It was a delight to read this book, which analyzes boggart folklore from its origins in nineteenth-century England to its recent expressions in the digital age. Through J. K. Rowling’s enormously successful Harry Potter books and films, boggarts have become internationally known as shape-shifting creatures that show people what they fear most. Rowling’s boggarts creatively interpret the concept of a “generic word for solitary supernatural creatures; above all, for the undead” (193). Nineteenth-century boggarts seem like ghosts, but twenty-first-century boggarts seem more like goblins. Simon Young’s impressively thorough research helps us understand the history and significance of this quirky figure, which has its roots in local legends.
Readers of The Boggart have access to a free companion volume, The Boggart Sourcebook: Texts and Memories for the Study of the British Supernatural, curated and edited by Simon Young and published by the University of Exeter Press (https://doi.org/10.47788/QXUA4856). This digital book, which covers boggart ephemera, names, and a census, contains the source materials that the author used to write The Boggart. Making source materials available online works very well and adds to the book’s suitability as a text for college courses.
One of The Boggart’s strengths is its emphasis on local legends. Part I, Situating the Boggart, begins with an early nineteenth-century Lancashire legend about a boy named Sam, who sneaks away from a Methodist church service with his friend Bill and other children. Running after Bill in the dark, Sam is shocked to discover that his friend has “a dreadful, decayed face” (3). This is not Bill, but a boggart! Fortunately, Sam manages to run through the church’s door, escaping from his horrifying pursuer. Young explains that the word “boggart” existed in the 1500s, but legends such as this one were not evident until the nineteenth century. Part I includes an admirably detailed discussion of definitions and sources, origins, and distribution in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Names such as Boggart Hill and Boggart Field show that boggarts once belonged to local lore, but they do not necessarily indicate belief in boggarts. This section’s maps and other figures make boggarts’ popularity clear.
Part II, Lived Boggart Folklore, offers fascinating examples of boggart lore from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. Early boggart legends tend to warn people about the danger of walking around at night by themselves. Figure 19 shows a terrified man running away from a boggart that has just hurled its head at him (86). Some boggart place names have originated from jokes, and real estate known as a “boggart house” has been hard to sell (90). The chapter about “social boggarts” explains various boggart social phenomena, including crowds, flaps, hunts, fakes, and misunderstandings (139). Young observes that “the social supernatural seems to have survived more convincingly among children than among adults” (158). In a school scare in 1928 in Yorkshire, children became convinced that “a ghost with a three-cornered hat was planning to blow up their schools with dynamite” (158). This account of what happened in Yorkshire makes me wonder whether any schoolchildren in the United States will find supernatural figures responsible for tragic school shootings.
In Part III, The Death and Rebirth of the Boggart, Young traces the boggart’s demise in oral tradition by examining journalists’ and others’ memories of Boggard House in the village of Esholt. Although there are not many explanations of Boggard House’s name, he cites nineteenth-century sources indicating that the house’s name originated from local legends about a ghost of a man named Strothers playing marbles. In 1945 the house’s owner, Mrs. English, knew about supernatural marbles tournaments but did not know what the word “boggard” meant. Her best guess was that “a boggart is a kind of devil” (163). Records show that “a definite aura of the supernatural persisted in the house in the later twentieth century” (163), although stories from that period mainly describe self-starting machines. Examining linguistic sources and family records, Young shows that boggart lore gradually faded during the second half of the twentieth century. In the early twenty-first century, however, the boggart came back to life. Boggart walks, hunts, group storytelling sessions, and craft projects for schoolchildren show that the boggart has become more like an amusing goblin or fairy than a scary ghost. Entertaining and educating children has become the main motivator for sharing boggart lore. This kind of transmission certainly differs from spontaneous legend telling about “solitary supernatural creatures” (193), but it keeps the boggart alive in local communities.
Because Young’s writing style is lively, engaging, and accessible, The Boggart appeals to both scholars and general readers. One does not need to be a folklorist to enjoy reading about this supernatural figure’s development over time and to savor the local legends in which it has a starring role. The range of Young’s research is impressive, and his inclusion of intriguing images and maps adds to the book’s impact. For scholars who are interested in writing books about the development of a particular supernatural figure, this study offers a valuable model. I will keep an eye on boggart lore and hope that Simon Young will continue to write about its permutations in the years ahead.
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[Review length: 857 words • Review posted on January 20, 2023]