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Incubus (demon)

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An incubus (plural incubi) is a demon

Demon

In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit. In Christian terms demons are generally understood as fallen angels, formerly of God. A demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled...

in male form supposed to lie upon sleepers, especially women, in order to have sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract. The two entities may be of opposite sexes or not, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

with them, according to a number of mythological and legendary traditions. Its female counterpart is the succubus

Succubus

In folklore that stems from medieval legend, a succubus is a demon who takes the form of a woman to seduce men in dreams to have sexual intercourse. In modern times, a succubus may or may not appear in dreams and is often depicted as highly attractive, while in the past succubi were frightening...

. An incubus may pursue sexual relations with a woman in order to father a child, as in the legend of Merlin

Merlin

Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

. Some sources indicate that it may be identified by its unnaturally cold penis

Penis

The penis is an external sexual organ of certain biologically male organisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates....

. Religious tradition holds that repeated intercourse with an incubus or succubus may result in the deterioration of health, or even death.

Medieval legend claims that demons, both male and female, sexually prey on human beings. They generally prey upon the victim when they are sleeping, though it has been reported that females have been attacked while fully lucid.

The incubus is sometimes confused with the legendary "Old Hag" syndrome. The Old Hag episode, however, is usually restricted to an unpleasant feeling of great pressure on the chest and not a ghostly sexual encounter.

Origins

A number of secular explanations have been offered for the origin of the incubus legends. They involve the medieval preoccupation with sin

Sin

Sin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule, or the state of having committed such a violation. Commonly, the moral code of conduct is decreed by a divine entity, i.e...

, especially sexual sins of women. Victims may have been experiencing waking dreams or sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis is a condition that may occur in normal subjects or be associated with narcolepsy, cataplexy, and hypnagogic hallucinations. The pathophysiology of this condition is closely related to the normal hypotonia that occur during REM sleep. When considered to be a disease, isolated sleep...

. Also, nocturnal arousal, orgasm

Orgasm

An orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...

or nocturnal emission

Nocturnal emission

A nocturnal emission involves either ejaculation during sleep for a male, or lubrication of the vagina for a female. It is also called a "wet dream", or a spontaneous orgasm....

could be explained by the idea of creatures causing an otherwise guilt-producing and self-conscious behavior. Alternately, the influence of incubi could also have been invoked to explain otherwise "unexplainable" pregnancies out of wedlock.

Purported victims of incubi could have been the victims of sexual assault by a real person. Rapists may have attributed the rape

Rape

Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or without sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....

s of sleeping women to demons in order to escape punishment. A friend or relative may have assaulted the victim in her sleep. The victims and, in some cases the clergy, may have found it easier to explain the attack as supernatural rather than confront the idea that the attack came from someone in a position of trust.

Ancient and religious descriptions

One of the earliest mentions of an incubus comes from Mesopotamia on the Sumerian kings' list, ca. 2400, where the hero Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh, also known as Bilgameṣ in the earliest text, was the son of Lugalbanda and the fifth king of Uruk , ruling circa 2700 BC, according to the Sumerian king list...

's father is listed as Lilu (Lila). It is said that Lilu disturbs and seduces women in their sleep, while Lilitu

Lilitu

Blood Promise is a heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Their third album "The Delores Lesion" was released on The End Records, after two self-released albums, The Earth Gods, and Memorial...

, a female demon, appears to men in their erotic dreams. Two other corresponding demons appear as well: Ardat lili, who visits men by night and begets ghostly children from them, and Irdu lili, who is known as a male counterpart to Ardat lili and visits women by night and begets from them. These demons were originally storm demons, but they eventually became regarded as night demons due to mistaken etymology. Also considered to be vampires which is another form of a demon that is said to drink blood from its victims.

Incubi and succubi were said by some not to be different sexes, but the same demons able to change their sex. A succubus would be able to sleep with a man and collect his sperm, and then transform into an incubus and use that seed on women. Their offspring were thought to be supernatural in many cases, even if the sperm and egg were originally came from humans.

Though many tales claim that the incubus is bisexual, others indicate that it is strictly heterosexual and finds attacking a male victim either unpleasant or detrimental. There are also numerous stories involving the attempted exorcism

Exorcism

Exorcism is the practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...

of incubi or succubi who have taken refuge in, respectively, the bodies of men or women.

Incubi are sometimes said to be able to conceive children. The half-human offspring of such a union is sometimes referred to as a cambion

Cambion

In medieval legend, a cambion is the half-human offspring of the union between a human male and a succubus, or of an incubus and a human female.-Creation:...

. The most famous legend of such a case includes that of Merlin

Merlin

Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

, the famous wizard from Arthurian legend.

According to the Malleus Maleficarum
Malleus Maleficarum
The Malleus Maleficarum is a famous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, two Inquisitors of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487...

, exorcism is one of the five ways to overcome the attacks of Incubi, the others being Sacrament

Sacrament

A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is what Roman Catholics believe to be "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine of Hippo defined a Christian sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible reality." The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of them as "an...

al Confession

Confession

The confession of one's sins is a religious practice important to many faiths, e.g., Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.- Christianity :...

