Sleeping with the Devil May 23, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Beach has recently been looking at cases of men and women who accidentally, or deliberately, or accidentally-deliberatishly slept with demons. The following comes from a seventeenth-century account and it is interesting to see an idea that defined the Middle Ages surviving so powerfully into the early modern period: Beach wonders when the latest record would be, drbeachcombing At yahoo DOT com, who’s to bet that some American evangelicals are still worrying about lovers with cloven feet and the like? In any case here is a late seventeenth-century report.
It is a most common Report, and many whose Credit is not to be doubted of, say and confirm, that by their own, or other such, they have heard it, that Sylvani and Fauni have been naught with Women. And that many Devils which the French call Ducii, do daily attempt this Uncleanness, and effect it, is reported by so many , that ‘tis Impudence to deny it. Yea, some Women, counted honest, defend the practice.
So, in brief, fauns are still plaguing the European countryside c. 1700, and if you go to France bring some mosquito spray. Then the best of all succubus stories. Imagine rolling over in bed to embrace your lover and finding a bird….
Near Witeberg, a Merchant’s Wife, that pass’d for an honest Woman, was used to admit one peculiar Concubine: And once her Lover came to her in the Night; and having pleased his Lust, in the Morning he arose, and sate on the top of the door in the shape of a Magpye, and said to her this Farewell; ‘Hitherto this has been they sweetheart’, and vanished with the Words.
The source here is Richard Baxter, The Certainty of the World of Spirits (London 1691). Note that he cites though ‘Scribon. pag 79’. This is presumably: Wilhelm Adolf Scribonius: De Sagarum Natura et Potestate, Deque His Recte Cognoscendis et Puniendis Physiologia Gulielmi Adolphi Scribonii Marpurgensis (1588)
Bodin is apparently the source for another of Baxter’s tales, namely one Stephen Ralen who admitted that for seven years he had slept with a female demon named Rolstruchse. A priest at Berne, meanwhile, had slept for forty years with a devil called Hermione and was burnt for his troubles, despite apparent monogamy.
23 May 2016: Chris from Haunted Ohio Books, ‘I assume there would be some members of Anton LaVey’s circle who might have claimed they slept with the Devil. And, apparently (I refuse to investigate too deeply because I don’t want to be damned to eternal hellfire) there are sites for devil porn. Can’t cope….And here’s a fellow with a Satan fetish. He just wanted his wife to fall down and worship him as he sat on his throne, wearing a Satan suit. Then there is this appalling story. I have no doubt similar things happen today in the course of “exorcisms.”
Swiss Jail Two for ‘Devil’ Death
A “witchcraft trial” that drew wide attention in Switzerland ended yesterday with 10-year sentences for two leaders of a religious sect for the death of Bernadette Hasler, 17, who died May 14, 1967, after being flogged for an hour to “drive the devil out of her.”
Testimony showed that Joseph Stocker, a defrocked German priest, founder of the sect, and Magdalena Kohler, his mistress, had taken advantage of the credulity of their disciples to indulge their own tastes for champagne, an expensive automobile and high living in general.
On their orders, Miss Hasler was required to write a 322-page autobiography in which she said she loved the Devil and he visited her every night. In it she also described sexual acts of which she could have had no knowledge. Medical testimony said she had died a virgin.
Plain Dealer [Cleveland, OH] 6 February 1969: p. 8
23 May 2016: Ken makes an obvious but important point that had entirely escaped me, ‘It appears that the modern version of this activity is sleeping with aliens. Here are two links: (1) (2). In the past, I believe any entity departing from a standard human appearance would be considered demonic. This idea could categorize the new alien phenomenon as partially or totally demonic. But as of yet we don’t possess the aliens’ defense or side of the story.
31 Dec 2016, Fairy Folk: As a fairy man let me ask you this. WHY do fairies stop sleeping with people in the early modern period. As we both know there are several examples of fairies sleeping with people in the middle ages, but what happens afterwards. There are some early modern spells. Don’t tell me that people no longer believe in fairies! We know that fairies were killing, helping, levitating, injuring and aiding folk. So why did fairy human sex drain away or do you have any records hidden away after about 1700? My guess is not!
