Oogie boogie was a gambler, and was caught cheating with a pair of dice, the casino was run by a mafia, they skinned him alive and put him 6 foot down under

In Portuguese, the part of the song the kids sing that says “ we do our best to please him and stay on his good side” was translated to “tentamos agradá-lo pra gente não morrer”, which means “we try to please him so we don’t die”, which basically confirms that those kids are being threatened to do what he wants

I heard another theory that he was a mobster who owned/ operated a casino and was killed and buried in a sack some where. I forget the video though.

What if Lock, Shock, and Barrel died in ways linked to their names? Lock died from being locked in a freezer and died of hypothermia and starvation hence the blue lips and pale skin. Barrel died from being drowned in a barrel of water, seeing as he has dark lips, protruding eyes with dark circles, and green hair. And Shock died of electrocution hence her sparse frizzled hair, missing teeth, and tired eyes.

I don’t think Oogie’s boys are actually kids. The impression I got from the movie was that they’re actually a sort of evil entity that takes the form of kids to sneak into the real world on Halloween and blend in with the kids to do malicious things

This may be irrelevant, due to the game either being canon or noncanonical, but in the 2004 video game, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, the very beginning scene introduces Jack as the winner of the award, The most Spines Tingled BY a non corporeal being. A non corporeal being being someone or something that is true essence that exists non-physically, whether as a soul, as energy, or as an abstract concept. This leads me to believe that Jack, along with all the other residents of Halloween Town are merely the concept and essences of the many different elements of Halloween, with Jack being Halloween itself. You have the mayor as a two faced politician, which can be very scary, the clown with a tear away face shows how you don't who is under all that make up and wide smile, and then just certain creatures like the witches, the vampires, the ghouls, and cats are more typically elements of Halloween. Halloween Town is place where the holiday can live and thrive as it's own being. And the same can be said for all the other holidays,

He may have been, but I like the theory that Lock, Stock, and Barrel happened to have witnessed Oogie Boogie's murder by rival gangsters. They threw his body in a bag and dumped him in a swamp, they then killed each of the kids and threw them in the swamp too. The clues are in his lair, he's surrounded by gambling apparatus, twisted in a way that shows death, such as the sword wielding cards etc, and Oogies obsession with games is telling. Perhaps he was involved in casinos, perhaps because there is jazz he was a gangster from the 20's that got a little too sure of himself, and made the wrong deal. Could he have been a serial killer? Sure, in fact, being able to kill and dispose of the bodies is part of the job of a gangster.. why does halloween town citizens fear him, because he represents "adult" fears. Murder and Addiction are a few.. whereas Halloween town residents are mostly fictional or "childhood fears". Stephen King explores this in "IT" where the towns people seem oblivious to the abuse of the children and the racist actions of the residents while the kids are scared of the monsters created by "IT".

I think he was a former gambler who originally was really good, but he made a bet too big for him to win and when he lost and couldn't pay up the collector decided to collect the money in a different way by harvesting the guys organs and then leaving the remains in a sack for the bugs to eat.

The that he ate people in past life gives me an idea that he was a cannibal. He might lived in a town but kept it a secret until someone ( Or a group of people ) found out about his crimes so they killed him, put him in a sack and buried the sack.

I don't think Sally had a past life. she was created in Halloween then just like jewel. I like this theory though, makes oogie a lot more creepy.

I allways wondered why boogie was afraid of Jack whenever he showed up to confront him. Makes me wonder if Jack's capable of more than just an *entertaining* show. He may be able to plunge any being into the deepest terror and does so even unintentionally through his Christmas shenanigans. So imagine when he WANTS you afraid.

One of the theory’s y the mayor has 2 faces is that he is bipolar Also as Jack pulled the string from oogie boogies sack its starts to dismember and actually looks like he’s being skinned supporting his death theory

I agreed that Oogie was a killer. I would think that Oogie killed his own 3 kids(Lock, Shock & Barrel), which he named after gun parts. Since he has only three kids, but I don’t know how he got married to anyone in his past life.

