The Celtic form of bugbear, or bug-a-boo. He comes down the chimney like a nursery bogie to fetch naughty children. The Bodach Glas is a death token, and William Henderson, in Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties (p.344), cites it among Highland beliefs in his account of death tokens:

Such a prophet of death was the Bodach Glas, or Dark Grey Man, of which Sir Walter Scott makes such effective use in Waverley towards the end of Fergus Maclvor's history. Its appearance foretold death in the clan of —, and I have been informed on the most credible testimony of its appearance in our own day. The Earl of E—, a nobleman alike beloved and respected in Scotland, and whose death was truly felt as a national loss, was playing on the day of his decease on the links of St Andrews the national game of golf. Suddenly he stopped in the middle of a game, saying 'I can play no longer, there is the Bodach Glas. I have seen it for the third time; something fearful is going to befall me.' He died that night at M.M—, as he was handing a candlestick to a lady who was retiring to her room. The clergyman from whom I received the story endorses it as authentic, and names the gentleman to whom Lord E— spoke.

[Motif: E723.2]