Hello!

If you’ve ever heard odd creaks in the house when no one else is home, or found something mysteriously misplaced even though you were sure you left it on the table, you might have jokingly blamed a ghost. But in old English folklore, it would more likely have been a boggart—the mischievous, sometimes downright nasty spirit that lives in houses, barns, or even fields.

What makes boggarts so fun to talk about is that they don’t have a single fixed form. In fact, they’re usually invisible, more a sense of menace than a creature you can point to. Some tales describe them as squat, ugly little goblin-like figures, while others insist you’d never see them at all—just their handiwork, which is usually mischief: spoiling milk, tangling hair, stealing small objects, frightening animals, or just creating a general atmosphere of unease. Imagine a poltergeist with a sense of humour and a mean streak, and you’re basically there.

In some stories, families actually try to appease their resident boggart with offerings of food or milk. The idea is that, if you kept the boggart happy, it might leave you in peace—or at least not go out of its way to torment you. Other tales, however, describe them as impossible to please: no matter how much you gave, they would always demand more, until life with a boggart became unbearable.

Of course, if you’ve grown up with modern fantasy, you might think of a boggart in a slightly different way. J.K. Rowling famously reimagined the creature in Harry Potter as a shape-shifter that takes the form of your greatest fear. That’s not a traditional version of the myth, but it cleverly captures the essence of what a boggart represents: fear, unease, and the way imagination fills in the blanks when something feels “off.”

I think that’s why boggarts stick around in stories and folklore—they embody the unsettling side of everyday life. They don’t belong in epic battles or sprawling quests; they belong in kitchens, attics, and farms, where people live their lives and tell stories around the fire. They’re the whispers in the dark corners, the explanation for the small, maddening things you can’t quite explain.

So, the next time the door creaks open by itself or something falls off the shelf in the middle of the night, you could shrug it off. Or, you could blame it on the house boggart and imagine it laughing quietly to itself in the shadows. After all, every home has its mysteries—and the boggart helps add to them.

Do you know any other stories about the boggart? Please share in the comments. I’d love to hear about them.

Reference and further reading: https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Boggart ;

What is a Boggart? Uncover Its Mythology & Mystery

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Till next time! Wishing you a great two weeks with a good book!

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