, the Sign of the Cross

Sign of the cross

The Sign of the Cross is a ritual hand motion made by members of many branches of Christianity. It may be accompanied by the trinitarian formula. For Christians, the motion symbolizes the Cross on Calvary by tracing the shape of the cross in the air or on one's own body...

(or recital of the Angelic Salutation

Hail Mary

The Angelic Salutation, Hail Mary, or Ave Maria is a traditional Catholic prayer asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Hail Mary is used within Roman Catholicism, and it forms the basis of the Rosary...

), moving the afflicted to another location, and by excommunication

Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

of the attacking entity, "which is perhaps the same as exorcism." On the other hand, the Franciscan friar

Franciscan

The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders, also known as the Orders of Friars Minor, that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis", or a member of one of these orders. As well as Roman Catholic there are also small Old Catholic and...

Ludovico Maria Sinistrari stated that incubi "do not obey exorcists, have no dread of exorcisms, show no reverence for holy things, at the approach of which they are not in the least overawed."

Regional variations

There are a number of variations on the incubus theme around the world. The alp of Teutonic

Teutonic

Teutonic or Teuton may refer to:*the Teutons* Germanic peoples , see Theodiscus**Teutonic Mythology** Germanic languages *Furor Teutonicus* A German military order, the Teutonic Knights.*SS Teutonic...

or German folklore

German folklore

German folklore shares many characteristics with Scandinavian folklore and English folklore due to their origins in a common Germanic mythology. It reflects a similar mix of influences: a pre-Christian pantheon and other beings equivalent to those of Norse mythology; magical characters associated...

is one of the better known. In Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

, Popo Bawa

Popo Bawa

Popobawa, also Popo Bawa, is the name of an evil spirit which is believed by residents to have first appeared on the Tanzanian island of Pemba. In 1995 it was the focus of a major outbreak of collective hysteria or panic which spread from Pemba to Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar...

primarily attacks men and generally behind closed doors. El Trauco, according to the traditional mythology of the Chiloé Province

Chiloé Province

Chiloé is one of the provinces of Los Lagos Region of Chile.Chiloé Province includes Chiloé Island and many smaller islands. The area of Chiloé province is 9181 km²...

of Chile, is a hideous deformed dwarf who lulls nubile young women and seduces them. El Trauco is said to be responsible for unwanted pregnancies, especially in unmarried women. Perhaps another variation of this conception is el "Tintín" in Ecuador, a dwarf who is fond of abundant haired women and seduces them at night by playing the guitar outside their windows; a myth that researchers believe was created during the Colonial period of time to explain pregnancies in women who never left their houses without a chaperone, very likely covering incest or sexual abuse by one of the family's friends. In Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...

, a lidérc
Liderc
A Liderc, or Lidérc, is a unique supernatural being of Hungarian folklore. It has three known varieties, which often borrow traits from one another....

can be a Satanic lover that flies at night and appears as a fiery light (an ignis fatuus

Will o' the wisp

The will-o'-the-wisp, sometimes will-o'-wisp or ignis fatuus Latin, from ignis + fatuus , plural ignes fatui) refers to the ghostly lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over bogs, swamps, or marshes. It looks like a flickering lamp, and is sometimes said to recede if approached...

or will o' the wisp

Will o' the wisp

The will-o'-the-wisp, sometimes will-o'-wisp or ignis fatuus Latin, from ignis + fatuus , plural ignes fatui) refers to the ghostly lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over bogs, swamps, or marshes. It looks like a flickering lamp, and is sometimes said to recede if approached...

) or, in its more benign form as a featherless chicken.

In Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...

and the rain forests of the Amazon Basin

Amazon Basin

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The basin is located mainly in Brazil, but also stretches into Peru and several other countries. The South American rain forest of the Amazon is the largest in the world, covering about...

, the Boto

Boto

The Amazon River Dolphin, alternately Bufeo, Bufeo Colorado, Boto, Boto Cor de Rosa, Boutu, Nay, Tonina, or Pink River Dolphin , is a freshwater river dolphin endemic to the Orinoco, Amazon and Araguaia/Tocantins River systems of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela...

is a combination of siren

Siren

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses, who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli...

and incubus, a very charming and beautiful man who seduces young women and takes them into the river. It is said to be responsible for disappearances and unwanted pregnancies, and it can never be seen by daylight, because it metamorphoses into that kind of river dolphin

River dolphin

River dolphins are four living species of dolphin which reside in freshwater rivers and estuaries. They are classed in the Platanistoidea superfamily of cetaceans. Three species live in fresh water rivers. The fourth species, the La Plata Dolphin, lives in salt-water estuaries and near-shore marine...

during those hours. According to legend the boto always wears a hat to disguise the breathing hole at the top of its head.

The Southern African incubus demon is the Tikoloshe

Tikoloshe

In Zulu mythology, Tikoloshe, Tokoloshe or Hili is a dwarf-like water sprite or zombie. They are considered a mischievous and evil spirit. They can become invisible by swallowing a pebble...

. Chaste women place their beds upon bricks to deter the rather short fellows from attaining their sleeping forms. They also share the hole in the head detail and water dwelling habits of the Boto