The sources do not record a single mythic origin story for bogles. The available folkloric summary treats 'bogle' as a traditional regional term (derived from Middle English Bugge) applied across a range of uncanny beings in northern Britain. Rather than having a creation myth, bogles are presented as a category of local supernatural troublemakers and uncanny presences embedded in agricultural, domestic and landscape lore.
No canonical physical description is fixed across sources; appearance varies by local usage. One well-attested form, the Tattie-Bogle, is depicted as a scarecrow hiding in potato fields. In mid-20th-century lowland Scottish usage 'bogle' also functions as a general word for ghost or bogeyman, and literary references (e.g. W. D. Cocker’s poem 'The Bogle by the Boor Tree') associate bogles with wind and trees, emphasizing an atmospheric or uncanny presence rather than a single body form. The broader category is linked in source material to other regional beings (Shellycoats, Barghests, Brags, Hedley Kow, certain giants), implying that local stories may imagine bogles as anything from animated objects to trickster humanoids, depending on context.
Sources characterize bogles primarily as mischief-makers whose purpose is to perplex mankind rather than to render sustained service or to wreak wholesale destruction. Reported behaviours include hiding in potato fields (the Tattie-Bogle), causing blight in crop patches, startling or (in some accounts) attacking unwary people in fields, and in at least one 1866 newspaper account being credited with poltergeist-like activity (missiles thrown through windows and roofs). The emphasis in the sources is on puzzling, frightening or annoying human beings rather than exhibiting consistent, catalogue-able supernatural powers.
Weaknesses
- otherNo specific weaknesses recorded in sources
- conditionUse of a scarecrow (Tattie-Bogle) as a pragmatic deterrent in fields
Wards
- ritualTattie-Bogle (scarecrow)
- otherRespect/avoidance of materials linked to 'little people'
*Perkʷūnos
*Perkʷūnos is the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European thunder‑god hypothesized by comparative linguistics and mythology. Scholarly reconstructions portray him as a storm or thunder figure associated with fructifying rain and as the combatant who fights a multi‑headed water‑serpent to release life‑giving waters; no direct attestations from the Proto‑Indo‑European period survive and the figure is inferred from later Indo‑European traditions.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
57 Mnemosyne
57 Mnemosyne is a large main-belt asteroid (S-type) discovered in 1859 and named after the Greek Titaness Mnemosyne. It is a non-sentient astronomical body studied for its orbital and rotational properties and has been used in dynamical measurements related to Jupiter.
Abaddon
In Hebrew scripture Abaddon is primarily a noun meaning 'destruction' or a section/condition of the underworld paired with Sheol; in the New Testament Book of Revelation Abaddon is personified as an angelic figure (Greek Apollyon) described as the king of an army of locusts released from the abyss during the apocalypse.
Aban Yasht
The Aban Yasht is a hymn from the Persian tradition that praises Anahita, a goddess associated with water, fertility, and wisdom. It consists of 132 stanzas and is part of the 21 Yashts collection. (Note: - Power tier should be "Primordial" or possibly "Cosmic", given that it's a hymn of great spiritual significance and associated with a goddess. - The article incorrectly states that Anahita is associa)
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abath
No corroborated folkloric entity named "Abath" is documented in the provided sources. The string appears in the supplied material only as a surname/personal name in Aruban/Dutch-Caribbean archival records and as an unrelated taxonomic or encyclopedic hit; no mythic attributes, origin stories, rituals, or apotropaic practices for an entity called Abath are present in the documents reviewed.
Abatur
Abatur is an uthra (celestial emanation) in Mandaeism described as the 'father of the Uthras' and called the Ancient (ʿattīqā). He resides on the boundary between the World of Light and lower regions, functions as a judge who weighs souls (Abatur Muzania), and supplies instructions and materials to the demiurgic uthra Ptahil in accounts from the Diwan (Scroll) of Abatur.
Abatwa (Twa / Batwa)
Abatwa (also recorded as Twa, Batwa, Mutwa; singular forms Barhwa or Murhwa in some transcriptions) are indigenous hunter‑gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, historically identified as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. The available sources treat them as human ethnic groups whose livelihoods, lands, and populations have been severely affected by conservation policies and modern violence.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abdiel
Abdiel (Hebrew עֲבְדִּיאֵל) is primarily a theophoric Hebrew personal name meaning "servant of El/servant of God," attested once in the Hebrew Bible (1 Chronicles 5:15). In later literature—most notably John Milton's Paradise Lost—Abdiel is reimagined as a faithful seraph who opposes Satan's revolt. The provided sources do not treat Abdiel as an autonomous folkloric spirit type or record rituals or wards associated with the name.
Community Record
- [1]Bogle (Wikipedia). Wikipedia contributors, 'Bogle,' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogle (accessed via provided research notes).wiki
- [2]Larne Weekly Reporter, 31 March 1866 — 'Bogles in Ballygowan' (as cited in Wikipedia article). Larne Weekly Reporter, 31 March 1866, front-page article 'Bogles in Ballygowan' (reported in summary on Wikipedia).folk