I like these theories but I don’t think we really get any solid evidence that any of the characters had past lives. The doctor made sally, plus we see him make other creatures in the movie. I think it’s safe to assume these characters just existed as is and nothing more. Just like how Santa and his elves.

Why do people think that the residents of Halloween Town are dead people? There's a Christmas Town, an Easter Town, a Thanksgiving Town, and I think I even saw a St Patrick's Town door in the woods. In this world, there's literally some sort of supernatural place representative of each major holiday, and the residents of these places presumably are able to travel to the human world, as evidenced by Jack flying his sleigh to deliver presents. He wouldn't have known he could reach the humans if he hadn't done so before. The opening song "This is Halloween" is meant to be performed for somebody. Not much reason for the residents to be performing it just for themselves. The mayor says there's 364 days to the next Halloween, meaning that while their entire residence is themed around that one holiday, they celebrate it when the humans do. These aren't dead people. These are supernatural entities. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for all the other holiday-themed lands to exist.

Oogie was actually from another holiday door called bug day. He found his way to Halloween town and tried to take it over as his own. Jack stopped him but allowed him to stay but as an outcast

I sorta feel like for his punishment he was stuffed inside a poorly made body bag (hence it coming loose so often) and it was filled with bugs and eventually was buried alive.

“Filling your dreams to the brim with- The chicken ranch sandwich” Me: *weeze*

I always thought that he was possibly a serial killer who was killed via someone putting him in a burlap sack full of flesh eating insects and also possibly that he killed his 3 henchman and they listen to him out of fear of him putting them through it again I also thought maybe he would use a form of chance like dice or a wheel to pick how he killed his victims

Well in the games, oogie use to be the king of bug town for there use to be a bug holiday, which can be tied together by the fact he wanted to take over halloween town and he wants to take over other holidays to be seen again. If we count the games in the discussion

The reason serial killer "gets off " on the power they take from their victims

I believe that Oggie killed Jack’s child and Jack got revenge on Oggie by skinning him that is why Oggie is so afraid of Jack who was then caught killing Oggie then burned alive

"there is no children in the town" Well... Yeah there are, and im no including oogies gang

For the doctor look up the doctor that stole a patients body from her grave an stitched her together, he then lived with her in his house for 7 year's. He even stuffed her body like Sally is stuffed with leaf's.

I watched this one vidoe on how lock shock and barrel died lock was hypothermia because of the color os his lips, barrel was drowning from his and shock since she has no color in hers is lack of oxygen and if they didn't mention this in the vidoe (throwing barrel in the rub actually made me think of this just now ) but that makes sense they threw barrel I the tub filled with water with something heavy on him (that can make him DROWN) since it's halloween town I would assume it'd cold all year round for lock especially with the snow and for shock lock was strangling her so I believe those are hints of how those 3 died so it actually makes sense

3:15 Corpse kid and his parents: "Are we jokes to you?"

I heard an extension off this theory saying how another clue to his real world origins is the apparent interest in gambling and the matching decor to his hideout. I forget who exactly but one off the big name serial killers (gasey or dahmer maybe) liked to gamble.

Oogie boogie was also a gambler might be worth looking into for his identity

The one thing that basically disproves the theory that Jack Skellington and the other Halloween Town residents were once human, is that none of them know what Christmas is. Even if they didn't celebrate it as humans, they should still know about it. It's literally one of the most popular holidays.

Why do you keep pushing this framework of Halloweentown being the Land of the Dead? Shouldn’t it be way more crowded, then? Or did Oogie eat….everyone? It makes more sense that the residents, Oogie included, are just as they appear: monstrous beings that take after spooky concepts and creatures from humanity’s stories and lore, with the caveat that they’re more or less just regular people. As for Oogie, it’s entirely possible that he’s just a recluse or was kicked out of town proper because he keeps scheming to take over Halloween or something. He’s not exactly implied to be a very pleasant person.

The boogy man had Santa on a meat hook and skeletons in painful traps I definitely agree with this theory

You do know there was a video game that explains his origin right? Oogie was the king of a long dead holiday called Bug Day. When his town vanished do to people forgetting the holiday Oogie plotted to take over Halloween Town.

