. Because, as he puts it, he's always wanted a son who he could "scare the living Hell out of!" |
| 151 | %%* ''Film/{{They}}'' milks this trope for every last drop it's worth.%%ZCE |
| 152 | [[/folder]] |
| 153 | |
| 154 | [[folder:Jokes]] |
| 155 | * When the Boogeyman goes to sleep at night, he [[HorrifyingTheHorror checks his own closet]] for Creator/ChuckNorris. And when Chuck Norris goes to sleep, ''he'' checks for Creator/ChristopherWalken (or, in some tellings, Creator/WillemDafoe). |
| 156 | * An old joke with many variations goes something like this: Little Billy screams out, "Dad! There's a monster under my bed!" The dad comes in, shoulders slumped, and said, "Son. There are no monsters under your bed. The real monsters are a wife who doesn't respect you, [[MeanBoss a boss who abuses you]], a job that dehumanizes you, and waking up to realize that's it for you, and no one will care when you're gone." Dad turns and walks away. Then a voice under the bed says, "Damn, is he OK, Billy? Go check in on him." |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 160 | !!Authors: |
| 161 | * In Creator/SeaburyQuinn's ''Jules De Grandin'' stories, the occult investigator Jules De Grandin fights these types of creatures like werewolves, vampires, ghosts, fake gods and demons on a regular basis (he was a contemporary of Lovecraft before the Cthulhu cycle became influential, so it's strictly traditional monsters here and no CosmicHorror). De Grandin mentions that these beings are manifestations of the worst attributes of humanity and are no match for the power of God. As such, they haunt isolated dark places like swamps and cherry-pick their victims for someone who's weak and vulnerable. |
| 162 | * Many bogeymen appear or are referenced in Creator/StephenKing's stories: |
| 163 | ** ''Literature/NightShift'': In the short story "The Boogeyman", a grown-up tells his psychologist about the closet-dwelling entity which killed his children, one by one. (Or rather [[spoiler:what he ''thinks'' is his psychologist...]]) This trope is also visited in a subplot in King's novel ''Literature/{{Cujo}}''. |
| 164 | ** ''Literature/TheLangoliers'': The titular monsters begin as a boogeyman story but, well... okay, they're not real, but there are real monsters that get named after them. |
| 165 | %%** ''Literature/TheTommyknockers'': Although they're rather different from the legends. |
| 166 | ** ''Literature/SalemsLot'': The master vampire takes the appearance of one of the characters' childhood bogeyman. |
| 167 | ** ''Literature/DumaKey'' features Charley, created by the nanny to tease the children and who later takes on a life of his own, and the "Big Boy", a much more [[spoiler: literal and dangerous one, created by Perse to keep the Eastlakes on the island]]. |
| 168 | ** ''Literature/{{IT}}'': [[MonsterClown Pennywise the Dancing Clown]] is actually [[spoiler: a shapeshifting EldritchAbomination]], but often acts as a boogeyman of sorts when stalking and killing its young victims, either enjoying terrorizing them as it stalks and kills them or [[EmotionEater feeding on their fear]] as much as it [[ChildEater feeds on their flesh]], or both. |
| 169 | ** In several of King's works, the term "allamagoosalum" is applied to these types of creatures. |
| 170 | * Creator/HPLovecraft: The original Arabic title for ''The Necronomicon'' was ''Al Azif.'' Roughly translated, it simply means "weird noise", but Lovecraft styled it to mean "that nocturnal sound (made by insects) supposed to be the howling of demons." Basically, ''Al Azif'' is the sound Things make when they Go Bump In The Night. |
| 171 | * Creator/SpikeMilligan's poem: |
| 172 | -->Things That Go Bump In The Night\ |
| 173 | Should really not give one a fright.\ |
| 174 | It's the hole in each ear\ |
| 175 | That lets in the fear\ |
| 176 | That, and the absence of light. |
| 177 | |
| 178 | !!Individual works: |
| 179 | * ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'': Grendel sneaks into the feasthall at night and eats people in their sleep. Because he lives in the swamp and hates music and dancing, he's associated with darkness, the primal, and the subhuman, making him a classic boogeyman. |
| 180 | * ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf'': |
| 181 | ** ''Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters'': Plenty. ''My Little Brother is a Monster'' has a monster come out of the closet ''and'' one that turns up at the window (though averted in that case, since Keegle Farzym is friendly), ''Momster in the Closet'' (which may or may not be just imaginary), the title character of ''The Thing That Goes Burp in the Night'' (which lurks in their basement), and the title character of the poem ''The Bogeyman''. |
| 182 | ** ''Bruce Coville's Book of Nightmares II'': The poem ''It Came from the Closet'' revolves around a boy explaining to his dad that a monster lives in his closet. It ate a bunch of stuff, including his clothes... which is why he's naked as he tells his dad this. |
| 183 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 184 | ** Bogeymen are a species of creature which like to hide behind doors or under beds or in cellars, and, due to ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve being in full power on the Discworld, exist explicitly because children think that they do -- if a child is convinced firmly enough that monsters might lurk in dark corners, then the big hairy things from their imagination will indeed be present in the dark, scary places of their house. They can be defeated with the knowledge that they don't know anything under a blanket exists. INCLUDING THEMSELVES. |
| 185 | --->"Existential uncertainty", Angua said. "He doesn't know whether he exists or not. It's cruel, I know, but it's the only thing we've found that works against bogeymen. Blue fluffy blanket, for preference." She noted Cheery's blank expression. "Look, bogeymen go away if you put your head under the blankets. Everyone knows that, don't they? So if you put ''their'' head under a blanket..." |
| 186 | *** They're occasionally not-seen on the streets, hiding behind their door. They're entirely capable of lifting one off its hinges and walking off with it. |
| 187 | *** A fireplace poker also works, in a pinch -- beating bogeymen senseless with a stout length of iron happens to be Susan sto Helit's preferred method of dealing with child-scaring bogey. |
| 188 | ** This trope also manifests itself in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', when the Tooth Fairy's tower defends itself with things that scared the robbers when they were kids. [[spoiler:Makes sense, since the original Tooth Fairy started life as the ''original'' Bogeyman, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of the fear of the unknown, of the darkness inside caves and of the beasts out in the night that haunted the dreams of proto-humans.]] |
| 189 | * ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': ''Many'' things go bump in the night. Fortunately, the titular wizard detective goes ''[[KillItWithFire fwoosh]]'' right back. In ''Literature/SkinGame'' Little Maggie proudly tells her father that there had once been a monster under her bed but she and Mouse "slayerized" it. Given the setting maybe he should take her literally.%%** The short story "Zoo Day" confirms that she wasn't kidding.%%How? |
| 190 | * In ''Literature/{{Fudge}}'', Fudge believes there are monsters in his room and has his parents spray fake "monster spray" to get rid of them. |
| 191 | * ''Literature/FungusTheBogeyman'': Bogeys are green-skinned, orc-like creatures that love filth and decay and view scaring humans as [[PunchClockVillain just a job]]. Their culture also has BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad and BizarroUniverse elements. |
| 192 | * Creator/RobertSheckley's scifi short "Ghost V" is about two troubleshooters hired to investigate the bizarre events on a far-off planet; they belatedly realize that the planet brings your subconscious imaginings to life, and so they have to spend the entire return trip to Earth battling the bogeymen of their shared childhood. They finally [[spoiler:survive by, yes, hiding under the blankets on their bunks.]] |
| 193 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'' Boggarts in the books like to hide under beds, closets, and cupboards, and take on the appearance of the victim's deepest, darkest fear. |
| 194 | * ''How to Potty Train Your Monster'': Inverted. Humans [[BenevolentMonster keep monsters as pets]], but juvenile monsters, even if they have an owner, sometimes worry about humans under their beds at night. |
| 195 | * ''Literature/{{Incryptid}}'': Boogymen are a type of cryptid related to humans. They like living underground and in confined spaces (like closets) and are known for playing JumpScare pranks on people but are otherwise harmless. |
