Chapter

Boggart

The area was abuzz with news of a local farmer whose farm was haunted by a troublesome spirit called a boggart. As well as causing all manner of mischief around the house, the creature denied its hosts a wink of sleep, keeping them up all night with ear-splitting crashes and screams. The local parson, arriving with bell, book, and candle to exorcise the spirit, had been sent packing with a bent candlestick and his hat aflame, and the proper ways to deal with such an infestation were the sole topic of conversation in ever hostelry for several miles around.

— William Stukeley, July 1721

Boggarts are troublesome spirits that haunt a house or an outdoor location like a marsh, a cave, or a bridge. Household boggarts are always solitary, and annoy the family by playing tricks like overturning crocks of food or drink, keeping everyone awake with tapping and other noises, and breaking furniture. They are tricky to identify, since poltergeists and disgruntled brownies often behave in the same way. Boggarts like to hide in small spaces. They can squeeze through the narrowest of gaps. They rarely speak, but sometimes hurl taunts at the household from the shadows. Outdoor boggarts are more dangerous, leading travelers into danger or panicking horses, so they throw their riders or crash whatever cart or carriage they are pulling. They can infest an area in large numbers, even eating the bodies of mortals whom they kill. Boggarts take care never to be seen, but if someone with the Sight catches a glimpse of one it generally looks like a hunched and misshapen humanoid. Some are shaggy, with huge, staring eyes. Some are shapeshifters, taking fearsome forms in order to spread panic and confusion.

Ritual

Boggarts can be kept out of a house or a room by hanging a horseshoe on the door or spreading salt in the doorway. Once they have taken up residence in a location, they are very difficult to dislodge, though domestic boggarts attach themselves to the family rather than the home, even following them when they try to move away. One should be careful never to name a boggart, for when it is given a name it becomes violent and uncontrollable.