Incubus and Succubus
Ever since the ancient times, demons and evil spirits have plagued mankind, bringing all sorts of malevolent disasters and experiences that torment and torture their victims. One such demon is called the incubus. It is a spirit that often takes the form of a male, and seeks to sexually assault women in their sleep in order to have intercourse with them. These attacks were also believed to spawn children who are half-human and half-demon. These ghost-children were also said to have supernatural characteristics and abilities. One such demon-child in mythology is the wizard Merlin.
The incubus is a night demon, a belief shared by a lot of regional cultures all over the world. They come during the time when their victims are asleep and sexually arouse them through impure dreams and thoughts. These dreams or nightmares can occur more than once. There have been instances where victims were plagued with incubus attacks several times a night, or for several nights, and in some extreme instances the incubus (or incubi) stays with the victim for years.
These attacks begin like a dream for some, and they either experience extreme bliss or feel that they have been raped or molested when they ‘wake up’. In other scenarios, the victim is wide awake and completely aware of what the demon or demons are doing. In some accounts, the person simply thinks that it is his or her spouse or lover performing those acts, but upon realization that there is no one there, they feel fear.
In most cases, the demon takes a male form which may or may not be visible to the human eye, but can be felt rather strongly. Some spirits make their presence very well known, by letting their weight on the bed or on top of the afflicted person. Some victims even claimed to have heard their incubus or succubus speak, perhaps to scorn them or tell them not to struggle. Some incubus visits are even more frightening, because the demon can be seen as a black or hairy form.
In Hollywood, an incubus movie was released in 1966, and it starred William Shatner. In the story, he is a man who finds himself falling in love with a seductress he finds in a remote village. As it turns out, the village is heavily populated with incubi and succubi. His love interest also turns out to be a succubus, and he disdains and rejects her because of this. However, in the end, they face a lot of trials, and the succubus ends up falling in love with him as well and denouncing her demonic ways.
In medieval times, the belief in incubi was widespread. They were also thought able to conceive children. The most commonly suspected demon-children or ghost-children were those born with deformities or abnormalities. There are many records of these demon spawns in ancient texts, described as half-human, half-animal.
Some incubi can reportedly assume or take the form and face of a human person. They can even make themselves appear to be someone familiar to the victim, such as a husband (or wife, as in the case of a female incubus), a lover, a neighbor or an acquaintance. For the most part, a woman can report that she has been raped by a familiar person, and that person can plead innocence saying it was an incubus disguised using his form.
It has been said that sexual encounters with an incubus can be very painful, unpleasant and unsavory, yet despite all these, victims often find themselves unnaturally drawn to the demon. Despite the physical pain (sexual intercourse with an incubus can be very violent), the victims seem to be unable to resist the demon’s seduction.
One of the most common elements that bind together the reports of incubus encounters is the heavy weight felt on the victim’s chest or body, and the inability to move. Science explains this as a kind of symptom for sleep paralysis. It is a disorder in which the person’s mind is disconnected from the body, as in a sleep state. Psychologists also say that this kind of sleeping disorder can originate from stressful or traumatic experiences that a person might have had, such as a death in the family, or a separation from a loved one.
Some debate remains as to the reality of the existence of incubus and succubus demons; some saying it is merely a figment of a wild imagination. In the regions of the world where demonic nocturnal attacks are encountered, science attributes it to sleep paralysis or parasomnia. In parasomnia, a patient experiences inability to move and a heaviness upon the chest. Parasomnia or sleep paralysis can occur in two stages, one is hypnopompic (occurring while in between sleep and awakening) and the other is hypnagogic (occurring while still only falling asleep). Parasomnia is one of the closest scientific explanations to demonic attacks of an incubus, because symptoms of this sleeping disorder include horrific hallucinations, such as those experienced by victims of incubi.
Another more rational but just as disturbing explanation behind the myth of incubi and succubi is incest or similar sexual assaults. In the medieval periods, claims of rape by women who have unexplained pregnancies were sometimes dismissed as being a supernatural sexual molestation. It could be to hide that the real culprit behind the assault is a friend, a high-ranking official or man of the cloth, a neighbor or worse, a family member.
In cases where an incubus visit does not result in any pregnancy, the women victims are convinced that it is a spiritual assailant that attacked them. In some research, it shows that a person can sometimes experience bodily disassociation. This happens when a part of the brain is still awake while the rest of the brain along with the body is still asleep. During the REM stages of sleep, a person can experience an erection (for men) or lubrication (for women), without any outside stimulation. Waking up from disassociation and finding one’s body in a state of sexual arousal can often lead to confusing conclusions.
With or without mythological or supernatural explanations, a demonic visit is quite terrifying to experience. For those who want to be rid of an incubus or succubus, they can turn to exorcism or deliverance prayers. Others who think it is a disorder of the mind, they turn to therapy and medication. However, there are those who seem to enjoy having ‘demon lover’ and do nothing to prevent further encounters. In satanic worship, incubi and succubi are even summoned or called to be one’s ‘demonic lover’. Satanists believe that because these demons are not confined to the restraints of the physical body, they will be able to fulfill any sexual desires and exceed expectations of sexual satisfaction. Some people confessed to have enjoyed these night visits and welcome the thought of a demonic being as a sexual partner. To them, the benefits include they will be experiencing sheer sexual bliss, they would not get pregnant, and they will not get any sexually transmitted diseases.
Freud has suggested a great connection between sleep and sexuality, saying a person’s dreams can actually conceal or reveal their unexpressed sexual fantasies. This is probably why men and women, whether married, in a relationship or single, can all possibly experience a visit from an incubus and succubus. The erotic fantasies combined with the aggressive behavior of the ‘demon’ can all simply be the mind’s way of releasing the body’s sexual libido.