| 196 | * Played with in ''I Need My Monster'', in which the main character ''likes'' having a monster (named Gabe) under his bed and when Gabe goes fishing and other monsters try to sub for him, he berates them for not being scary enough (with the exception of one, who he [[GirlsHaveCooties rejects for being female]]). In its sequel, ''Hey, That's My Monster'', his sister gets a monster of her own. |
| 197 | * In the horror novel ''Literature/{{Jago}}'', a town is afflicted with a force that causes people's fears and obsessions to come to life. Jeremy is afraid of an Evil Dwarf that he believes hides in his room and comes out after the light is switched off, and will try to suck his brain out of his skull if he doesn't hide under the covers. When it manifests, he actually doesn't have too much trouble defeating it, because it's actually a bit ridiculous when it appears in clearly visible physical form instead of as a vague possibility lurking in the dark -- and also because by then he's had several experiences that were far more terrifying. |
| 198 | * In ''Little Monster and Little Boy Ugly'', a family of monsters live under the bed of a human boy, who they dub "Little Boy Ugly" because they think he looks grotesque and find it gross that he [[EmbarrassingDampSheets wets the bed]]. Despite their dislike of him, they're mostly harmless and don't do anything more than scare him. |
| 199 | * [[Literature/NightlandersACyberpunkFairytale Nightlanders :: A Cyberpunk Fairytale]]: The 'things that go bump in the night' are numerous, and they are VERY real. They seem to actively hunt and toy with people. And it doesn't help that the Zeros live in a quarantined, monster-infested, tower. |
| 200 | * ''Literature/NightmaresPoemsToTroubleYourSleep'': The bogeyman in "The Bogeyman" is a creature that lurks in the shadows of an unspecified perilous place. No one who has ever entered his domain has returned from it, having fallen victim to his "steely sharp claws", "slavering jaws", and his bone-crumpling "bogey embrace". But still people come and he waits patiently for his next victim. |
| 201 | * ''Literature/NightWarriors'': There are many demons and other horrors that can freely move between the real world and the dream world. They haunt their victims's nightmares in an effort to push humanity back into age where fear of the dark was very real. But the deity Ashapola has given a few groups of special individuals the power to enter dreams and fight these things that go bump in the night. |
| 202 | * Former humans who get sent to Limbo turn into these in ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', feeding off fear and being incredibly difficult to deal with. [[spoiler:Including the main character.]] |
| 203 | * ''Literature/RoysBedoys'': |
| 204 | ** In "Go to Sleep, Roys Bedoys!", Roys thinks there is a monster under his bed due to hearing noises, but it turns out to only be the wind. |
| 205 | ** In "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Roys Bedoys!", Loys mistakes the shadow of a tree branch in his room for that of a monster hand, then later thinks he can hear the monster but it's just the ice machine, the wind, and a pigeon. |
| 206 | * ''Literature/SheilaRaeTheBrave'': Louise, who seems about six, claims there is a monster in her closet at one point. Her older sister Sheila Rae attacks it. |
| 207 | * ''Literature/TheresAWocketInMyPocket'': The Vug under the rug is pictured only as a shadowy lump beneath the aforementioned carpet. |
| 208 | [[/folder]] |
| 209 | |
| 210 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 211 | * ''Series/{{Bumble}}'' has an episode all about how monsters don't really live in children's rooms. |
| 212 | %%* The Woogyman (mispronounced as such due to young Phoebe's buck teeth) from ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}''. |
| 213 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' has the Doctor fighting a few of these guys. Primarily in the new series, this being a CreatorThumbprint of Creator/StevenMoffat, but there are some classic examples too: |
| 214 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep Fury from the Deep]]" involves a sickly adult woman stuck in her bedroom, becoming obsessed with a mesmerising knocking sound coming from her wall that appears to be causing the sickness. No-one believes her about the knocking and she's accused of being hysterical. |
| 215 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E1TerrorOfTheAutons Terror of the Autons]]" features [[AttackOfTheKillerWhatever a being that can make plastic objects come to life and kill you]], which mercilessly exploits a child's fears of their cheap plastic toys moving around when the lights are off. |
| 216 | ** The ClockPunk robot under Reinette's bed in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E4TheGirlInTheFireplace The Girl in the Fireplace]]". Which led to this BadassBoast from the Doctor: |
| 217 | --->'''Reinette:''' What do monsters have nightmares about?\ |
| 218 | '''The Doctor:''' [[AlwaysABiggerFish Me!]] |
| 219 | ** The little girl in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer Fear Her]]" has a horrible, booming-voiced ''thing'' in her wardrobe that she's terrified of. He turns out to be a drawing representing her (dead) abusive father. |
| 220 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary "Silence in the Library"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead "Forest of the Dead"]]: The Vashta Nerada. They're beings made of pure shadow (or, at least, [[EldritchAbomination manifest themselves that way]]), and are, according to the Doctor, the reason most intelligent species have a few of the dark. |
| 221 | ** The shapeshifting alien criminal behind the crack in Amy's wall in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheEleventhHour The Eleventh Hour]]". |
| 222 | ** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E9NightTerrors "Night Terrors"]] is based entirely around an odd twist on this trope, as the Things Going Bump are [[spoiler:[[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve the result]] of an omniphobic kid unknowingly being a very powerful RealityWarper.]] |
| 223 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E4Listen Listen]]", the Doctor conjectures that there is a species perfectly evolved to hide from view, and that all your fears of the dark, your dreams of something under the bed, your tendency to talk out loud when you know you're alone, come from your peripheral sense of these creatures that are around you all the time. He claims that this is why everyone has the 'same dream' of something grabbing you from under your bed. [[spoiler:[[NoAntagonist He's wrong.]] [[ParanoiaFuel Or maybe he's right.]]]] |
| 224 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': People on the mainland whisper tales of the Ironborn ([[FantasyCounterpartCulture Viking-like]] sea raiders) to frighten their children. |
| 225 | * ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' plays this straight and has a notable subversion. Wesen (fairy tale creatures) are indeed the things that go bump in the night, but they in turn grow up with cautionary tales about Grimms, who will come to kill them if they eat too many people. |
| 226 | * ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' gives us a completely non-supernatural version: Georgia Madchen, a girl suffering from complete face-blindness, the persistent belief that she is dead, powerful violent impulses, and a skin disease so severe that all the skin on her right forearm [[BodyHorror sloughs off in the main character's hand]] during an encounter. [[NeverSleepAgain She's also in the habit of hiding under beds.]] Sleep well, [[FanCommunityNicknames Fannibals]]! |
| 227 | * Molly Walker of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has two of these: In volume 1, she calls Sylar [[spoiler:(who killed her family)]] "The Boogeyman and in volume 2, there's Maury Parkman: The Nightmare Man. |
| 228 | * A straight example from ''Series/LostTapes'': an episode starts off with a kid worried about sounds he's hearing in the walls in the fixer-upper house his parents just bought, and he sees the door to his closest open all by itself--when he's gone, it closes by itself, too. At night, ''something'' comes out of the closet and frightens him, stealing his teddy bear in the process. Much later, when he walks down into the basement to find a missing exterminator, he and his parents come under direct attack by ferocious [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]]. |
| 229 | * ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': "Under the Bed" featured [[CaptainErsatz not-Mulder and not-Scully]] investigating missing children for this reason. |
| 230 | * The enemies of ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'', the Gedoushu, are these. They can even crawl out of crevices literally everywhere on Earth. |
