Dreams and Shadows

chapter THIRTEEN

ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FOREST BOGIES

An excerpt by Dr. Thaddeus Ray, Ph.D., from his book A Chronicle of the Dreamfolk

The chief problem in dealing with forest bogies is their complete and total lack of self-awareness. While they are unconsciously driven to certain behavior, they may not understand why, or even desire the outcome they will inevitably achieve. This is the unfortunate conundrum of many bogies’ existence. Not everything that causes harm sets out with that intent. Sometimes their motives are far more profound or lofty.

This is not meant in any way as a defense of the bogey. While not all of them are innately and intentionally evil, many are. Take for example the Buber. A Buber is a vicious, mean-spirited, shape-changing beast (often appearing in the guise of an old woman or an elderly man with a long gray beard) without an ounce of humanity anywhere in its hideous form. It will kiss a sleeping human being and consume its life force before slipping into its body and possessing it. Once it has consumed every last ounce of a person and done all the evil it can, it leaves behind the empty, lifeless husk with white, colorless eyes the only sign of possession. Bubers are dedicated purely to evil.

On the other hand, by all accounts Aufhockers are friendly, mischievous spirits known for their proclivity for jumping aback a person and riding them like a horse. In centuries past, many pixies and sprites were known to jump astride horses in the middle of the night and ride them to a lather, returning them before dawn exhausted and useless for the next day. This was not done with malice as much as it was done in the name of good humor. There was no permanent damage, as a tired horse could always rest. Such is the thinking of the Aufhocker. Rather than riding horses, they jump on the backs of travelers and ride them into the forest. Much like pixies and sprites, they find the stunt funny, intended only to scare the traveler, riding them until they are exhausted and cannot take another step. What the Aufhocker does not consciously realize, however, is that they are driven to ride these people to their deaths.

It is why one should never trust a bogey, even a well-intentioned one. Like a wild dog, it might look approachable, but if you get too close its nature kicks in. These creatures must be avoided and their tactics understood. If you run across a maiden in the woods and she asks you to dance, she’s a bogey. Perhaps she might offer you gold or some manner of payment to dance, lie, or otherwise find yourself occupied with her, but the end result will always be the same.

Or take for example the infamous Erl King (or the Elf King’s Daughter, from whom the tales of the Erl King arose) who will strike you ill for rejecting him. Damned if you dance, damned if you don’t. In this case there is nothing one can do. Thus it is wisest to ignore any and all travelers while wandering through the woods. There is a good chance they mean you harm.

It would seem that these creatures feel emotion only to serve an end: to feed. Like a human being feels a rumble in its stomach to alert him to the need for food, a forest spirit feels love, jealousy, or anger. In this way they are both drawn to their food and possess the means to lure it to its doom. It is entirely feasible that a nixie truly loves the men she lures to watery graves, hoping and believing that they will live forever beneath the waves. Though one must never mistake this emotion for true feeling, nor believe you might be the exception to the rule. The soils of many forests are littered with the bones of people who thought the same.