Incubus/Succubus

Incubi and Succubi are demons that feed on the lust of their victims. An Incubus is the male version, Succubus is female. The word incubus comes from the Latin words in cubo, meaning 'I lie on top'. Succubus is a derivation of the Latin words sub cubo, or ' to lie beneath'.

The incubus or succubus will visit its victim at night, or in some versions of the legend, in a dream. It presses down on its victim and drains his/her life away as it has intercourse with him/her. Repeated visits of an incubus or succubus could eventually lead to the victim wasting away, and eventually dying.

Succubi and Incubi were often blamed as the source of erotic dreams during the middle ages, when such things were seen as sinful and shameful.

Some legends hold that the Incubus and Succubus are merely two forms of the same shapeshifting demon. In its female form, the demon would seduce a man to gather his seed, then pass it to a woman in its male form to produce supernatural offspring. The half-human offspring of an Incubus and a human woman is called a Cambion, and, supposedly, Merlin of the Authurian legends was such a case.

Succubi and Incubi are mentioned in the Malleus Mallificarum, which claims that they can be exorcised like any other demon. Lilith, Adam's first wife, is often described as a succubus.

Similar demons or spirits appear not only in Christian mythology, but in other cultures as well.