| 231 | * Creator/{{Syfy}}'s ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'' is promoted lampshading this: "Even things that go bump in the night need protection"! |
| 232 | * [[http://snltranscripts.jt.org/79/79gdark.phtml A skit]] on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' once featured a kid (played by Gilda Radner) being tormented by her parent's insistence on bringing every last childhood bogeyman to life: letting a band of child-stealing gypsies live under her bed, keeping an AxeCrazy killer in the closet, etc. etc. Though the killer in the closet was what she'd found after her parents had yelled at her to stop bugging them -- [[FridgeHorror she never actually tells them about that one]]. |
| 233 | * ''Series/SesameStreet'': |
| 234 | ** Cookie Monster, [[BoomerangBigot despite being a monster himself]], once sees a shaggy blanket at night and mistakes it for a monster, scaring him. |
| 235 | ** In one sketch, Grover tries to talk about how [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes fear of the dark]] is ridiculous, despite being afraid of the dark himself. He mentions that people who are afraid of the dark might believe there are "scary things" lurking in the dark, but there aren't... yet he doesn't seem so sure of those things' absence. |
| 236 | ** In one skit, Ernie fears there are evil monsters in his and Bert's room that say, "Wubba wubba!". Bert tells him it's all in his head and tells him to imagine something better. |
| 237 | * In the '90s sketch comedy show ''Series/TheState'', one cold opening sketch had a kid calling to his mom to check under his bed for monsters. When she looks, she's dragged under and eaten, then a monstrous hand comes out holding a dollar bill, which the kid takes, then calls for his dad. |
| 238 | * A few critters on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' use this trope, such as Bloody Mary. Well illustrated in this quote: |
| 239 | -->'''Sam:''' "Yeah? When I told dad when I was scared of the thing in my closet he gave me a .45."\ |
| 240 | '''Dean:''' "Well what was he supposed to do?"\ |
| 241 | '''Sam:''' "I was 9 years old! He was supposed to say 'Don't be afraid of the dark.'"\ |
| 242 | '''Dean:''' "Don't be afraid of the dark? What are you kidding me, of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there!" |
| 243 | ** Subverted in the episode "Home", in which the monster in the closet turns out to be a benevolent spirit that's protecting a child from a much nastier ghost. |
| 244 | * A very young Seth Green starred in an episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheDarkside'' where he has to battle a bunch of monsters in his room: a closet-ogre, an under-the-bed tentacle, even a living saw blade. In the end, [[spoiler:the monsters are all terrified of ''him'']]. He also appeared in an ''Series/AmazingStories'' episode wherein his Voodoo Babysitter called up similar beasties ( a Jumbie) to ensure good behavior from him and his brother. |
| 245 | * NBC had a pilot for a series called ''Things That Go Bump'', a PoliceProcedural about the New Orleans Police Department's paranormal division. |
| 246 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': |
| 247 | ** In "The Shadow Man", the murderous titular entity takes up residence under Danny Hayes' bed and offers him immunity to his/its attacks. Only it turns out [[spoiler:there's more than one of them...]] ''[[spoiler:[[AmbiguousEnding Maybe...]]]]'' |
| 248 | ** In "The Road Less Traveled", Megan [=McDowell=] tells her parents Jeff and Denise that there was a strange man in her room. When Jeff goes to investigate, he tells her that she just saw a pile of clothes on a chair and there is nothing to worry about. It turns out that Megan saw a version of Jeff from an AlternateUniverse whose life was ruined after fighting in UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}} and wanted to see the daughter that he never had. |
| 249 | [[/folder]] |
| 250 | |
| 251 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 252 | * This is the theme of the allStars song ''Things Go Bump In The Night''. |
| 253 | * Music/DieArzte has a song called "Schlaflied" ("Lullaby"). Starting in the style of a typical lullaby, the first verse is very innocently telling the child to go to sleep. The second verse mentions the monster in the closet. The remainder of the song goes on in graphic detail about how that monster will kill and eat the child. The song also uses the BoleroEffect, as distorted guitars and creepy sound effects are added to the initial music box theme. The last verse goes back to the original instruments and tells the child to fall asleep quickly, or else the monster can't come in. |
| 254 | * Music/BlindGuardian's video for their cover of "Mister Sandman" is about a kid confronted with some very threatening {{Monster Clown}}s coming out of his closet at night. |
| 255 | * Music/CreatureFeature features such creatures frequently. |
| 256 | ** "Mommy's Little Monsters" is about bloodthirsty creatures hiding inside the closet, in the walls, behind the curtains, in the basement, in the attic, everywhere. |
| 257 | ** "The Unearthly Ones". |
| 258 | --->Beware the bumps in the night\ |
| 259 | The shadows on your wall\ |
| 260 | The nightmares of your youth\ |
| 261 | Believe in the bogeyman\ |
| 262 | Hiding beneath your bed\ |
| 263 | Just waiting to break loose |
| 264 | ** "American Gothic" is about foul things lurking unseen in the darkness. |
| 265 | ** "Lights Out". |
| 266 | --->By day they hide and cower in the shadows\ |
| 267 | Waiting for the darkness to come\ |
| 268 | By night they shamble through the dark empty world\ |
| 269 | Yearning for a single drop of blood |
| 270 | ** "The Creeps" asks if these things are real or just in your head. |
| 271 | --->Growing in the dead of night\ |
| 272 | Giving you the creeps\ |
| 273 | Darkness, figures in the darkness\ |
| 274 | Wandering just out of sight |
| 275 | * Music/{{The Cure|Band}}: "The spiderman is having you for dinner tonight..." |
| 276 | * Daniel Glasser's "[[http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/songs/close-your-eyes.html Close Your Eyes]] is a lullaby warning the child of the dangers of their bed. |
| 277 | -->Baby don't you cry\ |
| 278 | or the demons won't wait until you're asleep\ |
| 279 | before they eat you up |
| 280 | * Gnarls Barkley, "The Boogie Monster." |
| 281 | * "Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Boogeyman" by Henry Hall presents a much less intimidating version along with a bouncy tune. "Uncle Henry" tells the listener that while the Boogeyman certainly wants to get you, he's also a gullible coward who any child can easily scare off in many ways. |
| 282 | * Music/InsaneClownPosse's [[Music/TheGreatMilenko "Boogie Woogie Wu"]] is an IronicNurseryTune about the Boogeyman. |
| 283 | * "They Only Come Out At Night" by Music/{{Lordi}} is about things that lurk in the shadows, [[TitleDrop only come out at night]] and disappear at sunrise. |
| 284 | * This is the most common interpretation of the Scherzo from Music/GustavMahler's Symphony No. 7, which comes between two movements titled "Nachtmusik" (night music). |
| 285 | * The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster's song "Puppy Dog Snails" is about an army of ogre-like creatures who eat children, but are repelled by the KidHero. |
| 286 | * Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Enter Sandman," especially the bridge: |
| 287 | -->Hush little baby, don't say a word\ |
| 288 | And never mind that noise you heard\ |
| 289 | It's just the beasts under your bed\ |
| 290 | In your closet, in your head |
| 291 | * Music/TheMove's "Night of Fear" alludes to this: |
| 292 | -->The silent night has turned to a night of fear\ |
| 293 | With windows howling wind into your ear\ |
| 294 | You listen to the spirits far behind\ |
| 295 | These things you hear are too much for your mind |
| 296 | * "Monster in My Closet" by Myrath uses this trope as a metaphor for [[SanitySlippageSong losing one's sanity]]. |
| 297 | * Music/APaleHorseNamedDeath has the song "Devil in the Closet", where the Devil lives inside of a child's closet, and threatens to take his soul every night. |
| 298 | * "Sit Down by the Fire" by Music/ThePogues is about the intersection between this trope and TheFairFolk. |
| 299 | -->It isn't the mice in the wall\ |
| 300 | It isn't the wind in the well\ |
| 301 | Every night they march out of that hole in the wall\ |
| 302 | Passing through on their way out of hell |
| 303 | * Music/{{Radiohead}}'s song "Climbing Up the Walls" is this trope crossed with ProperlyParanoid. If the [[http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/radiohead/climbing_up_the_walls.html lyrics]] don't get to you, it's probably going to be the loud guitars, screeching strings, electronic noises and Thom Yorke's hair-raising CarefulWithThatAxe moment at the end. |
| 304 | * Music/{{Rammstein}}'s song "Mein Herz Brennt" is about "demons, ghosts and black fairies" who come out at night to torment children in their sleep and feast on their tears. |
| 305 | * Music/{{Rihanna}} presents a much more hopeful version with the first line of her chorus in 'The Monster'. But the second line may imply that she is crazy and simply imagining stuff. |
| 306 | -->I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed.\ |
| 307 | Get along with the voices inside of my head. |
| 308 | * SPF 1000's Horror Show |
| 309 | -->It's killed another kid.\ |
| 310 | It snuck in, through the window.\ |
| 311 | Close your eyes, go to bed.\ |
| 312 | Maybe it won't find your bedroom. |
| 313 | * Music/{{Tarot}} has a song [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Things That Crawl At Night"]] from the perspective of one. |
| 314 | -->The frost grows on your window at the touch of my icy fingertips\ |
| 315 | I come to give you a kiss to suck the warmth from your lips\ |
| 316 | And I just slip away\ |
| 317 | As the night turns into a new day\ |
| 318 | Leaving you to lie cold and still in your bed |
| 319 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDMmj5WgB8c ''Tili Tili Bom'']], an IronicNurseryRhyme from a Russian SlasherMovie, tells about someone or something that sneaks into a house to snatch a child that won't sleep. The lyrics is rather ambiguous: maybe it's a boogeyman, maybe it's some mundane SerialKiller. |
| 320 | * Music/{{Voltaire}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTyiddyIe9k Good Night, Demon Slayer]]" is a ballad assuring the child that even if there are monsters, the child is too badass for the demons to eat. |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | [[folder:Mythology and Folklore]] |
| 324 | * As discussed above, most folkloric traditions have some version of this in the form of some ghost, spook or creature traditionally used to explain unnerving nocturnal occurrences and/or frighten children into behaving. |
| 325 | ** English folklore has traditionally used a variety of nondescript creatures given names such as "bogey", "bogeyman" or "bugbear", all generally derived from the word ''bugge'', "scary thing" (incidentally, ''bugge'' is also where "bug" comes from). While these rarely have specific natures, origins or appearances coming with them, they consistently tend to lurk in shadowy places and prohibited areas -- closets, basements, attics, the woods -- hiding in the shadows and waiting for a naughty child to snap up. |
| 326 | ** Italian folklore has a figure called the ''Uomo Nero'', the "Black Man" or "Dark Man", roughly equivalent to the boogeyman, whose main defining feature is coming in the middle of the night to look for children who aren't asleep and taking them away -- as such, the threat of giving a naughty child away to the ''Uomo Nero'' was commonly used by Italian parents to admonish children in a similar way as threats of the Bogey Man were used by English-speaking parents. The ''Uomo Nero'' can, however, be kept away by keeping a light on. |
| 327 | ** French children are taught to fear the Croque-mitaine ("Mitten-biter"), with [[https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croque-mitaine#France a bewildering number of regional variations]]. |
| 328 | ** The Bulgarian boogeyman is called Torbalan ("Bag-man"), who'd snatch kids who refuse to sleep in his bag. |
| 329 | ** Russia folklore usually has the legendary witch Literature/BabaYaga fulfilling this role; she likes to kidnap children... and [[ChildEater eat them]]. There is also ''babay'' (derived from the Turkic word meaning "old man") who is a generic bogeyman. |
| 330 | ** In Spanish-speaking communities, they fear El Coco. They tell their children, "Duérmete niño, duérmete ya... Que viene el Coco y te comerá." In English, it loosely means, "Sleep child, sleep now... Or else el Coco will come and eat you." |
| 331 | ** In ''Myth/BrazilianFolklore'', Cuca, Tutu-Marambá, Quibungo, Chibamba, Papa-Figo/Liver-Eater, Cabra Cabriola and others are all different monsters that hunt misbehaving children at night. The Bogeyman itself, in the sense of a ChildEater monster with no defined appearance, is called "Bicho-Papão", which means something akin to "big eater animal". Cuca in especial is one of the most famous Bogeymen of the country thanks to its proeminence in the book from children literary series Literature/SitioDoPicapauAmarelo "O Saci", where she is portrayed as a witch with the head of an alligator, and became the main antagonist in the TV adaptations of the books. She is also the main subject of a popular NurseryRhyme: |
| 332 | -->''"Nana neném, que a Cuca vem pegar\ |
| 333 | Papai foi pra roça, mamãe foi trabalhar"'' [[labelnote:translation]]Sleep baby, that the Cuca is coming to get you. Dad went to the farm, mom went to work.[[/labelnote]] |
| 334 | * The phrase itself comes from a traditional Scottish poem/prayer: |
| 335 | -->From ghoulies and ghosties,\ |
| 336 | And long-legged beasties,\ |
| 337 | And things that go bump in the night,\ |
| 338 | Good Lord, deliver us! |
| 339 | * Japanese folklore had the Hyakki Yagyo or NightParadeOfOneHundredDemons, where the {{Yokai}} Nurarihyon would lead a procession of all the yokai through Japanese streets on summer nights and they'd snatch or kill people who weren't protected by magic scrolls made by Onmyoji. There's also the equivalent of the Witching Hour, where twilight in Japan was believed to be the easiest time for yokai and other beings to cross into our world. So twilight is known as the "hour of meeting evil spirits". |
| 340 | [[/folder]] |
| 341 | |
| 342 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 343 | * The Wrestling/{{Boogeyman}}, Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s [[CompanionCube clock-smashing]], [[TrademarkFavoriteFood worm-eating]], [[FacialMarkings face-painted]], freaky, supernatural [[PopularityPower sensation]]. |
| 344 | * Defied by [[https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/644x585q90/538/b5L8xH.jpg this]] unofficial Wrestling/LouThesz FunTShirt, which reads, "When The Boogeyman Goes To Sleep, He Checks The Closet for [[MemeticBadass LOU THESZ]]". |
| 345 | [[/folder]] |
| 346 | |
| 347 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 348 | * ''TabletopGame/TheBookOfUnremittingHorror'' provides the beings from the Outer Dark like the child-stalking Kooks and Bloody Mary expy Strap Throat, to haunt the nights and shadows in the game settings of the ''TabletopGame/TheEsoterrorists'' and ''TabletopGame/FearItself''. In ''Esoterrorists'', the heroic Ordo Veritatis has kept them in check with bullets to the head and the occasional missile strike but in ''Fear Itself'', the Outer Dark has almost free reign on Earth so it's not just the dark when these things are most active and goes into full CosmicHorror once gods like the Empty One and the Mystery Man take over. |
| 349 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Chill}}'': One of many, many varieties of creature that players can be asked to take on are actual monsters in the closet. |
| 350 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 351 | ** In 4th Edition, the [[http://stevesgamerblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/steves-monster-manual-3-designs.html banderhobbs]] are toad-like monsters used in-universe by parents to frighten their children, although real ones don't limit their targets to young ones. |
| 352 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': Boogeymen are detailed as [[TheFairFolk evil fey]] visible only to children in the 3E supplement ''Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends''. |
| 353 | * ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'': The Sluagh Kith are the embodiment of these, and once upon a time were summoned by parents to punish exceptionally unruly children. |
| 354 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'': "The Thing Under The Bed" is an actual monster, as is the Bogeyman, which specifically targets children in that they alone can see it, and it delights in letting them watch as it makes mischief that results in people being maimed or killed, but it's naturally shielded from being seen by adults, so nobody believes them. |
| 355 | * ''TabletopGame/LittleFears'' has children empowered by their innocence and imagination. They'll need it as they confront the Kings of Closetland -- embodiments of the 7 Deadly Sins, twisted Fair Folk, Doppelgangers, eye-stealing [[TheWormThatWalks shapeshifting Worms]] and other beings of the night. |
