Tradition: Scottish Mythology
Alternative Names: Boggle, Bogill, Tatty Bogle, Tattie-Bogle
Category: Goblin
The Myth
The Bogle is a supernatural being from the folklore of Scotland and northern England, particularly Northumberland and Cumbria. It is generally described as a ghostly or goblin-like creature that exists to confuse, frighten, and perplex human beings rather than to help them or deliberately cause serious harm. Its appearance varies between local traditions, and the name is used for several different supernatural beings, including Shellycoats, Barghests, Brags, and the Hedley Kow. In some traditions, even giants are described as bogles.
Bogles are associated with frightening people and disturbing ordinary life through mysterious or unsettling behaviour. They may be heard in the wind or among the trees, where their eerie sounds frighten children. The term has also been used more generally for ghosts and bogeymen, particularly in the Scottish Lowlands, where it remained familiar in children’s speech into the twentieth century.
One notable variety is the Tatty Bogle, also known as the Tattie-Bogle. This creature is associated with potato fields, where it hides among the crops and may attack unsuspecting people or cause blight that damages the potatoes. It is also depicted as a scarecrow, reflecting the use of the word bogle for scarecrows in parts of England and Scotland. In this form, the figure stands in the fields as a frightening presence connected with the protection of crops.
Bogles also appear in stories of supposedly haunted houses. In an account published in the Larne Weekly Reporter on 31 March 1866, strange disturbances at a house in Ballygowan, Northern Ireland, terrified local residents. Objects were thrown through windows and, on one occasion, through the roof. The disturbances reportedly ceased after several months. People blamed the incidents on the use of building materials taken from an older house believed to have belonged to the supernatural “little people.” The account illustrates how the term could be associated with mysterious disturbances attributed to unseen beings.
The Bogle is not a single creature with a fixed appearance or set of powers, but a broad name for frightening supernatural beings in northern British folklore. Whether imagined as a ghost, a goblin, a field-haunting scarecrow, or an unseen presence disturbing a house, the Bogle embodies the unsettling and unpredictable side of the supernatural world.
Sources
“Bogle.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 17, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogle