What if the boogeyman wasn’t just a story told to stop children misbehaving but actually existed?

The Boogeyman, an imaginary character as old as bedtime stories themselves. Everyone knows the story told to them when they were younger that if they misbehaved and didn’t listen to their parents they would get taken away by the Boogeyman that lurked under there bed. The story Boogeyman has had its diverse variations in different cultures.

The BoogeyMan

Examples:

Japan

The Namahage visits each house on New Year’s to ask if any misbehaving children live there. If the parents are able to report that their children are not lazy and do not cry, he moves on to the next house.

Spain/South America

Lullaby:

Duérmete, niño, duérmete ya.

Que viene el coco y te comerá. The Boogeyman

Translation: Go to sleep child, go to sleep now.

The coconut man will come and eat you.

During the 16th and 17th centuries in Spain, there were orphan collectors, who took children away in sacks because of misbehaviour and Refusing to go to bed and sleep.

Bahamas

The Small Man has a rolling cart and captures children who are out after sundown. If he gets you, you will become a Small Person yourself, and ride in his cart forever.

Now the question goes as follows "What if the boogeyman was real?" If this happened to be the case it can go one of two ways. First of, the boogeyman much like now could be used as a tool for disciplining children, as a best-case scenario. But if the case that he was real became a reality I don’t believe that it would cause a worldwide panic today, since he has been around for a while, world leaders and governments would have taken note of such a threat. But it would definitely become a standard procedure for parents to stay on high alert of him and keep the children safe until adulthood as the overall fear would still be at play as any slip up could mean that the children would be In danger.