| 356 | * ''TabletopGame/MonstersAndOtherChildishThings'': Subverted. The monsters are BondCreatures that attach themselves to children and are their BestFriend. But that doesn't make them human, as their usual solution to random annoying adults is to turn them into lunch. Generally averted with parents/relatives/other kids. Generally. |
| 357 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Innistrad, a plane inspired chiefly by gothic horror, has a thriving population of these things lurking in the shadow and the woods, ranging from restless spirits to much darker and older entities. |
| 358 | ** The card [[https://scryfall.com/card/ddk/57/bump-in-the-night Bump in the Night]] depicts a dark, shrouded figure with a single g-glowing eye standing in front of a window at night. |
| 359 | --->''It's not just the wind. It's not all in your head. And it's ''definitely'' something to worry about.'' |
| 360 | ** [[https://scryfall.com/card/mid/234/old-stickfingers Old Stickfingers]] is an ancient entity that has become a feared boogeyman among the people of Lambholdt, who know him as a shadowy figure that lurks in the darkness and waits for the right moment to carry you off. He tends to ambush his victims from behind, and has the uncanny ability to seem right behind you even when you're facing him directly. In person, he's an amalgamation of every child's nightmares, an almost-real conglomeration of inconstant, monstrous traits, a killer made of fear. |
| 361 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': |
| 362 | ** Nalmungder is the Daemon Harbinger of basements, closets and delusions of security. |
| 363 | ** [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent Bugbears]] as reimagined for the setting absolutely love acting as such, getting off on the fear of their future victims and being very, very good at sneaking about and hiding in places a burly, hairy six-to-seven-foot-tall murder machine has no business being able to... |
| 364 | ** Then there is the powerful, [[TheFairFolk evil fey]] type who is literally called [[http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary3/bogeyman.html bogeyman]]. |
| 365 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Ponyfinder}}'': Originally, the Night Mare was a monstrous deity embodying the half-seen terrors in the shadows and the predators lurking outside the campfire's glow. |
| 366 | * ''TabletopGame/TheStrange'': The bogeymen that hunt for children in the night and drag them away never to be seen again are real in Magic recursions. However, when children come crying about such monsters to their parents, the narrative that created the recursion demands them to assume that the culprit is a pile of clothes or the wind pushing branches against the glass. |
| 367 | [[/folder]] |
| 368 | |
| 369 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 370 | * Naturally, the Broadway production of ''Theatre/TheAddamsFamily'' has an inversion. Pugsley can't sleep because the monster under his bed ''isn't'' there. (It shows up after Morticia gives him some motherly comfort.) |
| 371 | * El Coco, the Mexican Boogie Man, appears in Ride/UniversalStudios' ''Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights'' in 2013. |
| 372 | * Some versions of ''Theatre/PunchAndJudy'' have a Bogeyman character taking the Devil's role. |
| 373 | [[/folder]] |
| 374 | |
| 375 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 376 | * ''Toys/MonsterHigh'' features Twyla, the daughter of the Boogeyman. She's partially made of shadows and has glowing eyes, all of her outfits feature variations on the nightmare-bedroom motif, and her pet is a bunny made out of dust from under the bed to the effect that he looks like a worn-out plush toy. |
| 377 | * ''Toys/LivingDeadDolls'': Series 31 is dubbed "Don't Turn Out The Lights", and includes Umbral, a shadowy being, the Dark, who embodies the concept, Bea Neath, who hides under the bed, Kreek, who hides in the corner, and Thump, who makes loud noises and eats souls. |
| 378 | [[/folder]] |
| 379 | |
| 380 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 381 | * ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'': The [[LivingShadow dark entities]] tormented and attacked Jodie as a child, leaving her covered in cuts and bruises. They continue to torment her into adulthood, and [[spoiler:target Zoey in the Beyond ending as well]]. |
| 382 | * ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'': The Big Sisters serve as this both in Rapture and on the surface. In ''There's Something In The Sea,'' they've become legendary for [[InvasionOfTheBabySnatchers stealing children from all along the coastlines of the Atlantic]], breaking into houses in the middle of the night and leaving behind only a vague glimpse of an [[LeanAndMean unusually skinny figure]] haloed with a [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red light]] retreating into the distance. In Rapture, they're actively feared by the inhabitants as brutal enforcers of Lamb's rule, targeting any who dare interfere with the [[CreepyChild Little Sisters]]. For good measure, Henry Hall's "Here Comes The Boogeyman" can be heard playing around Rapture from time to time... |
| 383 | * ''VideoGame/{{Boogeyman}}'': You play as a [[KidHero child]] alone in their room, with only a flashlight to keep the titular monster at bay. |
| 384 | * ''VideoGame/DareToDream'': The final visual of the first episode is a pair of glowing monster eyes under Tyler's bed. |
| 385 | * ''VideoGame/{{Darklands}}'': Superstitious medieval Germany provides things that go bump in the night from German folklore. But your band of heroes aren't children to be cowering beneath their blankets. The horrors of old German nightmares will learn that their fate is to be gutted with a sword or set on fire with an alchemical concoction. |
| 386 | * ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'': The Hidden are described as "the boogeymen that haunt our dreams and live in the nightmares of children." Since they're servants of the Lord of Terror, they're one of the few monsters in the original game that match the theme of the DemonLord they're assigned to. In practice, they're bug-eyed humanoid monsters that stay invisible until they're right next to you, which can be pretty scary. |
| 387 | * ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'': |
| 388 | ** In Adventurer Mode, this is the general role of the broad class of "night creatures", hostile monsters that lurk in the dark of night or underground. Bogeymen, in particular, can leap out of the darkness anywhere -- literally, they spawn continuously when the sun is down. Peasants warn you about not traveling at night or sleeping somewhere outside civilization, lest the bogeymen get you, and the boogiemen are quite real; [[FragileSpeedster incredibly hard to hit]] little blighters that will OneHitKill you if you're asleep, [[VillainTeleportation teleport in front of you when you try to run away]], and dissolve in the sunlight. |
| 389 | ** In fortress mode, ghosts, who can be disturbing at best and deadly at worst, and vampires, predators cunning enough to evade even the player's attention while leaving mysterious corpses, are the things that go bump. |
| 390 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series tends to use vampires for this as being immortal, stealthy, nocturnal predators with a preference for sleeping mortals is their entire hat. Notably, in most titles you can become one yourself. |
| 391 | * ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'': Instead of playing a security guard at a SuckECheeses, you're a little kid who is deathly afraid of its animatronics and dreading your upcoming birthday party there. So you stay up all night, scampering around your room with a flashlight, peeking down the hallways to stop Bonnie or Chica from sneaking up on you, checking to make sure Foxy isn't crouched in your closet, looking over your shoulder in case Freddy's sitting on your bed... |
| 392 | * ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'': The Locust are the basis for Seran legends about these sorts of creatures. Unfortunately, Sera has ''very real'' things that go bump (and bite and eat): ravenous little nocturnal fliers called Kryll. Anyone caught alone in pitch darkness on Sera ''will not'' see the dawn. |
| 393 | * ''VideoGame/HomeSafetyHotline'': Many supernatural pests will only grow active at nocturnal hours and are adept at keeping themselves hidden. Bed Hags take residence under structures for resting, Night Gnomes stalk people from outside their homes to watch them sleep, Hobbs perform their activities in the dark, Kobolds make homes in crevices and closets, and so on. |
| 394 | * ''VideoGame/{{INFRA}}'' features a shadowy entity with a WhiteMaskOfDoom named Mörkö, which literally translates to "Boogeyman". |
| 395 | * ''VideoGame/JimsComputer'': Subverted. The game builds up tension about a monster hiding in one of the closets to kill Jim, only for it to turn out the only real threat towards Jim was himself as he points his gun to his chin, not wanting to deal with what he believes is a horrific beast. |
