Incubi and Succubi

Originally posted on ff2/phantom foxes by kinks

Incubi and Succubi
The word incubus derives from the Latin word "incubare" - to lie upon, or weight down, and is related to the word 'incubo' for nightmare. The word 'succubus' is Latin for harlot.
Citing Old Testament references, the Church had never doubted that intercourse between different types of beings was wrong and brought terrible consequences (although it should be remembered that they did not have a very high opinion of intercourse between beings of the same species either!). But a minor theological theme became an hysterical outbreak in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the nature of the activity altered radically from an assault or temptation on the part of the demon to willing compliance by the (usually female) mortal - a witch. Those who had intercourse with demons were changed from victims into the perpetrators of the most heinous and bestial sin. Most early accounts of incubi involved nuns as victims, although there were also virtuous women and priests. Erotic dreams, considered to be assaults from sexual demons, clearly served a purpose in such a sexually repressed environment to offset the revulsion that people felt for their own sublimated drives.

Although there were sexual demons of both genders, in practice incubi vastly outnumbered succubi as a consequence of women more frequently indulging in demonic intercourse - their intellectual passivity and the weakness of their moral nature made them more vulnerable.

The Inquisition prosecuted women for intercourse with devils from around the middle of the fifteenth century; a hundred years later it was an obligatory charge associated with witchcraft. The resultant children were unavoidably afflicted by their circumstances of their conception and were always bold, arrogant and wicked. They were thought to be tall and large, although also sometimes to be deformed: an Angela de Labarthe of Toulouse gave birth to a monster with a wolf's head and a snake's tail in 1275, for example, and there is no doubt that many women went to the stake for producing children with birth defects. It was conjectured that many historical figures were conceived demonically, an accusation which eventually came to serve as a term of abuse. Romulus and Remus, Plato, Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, Scipio Africanus, Merlin, the father of William the Conqueror, Martin Luther and even entire nations were accused.

There is absolutely no doubt that belief in sexual demons was put to cynical use: a Bishop Sylvanus, cited in the Malleus Maleficarum who had been accused of lewdness by a nun was found crouched under her bed. His (succesful!) defence was that an incubus had adopted his form to descredit him.

Incubi were notoriously difficult to drive away. A fifteenth century authority recommended five methods of repulsion: sacramental confession, the sign of the cross, exorcism, moving away and excommunication "prudently employed by holy men". Folk remedies included garlic and the placing of a stone with a naturally-worn hole though its middle on a piece of string above the bed.

There is a South Park episode where Cartman calls the succubus a "Suckybutt" so now whenever I hear "succubus" I think "Suckybutt"..

I went to THE Ancient Ram Inn in Gloucestershire last weekend for an invo.. The Guy who owns the Inn says he was pulled from his bed four times in the last two months by the incubus... then it had its evil way with him...Hes 82... The inn is virtually derilect and full of junk and broken detrisus.. the man is a hoarder of the nth degree.
The man in the local petrol station told us that he wasn't sure which was the scariest, John the owner or the spooks...

I have to agree with the man from the petrol station . You are very brave going there thats one place I would never step a foot in. I come from Bristol and have heard stories about that place for years

Hiya, it was an odd place.. I mean dead raven hanging down from the ceiling, holes dug thru the bat floor flagstones into the earth below... Big temperature drops in the hole according to the laser thermometer, it was 4 or5 degrees C warmer out in the car park than inside.
The room upstairs with the big green bed.. picked up spirit in a corner of the room using dowsing rods ..and in a large chair in the same room.
The barn downstairs where Stu fell over his feet and was supposedly beaten up... was equally cold it is full of debris, I'm not surprised he tripped and fell.. I did notice the huge roof beams and had an image flashed to me of a hanging of 3 men simultaniously.. Why??? But I was surprised at that.. I didn't get into the bishops room oddly the door was stuck.. but the second team did, they asked John the owner, who said you have to ask.. He knocked on the door three times and the door just swung open.. Wish I had seen that.. they said the K2 meter went off not much else.. Tbh it was a disgusting place..filthy we couldn't wait to leave.
I think its reputation is exaggerated, probably by the extremely odd owner of the last 40 years.

Rachel has been there on an investigation too, would be interesting to see what she thought.
I've been put off going there because he seems a bit odd to say the least I have heard of other groups having money demanded of them at the last minute.

23 of us all paid £28.50p each, which was mostly to do with coach hire and an hour and a quarters journey time each way from our location in Somerset to the Inn. Mike our organiser also donated 10 copies of his book for John to sell and gave him a fair donation towards the upkeep but I don't know the amount.. All he said was that John was very grateful... I don't think the place has 'an upkeep at all'!!

Its a shame because that place will fall apart if it carries on like it is as it needs some serious money spent on restoration just to keep it safe imo

I think it will get to the point it will be considered a hazard and be pulled down.

The local council consider it a hazrd now, parts of the building are now unsafe due to internal collapses of the ceiling over the barn area and the elctrics in that part of the inn condemned..No where has the owner spent money on either cleaning it up or any form of maintanence.. He just supplements his income with the donations.
I'm told he has an appreciation fb page but I have never looked him up.. The owners name is John Humphries so you might find out a bit more on there I suppose.

We have some of the best laws protecting historic buildings when it comes to what you can and cant do i.e. planning and renovation etc and quite rightly as well. But we have nothing to stop a building falling down due to neglect etc. Its the same where I live there is a lovely barn it used to be a coaching barn for the pub very historic but as no planning will be given for it to be used for most things its gone to ruin so much so they have taken the roof off last winter (health and safety) and its a matter of time before they say it has to come down so then they can make the road bigger or build something new it makes me so angry .

Strangely enough, some of the people who were at St Briavels on Saturday stopped there and booked an investigation with him this year.

I don't think he does do any maintenance, CJ, Beast Rabban and DCG were talking about forming a Friends of the Ram Inn to try and help him but I have heard from other sources that he is a bit strange to say the least.

Well I have met the guy and really he needs professional help.. I think it may have been CJ etc that set up the John Humphries appreciation page on FB.. But I have never looked..