In our journey through “name game” links to how various past Bigfoot, Mystery Cat or other cryptid sightings and folklore are often left as an artifact in geography, via the naming of the land, we must consider “Booger.”

Like most words that seem tied to past close encounters of the monstrous kind, the obvious is often taken for granted.

Devil Monkey © Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe 1999, 2006; © Harry Trumbore 1999, 2006, from The Field Guide to Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates.

Booger is related to the same origins as boogey man and is a generalized place name now for areas where any kind of strange beasts have been seen. Remember the “Belt Road Booger“? Tom Finley has investigated “boogers.”

Henry Franzoni doing research on the name once found sixteen Booger locations in the USA and Canada.

There is a Booger Pond in South Carolina, Booger Den Hollow, Booger Hill, Booger Hollow and Boogertown Gap, all in Tennessee, Booger Canyon in New Mexico, Booger Branch and Boogertown in North Carolina, Booger Hole Slough in Mississippi, Booger Hollow in Kentucky and one in Arkansas, Booger Canyon and Booger Spring in Arizona, The Booger Hole and Boogerhill cemetery in Alabama, and Booger Lake in Ontario.

There are more out there, as lots of Booger spots, a creek here, a pond there, in the South just are not on any of the newer, bigger maps.

Do you have one in your area?

For more on another closely related name game, see the “Fayette Factor.”