The Hobgoblin came into being when Roderick Kingsley discovered an abandoned secret lair of the supervillain known as the Green Goblin (who was believed at the time to be dead). Using the Green Goblin's equipment, Kingsley (as the Hobgoblin) set out to plague Spider-Man.
Later during a demonic incursion on New York the Hobgoblin was transformed into a literal hobgoblin, with his equipment replaced by mystical equivalents.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump