Sasquatch Chronicles

Why Bigfoot Is Called a “Booger” in the South

The term “booger” (sometimes “boogerman” or “boogey”) comes from “bogey” or “bugbear”, old English words that meant a frightening creature or ghost used to scare children into behaving. “Bogey” appears in English as early as the 1500s, referring to a hobgoblin or specter.

This word traveled through Scotland, Ireland, and the American colonies, especially into the Appalachian Mountains and the Deep South, where accents and local slang transformed bogeybooger. In this sense, booger didn’t originally mean something gross from your nose that came later as slang evolved.

Why Bigfoot Is Called a “Booger” in the South

In many parts of the rural American South and Appalachia, “booger” became a catch-all word for any frightening, mysterious creature — ghosts, haints, wild men, or monsters lurking in the woods. So when early reports of a hairy, man-like creature began circulating (especially before the word Bigfoot became popular in the late 1950s), locals already had a name for such a being “the Booger.”

Some regions have specific versions, like:

People would say things like:

“Don’t go out after dark, the booger’ will get you.”

This was part cautionary tale, part folklore blending fear of the unknown with local storytelling traditions.

Summary

So when you hear a Southerner say “the Booger’s out in them woods,” it’s their regional version of saying “Bigfoot’s out there.”

Examples

The Flintville Booger (Tennessee)

 

The Blount County Booger (Alabama)

 

The Chickasaw County Booger Man (Mississippi)

 

The Boogerman of Marion, North Carolina

 

Booger Hollow (Arkansas)

 

The Pascagoula River “Booger” (Mississippi Gulf Region)

 

The Tennessee “Booger Lights”

 

Before Bigfoot became the national name, “Booger” was the Southern word for any wild, hairy, or supernatural thing that scared people in the night.
In Appalachia, there are also “Booger Dances” — old Cherokee and mountain folk rituals meant to scare away evil spirits — showing how deeply that word connects to the region’s ghost and monster lore.

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