Abstract
Kinderschreck, or bogeyman, is a figure on the fringes of academic research, although his role in the everyday life of children and adults has been significant for centuries. Narratives about ghosts punishing child disobedience have several functions.
The primary function is disciplinary. However, we should not neglect their secondary function - the entertainment.
The educational function is performed by narrations passed on to children from the mouths of adults, this mainly oral transmission in the form of indirect warning acquaints children with the rules that should be followed. Spooks used by parents most often supervise the maintenance of personal hygiene, work safety, early bedtime or sobriety in food.
However, scaring children is not just the domain of adults, many children liked the stories and started using them to scare their friends or younger siblings. Such stories, although often with traditional disciplinary ghosts, usually lose their educational function and kinderschreck thus become character whose task is only to frighten the listeners.
This development is accelerated by the growing influence of artistic and popular culture and communication media.