Sexual apparitions: the incubus and the succubus
Over the centuries, there have been many reported cases, especially in medieval legend, of sexual apparitions involving two specific types of entities: the Incubus (male demon) and the Succubus (female demon).
Incubus and Succubus usually manifest during the night hours, harassing the victim when they are sleeping, although there have been a few cases where women have been sexually assaulted while fully awake. One such experience was covered in the book and subsequent movie, The Entity.
Any woman experiencing incubus sexual assault will not wake up, although she may experience it in a dream. If she becomes pregnant, the child will grow inside her like any normal child, except that he will possess supernatural powers. Usually the child becomes a person of evil character or a powerful magician. According to legend, it is said that the magician Merlin was the result of physical contact between an incubus and a nun.
A succubus is the female version and seduces men. According to a legend, the incubus and the succubus were fallen angels. The word incubus in Latin means “nightmare”. Succubus – In medieval European folklore, a female demon (or evil spirit) who visits men in their sleep to lie with them in ghostly intercourse. The man who is the victim of a succubus will not wake up, although he can experience it while he is in the dream state. Biblical Lilith, Adam’s first wife before Eve, is said to have been the first succubus on earth as well. There is a version of the Lilith myth in EVERY world religion. Many of these creatures have different names, such as Marilith or Lilitu, but they all have a common theme: a female demon, often with wings, who seduces and sometimes murders men. She has a succubus.
As with succubi, there are also many legends about incubi (singular: incubus), but these should not be confused with succubi (which is the plural of succubus). Incubi are said to be fallen angels in Judeo-Christianity who fell to earth because they had sexual relations with mortal women. Since then, the incubi have stalked the earth, seducing women in their dreams and impregnating them. It is said that the children of incubi grow up to be rapists.
An evil person who raped and murdered in real life can die, but they can’t go to Heaven or Hell. Instead, they remain on the earth plane as a spirit being with the same personality they had in life. Therefore, they are free to have sexual relations with whoever they are, so it is not surprising that a spirit of such a nature could be called an incubus or a succubus.
There are many variations of this sexual demon legend throughout the world. For example, in Zanzibar, an entity known as “Popo Bawa” typically preys on men while they are sleeping in their beds. In the Chilo’ province of Chile, a pathetic little dwarf, known as El Trauco, woos naive young women and then seduces them. In Hungary, a Liderc is a demonic sexual predator that operates under the cover of darkness and will appear as little more than a dim apparition or burning light. Either of these two succubi can be blamed for unexpected or unwanted pregnancies, especially in unmarried women, although one could argue that it could be a convenient invention to prevent vicious gossip!
Some confuse the incubus with the legendary “Old Witch” syndrome, but this is not the case. The Old Hag episode is usually limited to a feeling of intense pressure on the chest, and as such is not an actual ghostly sexual encounter. Another difference that separates the incubus/succubus experience from the Old Hag is that the former is not always unpleasant, whereas the Old Hag is often accompanied by a feeling of death, suffocation, and the horrible feeling of fighting for life.
Because the incubus and succubus are usually experienced during the dream state or with each other, most experts feel that it is an imaginary experience and not a real one. However, when telling this to the person who has just had this disturbing erotic experience, they may find it hard to believe, as it feels as real to them as the actual intercourse itself.
No one can say for sure if these events are real or imagined, but until you’ve experienced actual sexual assault by an incubus or succubus, it’s pretty hard to form a solid opinion one way or the other.