I was idly surfing (on a Sunday afternoon) the Web, when I discovered a lovely toponym, Boggart Hole Clough, which the name of a municipal park (link) and a brewery (link) in Manchester. A clough (or cluff) is a ravive or narrow valley and a boggart (or [i]bogart, bogan, bogle, or boggle) is a mischievous imp or poltergeist that causes things to disappear, milk to go sour and dogs to became lame. The park started out as a haunted farmstead on the outskirts of Manchester, but has since been submerged in the advance of the urban tide. Bogie is interesting because it's both 'the undercarriage of a railroad car with wheels that swivel' and 'an unidentified plane' (cf. foo fighter), though they are both of uncertain origin. Besides foo fighters, WW2 aviators complained about gremlins causing trouble aboard their planes (there is a funny WW2-vintage Warner Brothers cartoon about them). Funny how war tends to make one resurrect old superstitions.

I had never heard of the word nor, sadly, the beer. I must now rectify both omissions!

Nor had I (the beer or park that is). I'll look out for the beer in future.

quote:

WW2 aviators complained about gremlins causing trouble aboard their planes (there is a funny WW2-vintage Warner Brothers cartoon about them)

And a classic Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner.