"The Boogeyman" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the March 1973 issue of the magazine Cavalier and later included in King's 1978 collection, Night Shift. The story takes place in the office of Dr. Harper, a psychiatrist, where a man named Lester Billings talks to the doctor about the "murders" of his three young children, describing the events of the past several years. His first two children died mysteriously of apparently unrelated causes (diagnosed as crib death and convulsions, respectively) when left alone in their bedrooms. The only commonalities were that the children cried "boogeyman!" before being left alone, and the closet door being ajar after discovering their corpses, even though Lester is certain the door was shut.
Adaptations (1)
The Boogeyman was adapted into a 2023 film.
The Boogeyman2023 · film · 98 min · dir. Rob Savage · IMDb ↗Still reeling from the tragic death of their mother, a teenage girl and her younger sister find themselves plagued by a sadistic presence in their house and struggle to get their grieving father to pay attention before it’s too late.
