Tag Archives: boogeyman

Lulu Khor Khoreh

Age: 20

Text: According to the subject, a creature that is prominent within Persian folklore is a creature named Lulu Khor Khore. Described as a hairy, hideous, monster-like creature, Lulu Khor Khore hides in the dark corners of childrens’ rooms – whether that be under the bed, in their closet, or just simply in the shadows. She explained that as an evil entity, Lulu Khor Khore knew when children had been bad; if they disobeyed their parents, talked back, or just misbehaved, he would snatch them away in the middle of the night and the children would never be seen again.

Context: The subject heard this story often from her father when she was growing up. Her father, from Iran, would remind her that Lulu Khor Khoreh knew when she was misbehaving and not listening to her parents – he warned would warn her that if she kept acting out he would steal her away in the middle of the night, and there would be nothing he or she could do to stop it (unless she started listening and behaving). She remembers hearing about Lulu Khor Khoreh often whenever she didn’t want to practice the violin and would try to hide in her room to avoid her lessons. As she grew up, she heard less and less about Lulu Khor Khoreh (much to her relief, as she told me she truly was scared of the thought of him, let alone being carried away in the middle of the night by him); she explained to me that this story was just a means of getting children to behave – kind of like Santa Claus, or Baba Yaga. 

Interpretation: I believe that the subject is very much correct in her observations – despite the fact that Lulu Khor Khoreh himself is unique to Persian culture, the overarching idea or purpose that he serves is one that can be found across time and the globe. His story is a means of getting children to behave and listen to their elders.

El Cucuy

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: University Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California

Age: 18
Date of Performance: 3/30/2025
Language: English
Nationality: American
Occupation: University Student
Primary Language: English
Residence: Los Angeles, California

Legend Text:
“Today, I’m going to tell you about El Cucuy—also known as the Boogeyman. It’s a Spanish legend about a tall, shadowy figure who scares misbehaving children. In Spanish culture, they say El Cucuy watches you from outside your window, or even hides in your room under the bed. If you weren’t behaving, you had to run and hide in your room or he’d get you.”

Context:
The informant heard this story from older family members during gatherings, particularly when the kids were restless and waiting for food. It served both as a form of entertainment and discipline, using fear to encourage good behavior.

Analysis:
El Cucuy is a classic example of child-disciplining legends across cultures, akin to the American “Boogeyman.” In Latino households, it is commonly used to instill fear-based obedience. The figure of El Cucuy embodies abstract fear and serves as a warning against moral or behavioral failure. This version shares traits with global “dark watcher” figures like Slenderman, showing how traditional folklore adapts to modern imagery. The use of “under the bed” or “outside the window” roots the fear in a child’s intimate spaces.

Boogeyman in the Basement (Legend)

Nationality: American
Age: college student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: 4/2/23
Primary Language: English

Original Text: “Have you heard people be like ‘Oh watch out for the Boogeyman!’ or whatever? Yeah, I feel like that is a very common legend, but on my dad’s side of the family, they live in like Nowheresville, Michigan [informant made a joke but the actual place is Utica, Michigan] they were always like ‘Oh don’t go down in the basement, the Boogeyman is there right now!’ like, ‘Go down there tomorrow’. And they would do this with just about anything. They have a farm so they would be like ‘Don’t go in the barn, the Boogeyman is there!’ or something. It’s something I took very seriously, and if someone told me about the Boogeyman in the context of my hometown in Florida I would be like ‘Oh that’s not real’ but then there in Michigan I was like ‘Oh this is real, it exists here, in my uncle’s basement’. I feel like in my head I had a whole visualization of what this guy looked like and what he was doing, and when people would tell me the Boogeyman was around I would sit there for like an hour in my seat and be like ‘Oh my Lord the Boogeyman is coming! He’s gonna get us!’. And I think this was around when I was like 4ish years old, but it went on for a while until I got to the point where I was like ‘Nah there ain’t no Boogeyman, why can’t I go down in the basement?’ The narrative my family sold me around it was like ‘He’s gonna get you cuz he knows who we are and we are friends, but he doesn’t know you so’.”

Context: The informant is a college student at the University of Southern California. The informant is from Florida but has family in Michigan. She describes that the Boogeyman was used by her uncle’s family to deter her from something or not allow her to be in a space the adults did not want her in. All the adults were in on the story.

