The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

120 incubus
Incubus, from Francis Barrett’s The Magus (AUTHOR’S
COLLECTION)
lect it from men in nocturnal emissions, masturbation,
or coitus while the demons are masquerading as succubi.
The incubi have the power to preserve semen and use it
later on one of their victims. Demonic semen is described
as frigid and icy cold.
The children that result may be considered the children
of the man who unwittingly provided the semen. Some old
horror stories held that the children were half-human and
half-beast. Remy described monstrous half-demon children
with two mouths, two heads, six fingers, two sets of
teeth, beards, four eyes, three hands, and three feet. Others
were missing limbs or had one eye in the middle of
their forehead or in their knee. Some had no human form
but were shapeless masses like sponges. Remy recounted
an eyewitness description of an incubus child:
It had a hooked beak, a long smooth neck, quivering
eyes, a pointed tail, a strident voice, and very swift feet
upon which it ran rapidly to and fro as if seeking for
some hiding-place in its stable.
Some of the offspring once were called Adamitici, as
though they were descended in an unbroken line from
Adam. Because of the defective semen, these infants cried
or hissed continually, were emaciated but heavy, and
sucked all their nurses dry. They also were attributed the
superpowers of pagan demigods and heroes.
Remy said monstrous births were due to the “lustful
imagination of a prurient woman” and not to demon semen.
He cited Empedocles, who said that the likeness of
a child is caused by impressions the mother experienced
at the time of conception. If a woman had frequent intercourse
with an incubus, it affected her imagination, which
in turn gave the child a savage appearance.
In a small number of witchcraft cases, claims of molestation
by incubi were dismissed as the products of female
melancholia or vivid imagination. False pregnancies that
arose from this state were chalked up to flatulence.
Witches were said to copulate willingly with incubi,
especially at a SABBAT. The inquisitors’ handbook the
MALLEUS MALEFICARUM (1487), stated that “in times long
past the Incubus devils used to infest women against their
wills,” but “modern witches . . . willingly embrace this
most foul and miserable servitude.” Some incubi served
as FAMILIARs to witches, who sent them to torment specific
individuals.
Since sex with incubi was expected of witches, many
accused witches were tortured until they confessed this
crime. In 1485, the inquisitor of Como sent 41 women to
their deaths at the stake. Their “confessions” of sex with
incubi, among other witchcraft crimes, were corroborated
by eyewitness accounts, as well as by hearsay evidence
“and the testimony of credible witnesses.”
Incubi were believed to be always visible to witches
but only occasionally visible to others, even the victims.
There were reports of people observed in the throes of
passion with no one but themselves visible. Husbands
saw incubi as they copulated with their wives but thought
they were other men.
Incubi preyed on ordinary people as well as witches.
FRANCSCO-MARIA GUAZZO related a story in Compendium
Maleficarum (1608) about a beautiful noble girl who refused
to marry men of her station but instead fell into an
affair with an incubus. She freely told her parents of the
marvelous sex they had at night and sometimes during
the day. One night, the parents, a priest, and others bolted
the house doors and went into their daughter’s bedroom
with lit torches. There they found her in the embrace of
a hideous demon, “a horrible monster whose appearance
was terrible beyond human imagination.” The priest immediately
began reciting the GOSPEL OF JOHN. When he
said, “The Word was made flesh,” the demon shrieked,
set fire to all the furniture, and left, carrying with him
the roof of the bedroom. The girl immediately gave birth
to a “loathsome monster.” The midwives built a large fire
and burned it.
The church prescribed five ways to get rid of incubi:
• by sacramental confession
• by making the sign of the cross
• by reciting the Ave Maria
• by moving to another house or town
• by excommunication of the demon by holy men
Other remedies included a recitation of the Lord’s
Prayer and the sprinkling of holy water.