I do find bogeymen annoying and gimmicky. I definitely like the idea of having a reason to be scared of the dark, but I really wish the chances of being attacked by anything on a given day or night were toned down significantly, especially when there are new monsters around to worry about, like were-finches... You wouldn't want to be ambushed 3-4 times in a 24 hour period, or even 2-3, it would just get tedious and gimmicky to wade through a veritable sea of hostiles every single day.
Another chance for improvement would be to make them far, far less capable of causing serious injury, and base their interactions with sentient beings more around the idea of a prankster/mischievous spirit that tortures you more than anything. Perhaps even letting them curse you during an encounter, so those individuals that 'mark' or 'curse' you have a chance to appear to you any time you're alone or in small groups, causing more trouble, and cannot be permanently dealt with except with an exorcism of some sort, or appeasing them in some way.
If they were rarer and have more tricks than just shoving your cerebrum into your brain stem, they'd be more fun, and possibly still just as Fun if they could steal bits of gear and hide it far outside your camp, or if there is some sort of climax their pranks can reach, such as driving your adventurer completely mad, forcing you to lose control of them and ending the adventure.
I definitely agree with the notion of creating temporary camp sites, like a fire and tent for yourself and each companion, which definitively keeps bogeymen and some night creatures away, but mildly increases the chance of being spotted and stalked/tracked and possibly ambushed (either after stalking you for some time or immediately) by other enemies.
TL;DR: I do facepalm at them. It is a good idea, but I feel they were poorly implemented. Here is a suggestion that may make it more interesting: (Read the post dangit!)
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Topic: Anyone else facepalm at bogeymen? (Read 5653 times)