The Boogeyman (short story)

"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.

Plot summary
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.

Approximately a year after their second child's death, Lester's wife, Rita, became pregnant with their son Andy and subsequently moved to a different neighborhood, far from the old one. A year passes without incident, with Andy sleeping in the master bedroom with Lester and Rita. Lester believes that the monster eventually tracked his family down, intruding in the house and slithering around at night. Not long after, Rita leaves to take care of her ill mother, leaving Lester and Andy alone.

Feeling the malevolent presence growing bolder in his wife's absence, Lester began to panic and decided to move Andy to a separate bedroom, knowing that the monster would go for him. That night, Andy cried "boogeyman!" while being put to bed and, an hour later, was attacked and killed by the boogeyman. Lester, upon seeing the creature throttling Andy, fled to a local 24-hour diner. He later returned home at dawn, called the police, and discovered Andy's corpse on the floor with the closet door ajar. Lester convinced the police that Andy had attempted to climb out of his crib during the night and broken his neck.

As Lester finishes his story and starts to leave, Dr. Harper recommends making future appointments with the nurse. Finding the nurse absent, Lester returns to Harper's office and finds it empty, with the closet door ajar. The boogeyman emerges from the closet, casting off its disguise of Dr. Harper.

Adaptations
The story was adapted into a short film by Jeff C. Schiro in 1982. It has also been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a full-length theatrical play, directed by television actor David Oakes. In 2010, Irish filmmaker Gerard Lough turned it into a 27-minute movie.

A feature film of the same name was released on June 2, 2023, by 20th Century Studios. Written by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and Mark Heyman, and directed by Rob Savage, it stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, David Dastmalchian, Marin Ireland, Vivien Lyra Blair, and Madison Hu.