Analysis: As the informant stated, the Boogeyman was a figure used by the adults in her family to keep her out of spaces she wasn’t allowed in, like the basement. Because the story of the Boogeyman was coming from an adult audience that the informant trusted, it’s likely that the story carried more legitimacy, pointing as to why it had such an effect on her. The informant also reveals how she was convinced the Boogeyman could only exist on her farm in Michigan and not in her larger hometown in Florida. A rural area with lots of open space and a lack of population compared to her hometown in Florida potentially was a strange shift for the informant and caused her to be wary of the unknown she faced. In this case, it would be plausible for a creature like the Boogeyman to be hiding in a place not familiar to her. The separation between the knowledge of the Boogeyman between the informant as a child and her adult family also indicates the hierarchy and age politics that exist between the two groups. Only adults would understand the subtext behind the “Boogeyman”, including them in that folk group.

El Cucuy is Everywhere

Background: The informant is a 26 year old female who lives in a suburb of Chicago. She was born and raised around the city with her grandparents, mother, and younger brother. Her grandparents, immigrants from Mexico, imparted most of their knowledge to the informant.

Context: The context was watching a horror movie and being reminded of a legend she was constantly told as a child.

Text:

VA: So, in Mexican folklore, there’s El Cucuy. It’s like the boogeyman. Mexicans threaten their children with El Cucuy coming and taking them away.

Me: Oh my. How does El Cucuy come?

VA: El Cucuy is everywhere, everywhere around you.

Me: Would you mom tell you this to scare you?

VA: Well, it was my whole family. My mom, my grandparents, all of them. It was how they scared children into behaving. Oh also, just anyone of Latin American culture like my babysitter from Central America. Basically, if you speak Spanish, chances are you know El Cucuy.

Me: What does he do to children?

VA: He eats children once they’re taken. Basically, if you don’t behave, you’re getting eaten. 

Analysis:

Informant: Her voice was extremely solemn when speaking about El Cucuy, likely still remnants of how childrenhood fears can continue to affect someone. Even at 26, she didn’t want to take any chances.

Mine: The boogeyman is a very common theme across cultures as a way to scare children into behaving. While it may not be scary to everyone, it seemed to hit something deeper for the informant. She told the story more calmly than her other ones, not making any humorous jokes, or pausing often. While it likely is still childhood fears sticking with her to some extent, it may also be because the informant has a younger brother and would have to tell him the story as well. In this case, the informant has been both the receiver of the tradition and has passed on the tradition. It brings up the interesting placement of the older sibling, in that they may become active bearers of their traditions much earlier than the younger siblings. 

The Curse Cast on Salt Creek Elementary

Context: Z is a 21 year old Filipino American man. Growing up with a close community of Filipino friends and family. Z went to an elementary school within California. This story was collected over a Discord audio call.

Z: “So near the back of my school, a lot of people would go through there for quick entry to school. There was this bridge nearby and underneath it went this pretty deep valley, and what every kid in that elementary school always noticed all the time, whether they were walking there or driving there, you could always see down into the valley and what you could see was this worn out mattress down at the bottom. Every time. So what we thought every single time was that there was this homeless man, but what we thought was he was actually down there casting some sort of dangerous spell or something like that beneath the school. Cause we found out, and I think it was just a funny coincidence, but you’d find around our school an abundance of holes in the grass area, and we thought that these holes are usually from snakes. We always thought you had to be careful because there were a lot of snakes there because of the old man, like he had something to do with it. It was our little story but we really always believed he was casting some spells.” 

Intv: “And what elementary school was this located at?”

Z: “This was at Salt Creek Elementary, and like every kid at the school knew about it.” 

Intv: “Do you think there was any sort of cultural significance to it being a curse? Thinking back on my time in elementary school in a very western upbringing, I don’t think I was particularly aware of curses as much as I was ghosts or spirits.”

Z: “I think, because among my friends a lot of them at the time were Filipino, so what kind of relation there would be culturally, I definitely think it could be related to this monster my mom always told us about in the dark. She would call it the mumu, or that’s what we called it as kids, I think that’s kinda the relation there, as we never saw him in the morning. So we thought maybe he was only there at night when it’s dark. Cause in the day every time we’d pass the mattress we’d never see anyone, and at the time as kids we just ended up putting it all together.”

Intv: “Can I ask you a little more about the mumu?” 

Z: “Yeah, I think it literally translates to monster in Tagalog, I think it’s like your equivalent to a boogeyman. You know? The whole, like, ‘look out or the mumu is gonna getcha!’ thing. At least that’s how I saw it.”

Analysis: After looking up a translation I can confirm that mumu translates to either ghost or boogeyman. This story speaks heavily on how our folk and specifically our more sinister folklore tends to reside in the dark. Across cultures, as growing up as a child in America I was aware of the mumu, just of a different name. It makes one wonder where the mumu or boogeyman originated or how it transcends cultures. A shadowy figure who targets children is seen often in folklore across the world.