I believe one of the games actually states that Oogie was king of the Bug realm and had his own holiday until people started to stop believing in the holiday so his realm ended up disappearing and he is the only known survivor and refugee. He takes over Halloween town but is overthrown and banished by Jack to the outskirts.

The prequel game on the GBA states that oogie had his own holiday called bug day that was forgotten by the humans so he decided to invade Halloween Town

I recently discovered the existence of a prequel game that debunked most theories basically he plays a similar role to Jack and sandy Claus he ruled over a holiday called bug day but people stopped celebrating it so he invaded halloween town to make halloween the new bug day

I think all the townsfolk represent or personalize an innate fear. I think that Boogie isn't just a serial killer, but represents the fear of being preyed upon or taken advantage of (hence the gambling motif).

Oogies is the manifestation for things that creep us out like bugs. Children's fears. But Jack through his constantly being smashed and lit on fire throughout the film could be personified as death itself as he is unable to even be harmed it seems while oogie, well, he comes apart at the seems when the pressure is on. Just like any childhood fear. So boogie is childhood fears thus his children henchmen but Jack is fear and the heart of fear for us all, the fear of death and the unknown as we truly don't know the extent of Jack's abilities. Ill always remember the burning scarecrow scene and then seeing him in his suit afterward I was like. Ill take that over fiery scarecrow. Universal fear.

Oogie was definitely a Gambler. His entire lair is basically a casino

Lets face it. Jack's probobly got a couple of scythe tools at home for his side gig lol.

My own version of The Nightmare Before Christmas: 1. Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington (As a CGI Jack) 2. Amy Adams as Sally 3. Michael Douglas as Dr. Finkelstein 4. Gary Oldman as the Mayor (native English/British accent for the happy face and American accent for the sad face) 5. John Goodman as Santa Claus 6. Roman Griffin Davis as Lock 7. Cameron Seely as Shock 8. Archie Yates as Barrel 9. Daveed Diggs as Oogie Boogie

Totally amazing video about oogie boogie origin story theories too. Fantastic job

Boogie was afraid of Jack in the movie, so you might want to rethink who was the scariest in town

What if, to aid this theory. Only another possible reason the villagers of Halloween town is that jack was the one who skinned and buried oogie boogie? So when he was eventually laid to rest, they found comfort in the fact he brought down the big bad boi. (Also might explain the horrible amount of fear boogie holds for jack.)

He is the shadow of the moon and night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright ...hence his given name, Oogie Boogieman Anyhow, the horror guy approves of this video XD

I watched your video about Barrel being the Beldam's son. To go further on that, I think you may be able to link the Corpse Bride to Coraline and possibly The Nightmare before Christmas. It may be a stretch but, there is a skeleton boy in a sailor outfit in The Corpse Bride, the picture of the Boring Blue Boy is also wearing a sailor outfit

Well he could be a mass murderer from roman times who was drowned in a sack with bugs in it it was an actual punishment from that time.

i thought Xenophobia was the fear of other races other than your own. or are people confusing that with racism?

This guy really knows how to make a “200 words or more per paragraph.” Assignment

Personaly i think that when oogie boogie was human he was either a gambler and/or ran a cassino as well as being a mob boss of some kind. The way he died could have been because he wound up in debt and was skined and burried as punishment.

Is it just me who’s fav character is Oogie Boogie. Or at least one of my favs

There's grasping at straws, and then there's this

Don’t forget about the witches that said “Say it once, Say it twice! Take a chance and roll the dice!”

Wanted to mention from your most recent video on the Beldam's son. It'd also be ironic because if it was true that her son (or Barrel) was drowned and that the Beldam was "killed" from being tossed into the old well. Since technically then they would have both been killed by drowning, and then linking them together still.

Jack skeleton was a enderman, and I was jack for halloween

What about him gambling

That’s a very convincing theory but if that were to be the case wouldn’t his corpse turn into a skeleton?

In my opinion, Nightmare Before Christmas is a transitional movie, I save for after Halloween, but before Thanksgiving when I fully switch to Christmas mode after dinner on Thanksgiving.

it actually wasn't an instant classic. It was actually not well recieved and did poorly in the box office. It wasn't until the early 2010's that people started to see this movie as great.

