I was tantalized by the occult when a child, Naturally, since I was raised by a good Southern Baptist mother, I was deprived of as much supernatural exposure as Mother could manage. Fortunately, Daddy’s mother was extremely superstitious.
It goes without saying, Mother would never contradicted her to her face. Sometimes when Mamaw had a gaggle of grandchildren running wild around her, she’d launch into a ghost story, usually purported to be true. The wild grandchildren would immediately settle down at their mother’s knee to listen, enchanted and big-eyed with belief
Mamaw petrified us with tales of ghosts, spirits, deranged ax-murderers, boogermen, and bodies found in wells, totally unconcerned about the nightmares she was inspiring.
As soon as she could, Mother initiated damage control. “There are no ghosts or Boogermen!”
To this day, I don’t know why Mother took that stand, considering the good effect fear of ghosts and the boogerman had on those wild kids. Mamaw knew exactly what she was doing.
Sing at the table
Sing in the bed
Boogerman’ll git you
By the hair of the head!
Nutsrok 
Oh, you were better than me. I was a scaredy-cat through and through. I still struggle with fear of the dark. And no horror movies for me!
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I never really believed it but I wanted to!
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The only time I hear of the boogyman was on tv
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Lot’s of people I knew threatened there kids with the boogerman.
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That is hilarious!
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Mother sure missed out on good chance to get control of her wild kids. Ah, the burden of being a good mother.
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Oh, your mom 😂 terrifying the kids with lots of details and then just saying they do not exist. Of course, that worked 😂
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I loved the stories. Actually, It was my grandma, Daddy’s mother telling the stories. My mother tried to convince us later there were no ghosts. My grandma told them to make the wild kids sit down and shut up.
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Oh, I see, sorry, I misread it. However, A not very promising endeavor 🙈😄
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She knew the trick and you mother looked right past it.
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Wouldn’t Mother’s life had been easier if she’d put the Boogerman on standby?
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Absolutely!
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Yay for ghost stories – true ones or not, they are all fascinating! :)
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They are so exciting! How could anyone not love them?
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