| 396 | * ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': TheHeartless ''started out'' as these, according to the first game's [[AllThereInTheManual Ansem Reports]]. They lurked in dark places like the rarely-visited, sealed off dungeons under the rather gothic castle at Hollow Bastion. |
| 397 | ** Indeed, in the prequel ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', the Heartless are well nigh absent in most areas (with the less deadly Unversed being the main enemies). Unfortunately, by the time the games take place, they've eaten their way out from the shadows and infest almost all outdoor areas, leaving the untrained protagonist Sora dumped into hostile environments with Things That Go Bump in the Night constantly homing in on him. |
| 398 | ** Aside from [[TheGoomba Shadows]], Pureblood Heartless (the ones not wearing the [[SigilSpam heart-shaped emblem]]) count as this in a way, since they usually only manifest in worlds which are closer to the Realm of Darkness. Since worlds like that are usually TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon (or at least, the DiscOneFinalDungeon), they're [[EliteMooks a lot tougher than their emblem-wearing cohorts]]. And while the Emblem Heartless are mostly [[AdorableEvilMinion adorable and huggable]], the [[EldritchAbomination Purebloods]]... [[NightmareFuel aren't.]] |
| 399 | * ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'': An essential part of gameplay. The various Special Infected have their [[SoundCodedForYourConvenience own distinct noises]] to warn you when one of them is nearby. |
| 400 | %%* ''VideoGame/TheLurkingHorror'': The final monster is described in these terms. |
| 401 | * ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': When the sun sets, you'd better be inside behind a locked door or bury yourself in a cave with a nice bright torch because that's when all the monsters come out. While there isn't a lot of bumping, there is a great deal of groaning, rattling, hissing and cackling. And think twice before you sleep in a bed to skip ahead to sunrise -- a glitch can give enemy mobs access to your house. Imagine waking up, crawling out from under the covers. 'Time for breakfast' you mumble to yourself as you open you eyes an- TSSSS BOOM. |
| 402 | * ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'': Goss Harag is based on the namahage, a specific type of oni found around the city of Oga in Akita, Japan. Once a year, namahages would prowl the city looking for any misbehaving children to eat them, and the first quest that pits you against one involves a mother whose child is too scared to use the bathroom on their own at night because of a Goss Harag. |
| 403 | * ''VideoGame/NightmareNed'': The ''Attic, Basement and Beyond'' level plays this trope as an embodiment of one of Ned's fears, in particular his fear of the unknown. |
| 404 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 405 | ** Gengar, a Ghost-type that hides in people's shadows to steal the life from them and delights in casting curses on people, said to prey on those who get lost in the mountains. There are a couple of ways to detect its presence -- a Gengar in your shadow can be spotted by the sudden chill its life-draining causes, or by seeing your shadow overtake you in the middle of the night. Sometimes, you can just flat-out spot its leer floating in the darkness. Its Pokedex entry from ''[[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Pokemon Sun]]'' is particularly chilling. |
| 406 | --->''Should you feel yourself attacked by a sudden chill, it is evidence of an approaching Gengar. There is no escaping it. Give up.'' |
| 407 | ** Darkrai could be considered as an inversion despite being based on the Bogeyman, as, according to its Pokedex entry, it only creates nightmares if it is threatened. |
| 408 | * ''VideoGame/{{Scratches}}'': A writer moves into an old Victorian mansion, but every night he hears strange unnerving scratching noises and becomes determined to solve the mystery. |
| 409 | * ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' and its spin-off ''VideoGame/ThePark'' feature a bogeyman haunting the abandoned Atlantic Island Park, [[EmotionEater feeding off the fear and terror]] of unsuspecting visitors. Text messages from faction contacts reveal that the Bogeymen are a DyingRace, having once been found in every closet and under every bed up until Secret Worlders started rooting them out; however, at first it's not certain how this particular Bogeyman decided to take up residence at the park. [[spoiler: It turns out that he's actually Nathaniel Winter, the millionaire behind the park's construction; having discovered a PlaceOfPower which he could use to imbue himself with magical powers and immortality, he built the park there as part of a bizarre scheme to unlock the power by harnessing the joy of park guests; it worked... but the power he unlocked transformed him into a Bogeyman.]] |
| 410 | * ''VideoGame/TheSims4'': With the "Kids Room Stuff" DLC pack, child Sims who sleep in a child-sized bed will occasionally get a visit from a many-tentacled "Monster Under the Bed" in their sleep. The child Sim will then refuse to sleep in ''any'' bed for a few hours until an adult Sim sprays it away. Spraying the bed just before the child Sim goes to sleep often prevents the Monster from showing up in the first place. |
| 411 | * ''VideoGame/ToysVsMonsters'' was inspired by the head programmer's son having a nightmare and her telling him a story where his toys drive the monster from it away, and her have recently played ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies''. The enemies are [[TheFairFolk evil fairy-tale creatures]] that charge from a child's closet, and if they get to his bed the child's mother [[ContrivedCoincidence chooses that exact moment to check in on him for the last time that night]]. |
| 412 | * ''VideoGame/WhatRemainsOfEdithFinch'': Molly herself becomes one of these and crawls under her own bed to eat her. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Or she just imagined it in her hallucinations]] after eating toothpaste and holly berries. |
| 413 | [[/folder]] |
| 414 | |
| 415 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 416 | %%* [[OverlyLongGag Milked for all it's worth]] in ''WebComic/DragonBallMultiverse''.%%ZCE |
| 417 | * ''WebComic/HarkAVagrant'' did a comic about "{{STRAW FEMINIST}}S [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/?id=341 IN THE CLOSET]]." |
| 418 | * ''Webcomic/HorrorShop'' actually stars a group of closet monsters-in-training who are learning how to properly haunt humans. These monsters feed on human fear, and travel via closets and other doorways to get from place to place quickly. At a few points, the characters even swear in the name of the Bogeyman himself, who was a legendary king of the closet monsters centuries ago. |
| 419 | * In ''Webcomic/IrrationalFears'', the author discusses how we have an instinctive fear of monsters under the bed, but know that we are safe under a blanket. Her chupacabra ventures into the world under the bed to confront the monsters there. |
| 420 | * In the NSFW webcomic ''Webcomic/TheMonsterUnderTheBed,'' there's, well, a monster under the protagonist's bed. [[CuteMonsterGirl She's pretty cute.]] Her ([[OneGenderRace all-female]]) clan has the ability to enter our world through the shadow under people's beds, and they're in a sort of friendly rivalry with the (all-male) clan who enter reality through children's closets. They collect fear energy, but love energy is way more powerful-but also more dangerous to collect. |
| 421 | * ''Webcomic/{{MountainTime}}'' allows the monsters under the bed to [[http://mountaincomics.com/2013/06/24/mountain-time-461/ express THEIR take on things]]. |
| 422 | * Caliban the demon in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' used to be the monster under Dave's bed. |
| 423 | * Played for laughs in ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'': |
| 424 | ** Millie is [[http://ozyandmillie.org/1998/05/04/ozy-and-millie-6/ scared of]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Helms Senator Helms]] in her closet. |
| 425 | ** There really is somebody lurking [[http://ozyandmillie.org/2000/10/21/ozy-and-millie-497/ under Ozy’s bed]], his father who’s scared himself. |
| 426 | * Zigzagged in ''Webcomic/PebbleAndWren'' where monsters do hide in closets and under beds to scare children, but they often make friends with the children and some even work in human institutions (Wren's principal is a monster for instance). |
| 427 | * Not surprisingly, ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'' has a [[http://www.pbfcomics.com/3/ very dark take on this]] when a father reassures his kid that there isn't a monster under his bed [[spoiler:except there was, it kills the kid and then pays the father]]. |
