Overview

Children have always been afraid of the boogeyman lurking in their closets. Little do muggle children know that there is an actual boogeyman, but he looks different depending on what you fear the most.
A Boggart is a shapeshifting creature, that takes the form of its opponent’s worst fear. Boggarts live in dark, cramped places like underneath beds, in wardrobes, drawers, and cupboards. Nobody knows the true form of a boggart because it hasn’t been seen within its dark space. Once it senses another person, it changes form. If the opponent fears more than one thing equally, the boggart will alternate between all of them. This shape-shifting allows the Boggart to gather its nourishment: the fear of people. It isn’t certain how the boggarts change into abstract fears like darkness or drowning unless it is able to envelop a person in these concepts. If it can’t project these fears into shapeshifting, it is possible that the boggart’s true form could be seen. The one person that could have known the true form of a boggart was Alastor Moody when stating that a creature inhabiting 12 Grimmauld Place was a boggart. He was said to have had this ability due to his magical false eye. Unfortunately, Molly Weasley tried to confront the boggart but was unable to due to it changing into the dead bodies of the people she loved. It cycled through her children, husband, and even Harry Potter. Remus Lupin defeated the boggart by turning it into a puff of smoke.
Boggarts do not gain any abilities of the things it may change into. If a person fears dragons, the boggart won’t be able to breathe fire. It will only look like a dragon. They will also lack the strength of the creatures they are imitating. Remus Lupin stated this when a boggart took the form of a dementor for Harry Potter. They are classified as non-being by the Ministry of Magic. This means that the creature can’t really be seen by muggles, but can, however, be felt and is not held to the laws made by wizard-kind. Non-beings aren’t born and can’t die. This means that you can’t ever truly defeat a boggart, but simply weaken it and move it elsewhere. Other names for a Boggart include Boggle, Bogle and the Bogeyman. In muggle folklore, this magical creature has striking similarities to the Cucuy. A cucuy is a creature from Latino folklore that also hides in dark places and can change its form at will to scare people.
You can defend yourself against boggarts by using the Riddikulus spell. The effects of this spell, when properly cast, is to turn the Boggart into something you find very funny. This will cause laughter and, in turn, weaken the Boggart. There is no way to kill a Boggart, but this method can be used to get rid of one. If the caster has more than one fear that comes to mind, the boggart will cycle through those fears equally. Additionally, the more people you have to face a Boggart, the more likely you are to succeed in getting rid of it. Its attention will be spread between however many people there are and it won’t be able to focus. Harry Potter encountered a boggart during the third task of the Triwizard Tournament in 1994. It took the form of a dementor, causing Potter to cast his Patronus at the creature. It fell back, tripping over its robes, indicating that it was not a dementor, but a boggart.
Below is an image from the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class, taught by Professor Lupin in 1993. His student, Neville Longbottom, was facing a Boggart and it turned into Professor Snape. In order to make it funny, Mr. Longbottom imagined him in his grandmother’s clothing!

Credits/References

Written by A. P.
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.