Encounter Atlas

Creature index / Fairies and little people

Goblins

Also called Gobelin, Gobelinus, Lutin, Bogle, Hobgoblin

The grotesque, mischievous little creatures of European folklore, and a catch-all name for small fae.

A goblin is a small, grotesque and usually ill-natured creature of European folklore. The word came into English from Old French gobelin, and earlier from a Latin gobelinus: the 12th-century monk Orderic Vitalis wrote of a demon called Gobelinus driven out of a church at Évreux in Normandy. Goblins are said to live underground or in houses, and to do everything from playing pranks to doing real harm.

'Goblin' is used loosely for many small, troublesome fae: Yorkshire's boggarts, French lutins that knot horses' manes, Scottish redcaps, and even the household brownie. Christina Rossetti's poem Goblin Market (1862) gave the goblin men selling enchanted fruit a lasting place in English literature.

Writers also use 'goblin' for similar beings from other cultures, such as the Korean dokkaebi or the Zulu tokoloshe, and for modern encounters. The most famous is the 1955 Kelly-Hopkinsville case in Kentucky, where a family said small, glowing 'goblins' besieged their farmhouse all night.

What witnesses report

  • Small grotesque figures in the dark
  • Pranks, breakages and lost items
  • Knots in horses' manes
  • Sounds under floors or in cellars

Famous cases

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    Related

    Hobgoblinaka Robin Goodfellow, PuckA homely English household goblin, helpful but fond of practical jokes, like Shakespeare's Puck.Redcapaka Powrie, Bloody CapA murderous Border goblin that haunts ruined castles and dyes its cap in travellers' blood.Koboldaka Hausgeist, HütchenGermany's household sprite, helpful when fed and vicious when mocked, and the root of the word cobalt.Hobaka Hob-thrush, Hob-thrustA small, hairy northern English farm spirit that helps out, but leaves if given new clothes.Browniesaka Broonie, BrùnaidhA shaggy household spirit that does farm work at night in return for a bowl of cream.Duendesaka Duende, TrasgoThe small house and forest spirits of Spanish-speaking lands, from Spanish trasgos to Belize's Tata Duende.Kelly-Hopkinsville Goblinsaka Little green men, Kelly Little Green MenThe night a Kentucky farmhouse was besieged by small, glowing creatures.Tokolosheaka Tikoloshe, TokoloshA small, mischievous or harmful spirit of southern African belief; beds are raised on bricks against it.