| 428 | * Parodied in a ''Webcomic/SafelyEndangered'' comic strip, which shows a boy calling for his father, saying that there's a monster under the bed and it's the most horrible thing he's ever seen. TheReveal? He's in a bunk bed and the "monster" is his younger sibling, who sadly asks, "Why do you hate me, brother?" |
| 429 | * In ''WebComic/SandraAndWoo'' [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2016/04/21/0779-coming-out-of-the-closet/ a monster that chose the wrong closet in which to hide]] gets its arm lopped off by Yuna. Regardless of whether this actually happened, it does manage to keep David awake the rest of the night staring at his closet, terrified of the monster coming back for revenge. |
| 430 | * ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' has many parodies about parents' weird responses to kids complaining about monsters under their beds (eg. one monster comes out to complain about how the father started lecturing about the relativity of "under"), or the parents themselves pretending to be monsters that invade the kids' bedroom, etc. [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-10-12 One specific comic]] even had a girl complaining that there ''wasn't'' a monster under her bed, since she was living in an age where [[MeasuringTheMarigolds everything mysterious or magical had been given physical explanations]]. Her father gets her to go to sleep by telling her about the space roar, a powerful radio signal hitting the earth with no known source. |
| 431 | * ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': In "Holiday Wars", Bun-bun gains control over the monsters of Halloween and leads them to battle against the turkey forces of Thanksgiving... (What? ItMakesSenseInContext, sort of.) There's some talk about "deploying the [=MUBs=]," and sure enough, the turkeys' reserves, resting in the garrison, are all eaten by monsters under their beds. |
| 432 | * In ''WebComic/StepMonster'', this is a minimum wage, minimum respect job for monsters in this setting, effectively the monster version of the BurgerFool. Matilda used to be Mikey's assigned closet monster before necessity forced her to agree to be a ParentalSubstitute instead. |
| 433 | * At midnight in ''WebComic/TemplarsOfTheShiftingVerse'', the world is visited by shadowy humanoid figures who talk nonsense and occasionally murder people. |
| 434 | [[/folder]] |
| 435 | |
| 436 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 437 | * Jasper of ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'' is terrified of the terrible creatures that visit the mansion on Spooky Island on the new moon and bump in the night. [[spoiler:The 'creatures' are actually adults who go to the abandoned island to have extremely kinky sex. Jasper is the ghost, and he's none too happy about the [[InvertedTrope living adults who mess around in his (haunted) house]].]] |
| 438 | -->Jasper: And then the bumping in the night starts, and then they bump and they bump and... |
| 439 | * One of the highlights of [[https://www.youtube.com/@cocobrED CocobrED's Youtube channel]] is Kaepernick's VitriolicBestBuds relationship with a being known only as Bed Monster. Bed Monster is only seen with its hands visible under or off the edge of Kaepernick's bed, and frequently either trolls Kaepernick in all kinds of ways, or backs him up in the many gunfights he has with bad guys. It's also not the only monster Kaepernick deals with -- he has a closet monster, a sleep paralysis demon, a dude with a horse-head, various monsters from the netherworld and others which he usually either allies with or defeats hilariously. |
| 440 | * A lot of [[CreepyPasta Creepy Pastas]] star horrifying things crawling around the doomed protagonists' homes. Including, yes, hiding under the bed or in the closet. |
| 441 | * One video from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJytKD2Kt-w Daywalt Horror]] has a child asking her mother to check under the bed each night. After repeating for a few nights, the mother looks again... coming face to face with such a horror. [[spoiler: She then comes back up, looks down at her daughter with a smile, and says "Nothing there. Goodnight!" and turns out the light]].] |
| 442 | * ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Rocoulm, a.k.a. the [[SpookyPainting Horrible Painting]], who has lurked in Strong Mad's closet since the Brothers Strong were little. |
| 443 | --> '''Rocoulm:''' ''Come on in heeeere...'' |
| 444 | * On ''[[https://www.iusedtobelieve.com/ I Used to Believe]]'', a site where people share their childhood beliefs, one common belief is "There are monsters living under your bed". |
| 445 | * The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' contains a number of creatures seemingly inspired by various boogeyman legends from across the globe. One such example is [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-6087 SCP-6087]] (the 'Voice-Taker'), a ghostly figure with a large mouth and a beard of flies who steals the voices of naughty children. Another is [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-6097 SCP-6097]], a HumanoidAbomination known as 'Granny Rat Tail', who resembles an elderly lady possessing a rat's tail, with a large eyeball at its tip. During the early nineteenth century, she was known to visit the small town of Brownsborough Massachusetts, flying on an enchanted wooden spoon, and extend her eye-tail down house chimneys in order to find and steal young babies to cook and eat them. From the Italian version of the site there's [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-015-it SCP-015-IT]] who's purported to be ''the'' boogeyman, a HumanoidAbomination with glowing eyes that [[EmotionEater feeds on fear]] by paralyzing its victims and sucking blood directly from their adrenal gland. There's also [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-080 SCP-80]], another EmotionEater that's a black mist with NightmareWeaver powers that lurked in children's closets and under their beds. |
| 446 | * The [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/horrifying-house-guest-shadowlurker Shadowlurker]] meme, a.k.a Horrifying House Guest, Never Alone or Uninvited Guest, the advice animal version of this. |
| 447 | * Why, the [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]], of course! He's normally shown as appearing in the night, although he doesn't always go bump. Furthermore, the idea of this trope is the premise for the ''WebVideo/TribeTwelve'' episode ''Night Recording''. |
| 448 | * The Mimics from ''WebVideo/VitaCarnis'' have shades of this. A race of grotesque, skinless humanoid monsters with distorted limbs and sharp teeth that stalk their victims for weeks to learn their daily routine, often hiding inside their prey's home behind furniture or inside cabinets and closets. Then, when their victim is asleep or otherwise alone and helpless, the Mimic kills and messily devours them. |
| 449 | * [[http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/vladimir-stane Vladimir Stane]] from ''Website/TheWanderersLibrary'' meets one, "The Ol' Biglio", which leads him into Hades. |
| 450 | [[/folder]] |
| 451 | |
| 452 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 453 | * Gets a huge [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] from the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', when trying to "reassure" a King before he goes to sleep. |
| 454 | -->Hush little King, please don't cry.\ |
| 455 | We're going to sing you a lullaby.\ |
| 456 | A big scary monster man is coming for you.\ |
| 457 | He'll gobble you up like chunky beef stew.\ |
| 458 | Goodnight! |
| 459 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatPat'' dealt with the protagonists finding a monster named Melvin under Martins' bed. Althoug Melvin turns out to be [[DarkIsNotEvil very friendly]], he is rather annoying because his loud snoring keeps Martin up all night. So the kids try to find him some other place to sleep. |
| 460 | * The stop-motion animated series ''WesternAnimation/BumpInTheNight'' has as the main protagonist a small green monster called Mr. Bumpy that lives under a young boy's bed and eats socks and dust-bunnies. His best friend is a blue slime monster that lives in the house's bathroom (and is a bit of a neat-freak). Neither of them is scary, and Mr. Bumpy acts more like a traditional boggart (trickster) than anything else. There is, however, a scary closet monster made up of dirty clothes, with coat-hanger claws and a washing-basket shell like a turtle. |
| 461 | * The main antagonist of the ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' episode "Demons Aren't Dull" is a demon from the fourth dimension who is a fully paid-up member of the union of Diabolical, Delinquent, Dimensional Demons which is an affiliate of Gremlins, Ghouls, Ghosts and Things That Go "Whaaaaooooo!!" in the Dark. |