In the nightmare before Christmas gba game it is told that he was the ruler of bug town (a holiday) and when it was no longer seen as a holiday he moved to Halloween town

we actually have lore for Oogie Boogie already, and he's not an actual resident of Halloween town. In the confirmed canon Gameboy Advanced Nightmare Before Christmas game, It gives us his origin, He comes from another holiday town that faded away, because people stopped celebrating his holiday. His holiday was some kind of bug-themed event (hence him being a literal bag of bugs, all the remaining members of his old holiday town) called "New Bug Day", and he originally intended to come to Halloween town to take control of the place, destroying Halloween, and restoring his own holiday in its place, under the new name "Crawloween*. Jack stopped him, and scared him into staying in his lair, threatening to kill him if he set one foot anywhere near Halloween town. This kept Oogie Boogie at bay, even through the events of the movie we never see him leave his lair. Eventually though, he would manage to come back, and once again attempt to take control, and restore his bug-holiday, in the Nightmare Before Christmas PS2 game, which is also confirmed canon to Nightmare before Christmas world, he attacks Halloween town, before eventually being defeated by Jack again. So there you have it, Oogie Boogie is in fact, just the remnants of a forgotten Holiday, and likely wasn't a human at any point, due to his origin being far from Halloween town. My guess would be he is just the manifestation of fear associated with the Boogie man, and other cultures versions of the entity. many cultures have events made to appease these Boogie men, so its not too much of a stretch to assume Oogie Boogies "holiday" was one of these events, which eventually faded into the mists of history, leaving Oogie Boogie homeless. I was also surprised when I found out Oogie Boogie had so much lore, I learnt it from a video a few months back, from a youtuber called "Disney Daily". I was more surprised to find out Nightmare before Christmas had not one, but two videogames though, a prequal and a sequel!!

Boogey Man is what they call John Wick who is really good at killing with whatever he has in hand. so the vid makes sense

I find it hard to believe that Jack wouldn't have gone after Oogie Boogie if the evil guy had actually eaten most of the children in town and destroyed him before the movie opened.

@6:39 *Xenophobia* had a very different meaning in the late 19th century, all due to a man named *Jean Martin de Saintours* . 'Xenophobia answered the plaintive colonizer’s question: why do they hate us? The response had nothing to do with land grabs, theft, indentured servitude, or occupation. Nor was this an exercise in Romanian-style ultra-nationalism. This xenophobia was due to an in-born condition, a reflexive fear and hatred of all strangers that, anthropologists duly explained, stemmed from the inferiority of primitives.'

I’m getting serious Michel Myers vibes

Some serial killers who just seem to dissappear like Jack the Ripper, I think they just messed with the wrong person and fell at the hands of their would be victim or siad victim's friend or family.

I wonder what, if the fear part of the theory is true, the fear of long words would be represented by?

the problem with this theory is ruined by Nightmare before Christmas the Pumpkin king when it was revealed that Oogie was the king of his own holiday bug day which was forgotten so he tried to take over Halloween town but failed because of Jack whom banished him

I actually drew fanart of this once. i love this theory!

“But i JACK the pumpkin king grow so weary of the same ole thing”

Fun fact. I'm it's orginal release it was labeled a flop on Disney. It was only a few months/years later did it reach popularity

I think Oogie Boogie is the amalgamation of multiple serial killers, that's why he made up so many bugs, all the bugs represent every serial killer who has died.

I'd like Oogie's Revenge (the game) to the the official sequel to the first movie.

I don’t know if this is canon to the movie, but there is a nightmare before Christmas video game. The plot of said game Oogie boogie actually came from an obscure and forgotten holiday “Bug Day” like Jack he found the holiday doors. Once in Halloween Town oogie loved it so much that he wanted to become the pumpkin king. Jack beats him thus making oogie afraid of Jack. Jack did respect oogie’s creepyness so he allowed him to stay on the outskirts of town.

