An incubus
(plural incubi
) is a demon in male form supposed to lie upon sleepers, especially women, in order to have sexual intercourse with them, according to a number of mythological and legendary traditions. Its female counterpart is the succubus. An incubus may pursue sexual relations with a woman in order to father a child, as in the legend of Merlin. [1] Some sources indicate that it may be identified by its unnaturally cold penis. [2] Religious tradition holds that repeated intercourse with an incubus or succubus may result in the deterioration of health, or even death. [3]
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.
|
INCUBUS TICKETS
| EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
|---|
| Innings Festival: Fall Out Boy & The Killers - 2 Day Pass Tickets 2/21 | Feb 21, 2025
Friday |  | | Incubus Tickets 3/18 | Mar 18, 2025
Tue, 8:00 PM | | | Incubus Tickets 4/26 | Apr 26, 2025
Sat, 6:30 PM | | | Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival: Korn, Metallica, Linkin Park & Alice In Chains - 4 Day Pass Tickets 5/8 | May 08, 2025
Thursday | | | Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival: Linkin Park, Incubus & I Prevail - Saturday Tickets 5/10 | May 10, 2025
Sat, 11:00 AM | |
|
Origins
A number of secular explanations have been offered for the origin of the incubus legends. They involve the medieval preoccupation with
sin, especially sexual sins of women. Victims may have been experiencing waking dreams or
sleep paralysis. Also, nocturnal arousal,
orgasm or
nocturnal emission could be explained by the idea of creatures causing an otherwise guilt-producing and self-conscious behavior.
[4] 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
rapes 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,
[5] 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's father is listed as Lilu (Lila).
[6] It is said that Lilu disturbs and seduces women in their sleep, while
Lilitu, a female demon, appears to men in their erotic dreams.
[7] 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.
[8] 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.
[9] 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 actual genetic material originally came from humans.
Though many tales claim that the incubus is
bisexual,
[10] others indicate that it is strictly
heterosexual and finds attacking a male victim either unpleasant or detrimental.
[11] There are also numerous stories involving the attempted
exorcism 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. The most famous legend of such a case includes that of
Merlin, the famous wizard from
Arthurian legend.
According to the
Malleus Maleficarum
, exorcism is one of the five ways to overcome the attacks of Incubi, the others being
Sacramental
Confession, the
Sign of the Cross (or recital of the
Angelic Salutation), moving the afflicted to another location, and by
excommunication of the attacking entity, "which is perhaps the same as exorcism."
[12] On the other hand, the
Franciscan friar 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 or
German folklore is one of the better known. In
Zanzibar,
Popo Bawa primarily attacks men and generally behind closed doors.
[13] El Trauco, according to the traditional mythology of the
Chiloé Province 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.
[14] 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
[15]. In
Hungary, a
lidérc
can be a Satanic lover that flies at night and appears as a fiery light (an
ignis fatuus
or
will o' the wisp) or, in its more benign form as a featherless chicken.
[16]
In
Brazil and the rain forests of the
Amazon Basin, the
Boto is a combination of
siren and incubus, a very charming and beautiful man who seduces young women and takes them into the river.
[17] It is said to be responsible for disappearances and unwanted pregnancies,
[18] and it can never be seen by daylight, because it metamorphoses into that kind of
river dolphin during those hours. According to legend the boto always wears a hat to disguise the breathing hole at the top of its head.
[19]
The Southern African incubus demon is the
Tikoloshe. 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.
See also
}}|incubus}}
in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
}}
|:Category:Incubo}}
}}|Incubo}}}}
- Classification of demons
- Christian demonology
- Demon
- Demonology
- Dream-spouse (in shamanism)
- Krampus
- Lilith
- List of fictional demons
- List of theological demons
- Night terror
- Sexuality in Christian demonology
- Succubus
Notes
- Merlin's father was said to be an incubus in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and many later tales. See Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Merlin". In Norris J. Lacy, ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', pp. 322. (New York: Garland, 1991). ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
- Russel, Jeffrey Burton (1972), ''Witchcraft in The Middle Ages'', pp. 239, 235 Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, ISBN 0-8014-0697-8
- Stephens, Walter (2002), ''Demon Lovers'', p. 23, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-266-77261-6
- Lewis, James R., Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy, Sisung Kelle S. (Editor) (1996), ''Angels A to Z'', Entry: '''Incubi and Succubi''', pp. 218, 219, Visible Ink Press, ISBN 0-7876-0652-9
- Masello, Robert (2004), ''Fallen Angels and Spirits of The Dark'', p. 66, The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016, ISBN 0-399-51889-4
- Raphael Patai, p. 221, The Hebrew Goddess: Third Enlarged Edition, ISBN 978-0814322710
- Siegmund Hurwitz, Lilith: The First Eve ISBN 978-3856305222
- Raphael Patai, p. 221 & 222, The Hebrew Goddess: Third Enlarged Edition, ISBN 978-0814322710
- Carus, Paul (1900), ''The History of The Devil and The Idea of Evil From The Earliest Times to The Present Day'', "The Devil's Prime," at sacred-texts.com
- Russsel, Jeffrey Burton (1972), ''Witchcraft in The Middle Ages'', p. 145, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, ISBN 0-8014-0697-8
- Stephens, Walter (2002), ''Demon Lovers'', pp. 54, 55, 332, 333, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-266-77261-6
- Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James (1486), Summers, Montague (translator - 1928), ''The Malleus Maleficarum'', Part2, Chapter 1, "The Remedies prescribed by the Holy Church against Incubus and Succubus Devils," at sacred-texts.com
- Maclean, William (Reuters, May 16 2005), "Belief in sex-mad demon tests nerves," on the World Wide Religious News (WWRN) website
- Lindemans, Micha F. (2004), '''Trauco''' at the Encyclopedia Mythica
- "TIN TIN" A brief description of the myth at EDUFUTURO(in Spanish)
- Mack, Dinah, Mack, Carol K. (1999), ''A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive Spirits'', p. 209, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, ISBN 0-8050-6270-X
- "Whales and Dolphins" at ancientspiral.com
- Boto at library.thinkquest.org
- "The Dolphin Legend" at sumauma.net
bg:?????
cs:Incubus
de:Incubus (Dämon)
es:Íncubo
fr:Incube
it:Incubo (mitologia)
lt:Inkubai
nl:Incubus (demon)
ja:??
no:Incubus
pl:Inkub
pt:Íncubo
ru:?????
simple:Incubus
fi:Incubus