| 462 | * In ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', the Evil Monkey living in Chris' closet is a parody of this. |
| 463 | * ''WesternAnimation/FrankeldasBookOfSpooks'' has grotesque gnomes lurking under children's beds to scam them into giving them their names in exchange for doing their chores as a means of stealing their identity, and El Coco Jr. who steals the passion and joy from the souls of troubled artsy kids to join his ghostly orchestra. |
| 464 | * The Boogeyman appeared as a recurring villain in ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' where he was TheGrimReaper's middle school bully and still has [[{{Pun}} a bone or two]] to pick with him. Despite being a total {{Jerkass}}, the only person he's ever scared was [[TheChewToy Irwin]]. |
| 465 | * One of these showed up in a short of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes''. Unfortunately for it, the bed he tries hiding under belongs to [[EnfantTerrible Heloise]]. |
| 466 | * In a 2000s revival of ''WesternAnimation/LittleLulu'', Lulu meets the Boogeyman in one episode, but proves impossible for him to scare, forcing him to confess he doesn't even like scaring kids but with a name like his, it's all everyone expects. She helps him find his true calling in life; as the Boogie Man, a dancing star in his own monstrous world. |
| 467 | * ''WesternAnimation/LittlePrincess'': |
| 468 | ** In "I Don't Want to Go to Bed", the Princess mistakes the shadow of a tree for a monster in her bedroom and has her parents search for it. The next morning, when the Maid sees that the Princess is in her bed, she (wrongly) thinks the monster has taken her. |
| 469 | ** In "I Want Baked Beans", the Princess mistakes the sound of her own stomach growling for a monster under her bed. |
| 470 | * The Boogeyman was the first monster faced in ''WesternAnimation/MartinMystery'', and was depicted as an entity composed of swamp matter and maggots. It was sealed within an old book, and after being unintentionally released, it began whisking "naughty" children away to its pocket dimension, a bog where they were left to die. |
| 471 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Mot}}'', the monster in the closet doesn't actually ''live'' in the closet; he's a member of a secret race of beings who can turn any door in the world into a PortalDoor connected to any other door, and he just happens to find Leo's bedroom closet door conveniently situated. |
| 472 | * The rather obscure 80's cartoon ''WesternAnimation/MyPetMonster'' had the titular monster being so bad at scaring kids, it made friends with one of them; of course, this doesn't sit well with the rest of his species, who are rather traditionalist when it comes to monster-kid interactions. |
| 473 | * The Boogeyman, or Boogie Man, as he's called [[MeaningfulName (portrayed as a singular disco-loving entity and the ruler of a horde of lesser nocturnal horrors)]] was the villain in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "Boogie Frights". Here he and his minions weren't content to be subtle any longer, and planned to plunge Townsville into [[TheNightThatNeverEnds eternal night]] and turn it into a "nightmare nightclub". |
| 474 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', where we had the Boogeyman and something called "the Grundel". As if that's not enough, two Busters from different generations receive visits from them (Egon was tormented by the Boogeyman as a child, thus his impetus to study the paranormal; Kylie ''resisted'' the call of the Grundel, so he took her friend Jack instead.) Three of the Ghostbusters prove to be FlatEarthAtheist in regards to the existence of the Boogeyman. |
| 475 | * One short sketch on ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' has a kid hiding under his blankets from two monsters. The monsters sadistically pretend for a moment that this has worked, then laugh and start pounding on the blanket with baseball bats. |
| 476 | -->"Mommy, there's a monster in my room."\ |
| 477 | ''"I know."'' ([[RedEyesTakeWarning eyes glow red]]) |
| 478 | ** In another sketch, a father gets tired of his son complaining there's a Boogeyman and asking for a glass of water, so he hides in the closet without the kid knowing to prove there is no Boogeyman. To his horror, he finds out the real reason his son needs a glass of water is because he plays very...naughty games with his teddy bear. |
| 479 | -->(the father is heard crying in the closet)\ |
| 480 | "B-B-Boogeyman?" |
| 481 | ** One sketch has a monster realtor showing a monster couple under a boy's bed. They are overjoyed over the fact he scares easily and is a bed-wetter, much to the boy's, who is awake and hearing this, chagrin. |
| 482 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': In "Under Chuckie's Bed", Chuckie mistakes his father's sweater under his bed for a monster, and Angelica tells a lie about a monster eating a boy named Barnaby Jones. |
| 483 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'', Zak says that he and his family are "the only thing standing between you and the things that go bump in the night." |
| 484 | * Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. When Marge gets addicted to slot machines in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E10Springfield $pringfield]]", Lisa's forced to turn to Homer when she has a dream about the boogeyman. Upon hearing the very word Homer freaks out, orders the windows and doors locked, grabs his shotgun, and holes up the rest of the family in his bedroom until Marge comes home. And by the time Marge gets home the door has a noticeable hole in it. |
| 485 | * ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'': |
| 486 | ** Referenced in one episode where Buster and Babs were scaring each other so they could introduce the show. At one point, Buster comes out of a closet wearing a ClassicalMovieVampire costume behind Babs, and says "''Bump''." |
| 487 | ** In another episode, monsters who scare kids consider having to do so to Sneezer one of the worst jobs, and the unlucky one who ends up doing it becomes scared of ''him''. Afterwards, he starts to think about going to night school to learn how to be a tooth fairy or an Easter bunny or "some other imaginary creature". |
| 488 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishfart}}'': In the episode "Clip, Clop, We Won't Stop", Dez's childhood baby shoes are brought to life by a wish and make him do a bunch of things from his childhood bucket list, with the last being to get rid of the monster living under his bed. However, the monster was always just a figment of Dez's imagination, so he can't complete it. When the shoes won't leave Dez alone about the last task though, Puffin wishes the monster was real, creating a tentacled LivingShadow that turns everything it touches into nothingness. [[spoiler:It ultimately turns out to be a projection created by the shoes themselves, as the imagined monster had just been shadows projected by the young Dez placing his shoes in front of his night light with a fan turned on.]] |
| 489 | [[/folder]] |
| 490 | |
| 491 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 492 | * The real world, grown-up version of these fears is the urban legend of the criminal who hides underneath your car in the mall parking lot and grabs or slashes your ankles, and then either drags you under there screaming or crawls out to finish the job. According to ''Website/{{Snopes}}'' the exact intent of this bogeyman varies from simple assault and larceny to rape to murder to ritual mutilation (having to collect a female body part as part of a gang initiation rite). Paranoia and fear over this actually reached a point where adults had to be escorted to their cars by police like a child insisted on being escorted and tucked into bed by their parents. |
| 493 | * Ashkenazi Jewish children have the boogeymen of Nazis and Cossacks - and while they might not be as powerful or immediate now, they certainly were for the children's great-grandparents and great-great-parents. |
| 494 | * If you have been ambushed and mugged at night, you can never quite get over the feeling that somebody is ready to jump out of the shadows behind you. Hell, even if you ''haven't'' been through that kind of experience you can have that feeling all the time, especially when you're walking alone/in the dark. |
| 495 | * Basic operational security training for all military and DOD personnel overseas pretty much demands this mindset when you are somewhere an attacker could reach. [[DangerTakesABackseat Check the car's interior before entering]], watch for areas someone could hide, etc. |
| 496 | [[/folder]] |
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