Eye - 01 March 2013

From Bogeys to hearsay

by Eye 1st March 2013

Friendly Bogeys

As you flick through the pages of Fungus the Bogeyman, you will be in for a surprise.

Raymond Briggs’ book features Bogeys, subterranean dwellers who enjoy things humans don’t: over-ripe food, damp, cold and the dark. The defences built along the borders of their land are topped off with ‘Quaker Guns’.

Owen Everett, of Watford Meeting, got in touch to share the Bogeys’ philosophy: ‘The Quaker Guns are to “inspire fear”; in reality they are “made of wood. They make no noise, have no ammunition, and do not fire”. After all, bogeys had realised “long ago” that “metal guns did far more harm than good”.’