It also is very evident that he is afraid of Jack. And he also seems to hate Jack a lot, especially when Jack is considered scarier, and Oogey wants to be the scariest there is.

this reminds me of the theory that jack is just a dead grinch

Personally, I don't think he was skinned. I think he was stuffed into a sack filled with bugs and worms and the like and then buried alive. I also think that his association with gambling is a bigger part of his character than some people let on. I mean, it wasn't even mentioned in this video.

I think he was a mobster but this could connect to your theory

I personally like a theory I heard that boogie’s boys were three of Oogie Boogie’s victims in life who ended up following him to Halloween town due to their traumatic deaths and possible prankster behavior

I don't know they seem to serve willingly. They don't act like people that serve under threat of death

2:11 Could have also been a Vegas-style crime boss. That would explain the gambling motif.

if i was in a movie id hope that all the theories about me had to do with me eating everything too

The only thing I would point out is that Oogie Boogie says in his song "Oh the sound of rolling dice to me is music in the air cause I'm a gamblin Boogie Man although I don't play fair it's so much more fun I must confess when lives are on the line not mine of course but yours oh boy now that'd be just fine" which shows that Oogie is a gambler which is not mentioned in the theory at all but that's it

Maybe oogie boogie killed Sally to. I MEAN! COME ON I CANT BE THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT!!

I never really thought much of the origin of the various characters in Nightmare but some do seem to be 'dead' versions of a person who could have lived before but there are also beings in Halloween town who are mythological characters, witches, vampires etc in addition to other 'monster' beings so I don't know that necessarily every character would have a human backstory. I look at Oogie Boogie as the Boogie Man, the personification of the 'thing' that is supposed to get children if they don't behave, say their prayers etc so to me, the Boogie Man lives from fear itself. That's why he puts Sandy Claws through so much but doesn't physically hurt him, he's feeding of his fear of what might happen to him. So for me it makes sense that Oogie doesn't really have a physical form, only what is shaped by the scary burlap bag with all the creepy crawlies inside it. When his bag is unraveled then what's inside can only come apart as he had no substance to begin with.

Tim Burton actually had nothing to do with this movie except that his name was placed on it to make it sell. Henry Selick directed it.

Nightmare before Christmas isn't just a Halloween movie. It is also a Christmas movie, too

The picture implies that it is Joe Methany. However the movie was released 3 years before he was caught.

I think that in his past life he was a gangster with a gambling problem or at least something like that

I would think that Oogie would've been a cannibal, but also yeah serial killer is rlly believable.

I was Ooogie Boogie in my past life. I learned a lot

Lock dresses like a Devil something that lives in Hell a place that is always hot to counter being frozen to death Shock dressed as a witch who was often hanged or suffocated like she was. Barrel dressed as a skeleton and named barrel might have been murdered via barrel murder was a method of "execution" done by mobsters but here the barrel was full of water so Barrel had nowhere to get out till he drowned and the barrel could easily get shipped out or abonde near other barrels without anyone knowing.

your underrated :(

Interesting choice of serial killer for the thumbnail. Joe Bethany. The serial killer who sold human meat burgers to unsuspecting people

I thought the Mayor represents a "2 faced Politician". Trusted on the outside. Dark on the outside.

The only thing I know about Oogie boogie story is in the nightmare before Christmas video games one of the video games talk about oogie boogie story and oogie used to be holiday king like jack was pumpkin king that’s all I know about his origin story 🎃

Under your theory, the best fit for Oogie is the Candyman, Dean Coril, a notorious child killer from the 1970s.

When Jack was defeating oggie boggie he was stripping his body down to his core which was a tiny worm which probably was that actually oggie boggie and the other bugs were following his orders to make this movement or that action and etc. Using that and the possibility of how he died in his past life my guess was that he was actually a suicidal office worker that got caught in a lot of gambling debts and took the easy way out just like the little worm he is in the very end.

I miss stop motion edgy movies

Oogi boogi is a sack controlled by millions of bugs because when he gets defeated you can here one of the bugs speaking

oogie boogie was a mascot of his own Holiday called bug day then he took over Halloween town so jack defeated him and banished him this is from the gba game and the real story