You’d surely be quite shocked if you met up with a friend and asked him why he’s
hasn’t been around for a while, and he responded that he had been possessed by a demon.
But at one point in history, and still now, people might actually claim demonic possession.
Some people might even start speaking in a strange language, what’s sometimes called
speaking in tongues, or better known to paranormal experts as xenoglossy.
People who are allegedly possessed might fly into mad rages or seem to exhibit superhuman
strength, although the scientific community refutes all this and will tell you demonic
possession is either a hoax or the person is suffering from a debilitating mental illness
or personality disorder.
Still, what we want to know is what demons are supposedly out there ready to take over
a person’s body and mind.
You can still find people today who claim they can perform the Rites of Exorcism for
people suffering from diabolical possession, although when most of us think about this
we imagine it is related to one evil and his name is Satan.
In fact, believe it or not, a 2018 article in the Atlantic told us that the rate of Americans
claiming they were possessed was on the rise.
One official exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis said just in 2018 he’d received
1,700 emails or phone calls asking him to perform an exorcism, and that was just one
father.
The article talked about a girl who seemed to be suffering from anxiety, but then that
got worse and she started doing strange things like growling and pulling out her hair.
She’d rock back and forth like in the movies and twist her body into uncomfortable positions.
She talked about God and the devil and then told her shocked parents and counsellor that
she wasn’t in fact the girl they had come to know.
The Atlantic cites some polls which reveal around half of the country believes in such
demons, so with that in mind we better have a look at what demons they might believe in.
Theologian scholars have in the past attempted a classification of demons.
Some scholars agree that looking at how demons have been talked about through the ages can
help us better understand cultures, but we should tell you that there is a very long
list of demons and many people have classified them in their own way.
We think to shorten this list we’ll stick with the Christian religion.
We’ve done a whole show on Satan before, so will try and talk about demons you might
not have heard of.
We should finally add that while people nowadays may laugh at demonic possession many people
in the past were brutally tortured and killed because they were said to have conjured a
demon or been inhabited by one.
We don’t mean to make light of that.
Agares This demon has been described as an old man
who rides a crocodile and carries around a hawk.
He can do good things such as give a person titles, or bad things such as cause Earthquakes.
It’s said by some people that if you are possessed by this demon he can teach you all
the languages of the world, but there is a downside to this as all you’ll say in those
languages are the most offensive things.
He’ll also send you home if you’ve run away, so he’s not all bad.
Balam This guy is very powerful and in some texts
is one of the kings of hell.
It’s said he rules over 40 legions of demons, so he has quite a lot of influence.
It might not be all that bad if you get possessed by him because it’s written that he can
give you perfect answers about the future, the present and the past.
He has also been known to make people witty and invisible.
It’s said he has three heads, with one head being the head of a bull, one a ram, and one
a man.
Fire might come out of his eyes and he has a serpent’s tail.
He is not depicted as much of a walker and usually rides a bear, while he also carries
a hawk.
Kimaris As we said already, there are many interpretations
of demons and many names given to possibly the same demon.
It just depends on what you are reading.
This demon has been described as a great warrior who rides on the back of a black horse.
He can make a man in his own image, which would be this great warrior, and he can also
help a person to understand logic, grammar and rhetoric.
If that’s not enough, he might lead to person to treasure so all in all this demon doesn’t
sound like the worst one to be possessed by.
Aquiel We can’t say the same about this demon,
who it’s said will do anything to make the holy day of Sunday a terrible day.
That might be your only day off work, so we guess you don’t want to see much of this
demon in your life.
Barbas This demon sounds like someone you should
get on your side.
If conjured, it’s written that he first appears as a lion, which could be scary but
apparently with the right words you can change him into a man.
In the 17th century demonologists wrote that he will answer truly if you ask him anything
and he has unfathomable wisdom.
He can cure pain and disease, but on the downside he can also cause that.
One of his biggest tricks is being able to turn a man into other shapes, which could
help when you don’t want to be seen.
Gaap This demon is described in the book called
the Lesser Key of Solomon and also a bunch of other books.
The world according to Gaap is all about love, and while winged, boney and with a head full
of horns he doesn’t look very attractive, it’s said he can change into human form
when summoned.
When we say he’s all about love, that is both good and bad.
It’s said he can make women more attractive to men, but can also do the very opposite.
He might provide medical care for a woman, or he might make them infertile.
He can make men very knowledgeable and if asked he might also make an enemy very dumb.
Paimon If you’ve seen the horror movie Hereditary
you’ll know that summoning this guy might not work out great for everyone.
He can provide a person with great knowledge, give a person titles, or reveal hidden treasures,
which might be all well and good if it doesn’t involve killing many people close to you as
happened in that movie.
Marchosias This is a winged wolf that spews fire from
it’s mouth and has a serpent’s tail, and for that reason once you’ve summoned it
you might think about turning it into a man.
Once that’s happened you’ll be given true answers to all questions and it will be very
faithful to the summoner.
But in the 1577 hit book “Pseudomonarchia Daemonum” this beast is described as being
cruel, so we are not quite sure where this demon lands on the good/bad scale.
Zepar This Great Duke of Hell looks a lot like a
soldier, but his power is to make women fall madly in love with men.
He might do that, but he might also take away that woman’s chance of giving birth.
Mammon There are lots of different interpretations
of this demon but they are all bad and all related to money and greed.
A mammon is a fallen angel that values wealth and treasure over all things.
Amusingly, in the 1818 book “Dictionnaire Infernal”, it was described as being Hell’s
Ambassador to England.
This demon has been used as a metaphor for the pitfalls of greed and valuing money over
everything, once said to be a “being carried up from Hell by a wolf, coming to inflame
the human heart with Greed.”
In the USA years later some critics said the mammon was the demon of Wall Street, of predatory
money lenders, and in one picture looks quite a lot like Scrooge.
Murmur The much nicer-sounding Murmur is said to
be a Great Duke and Earl of Hell and has 30 legions of other demons underneath him.
He is described as a soldier who rides either a vulture or a griffin and wears a dual crown.
When he flies he has two trumpeters playing for him.
One of his great tricks is bringing back the souls of the dead.
Once he’s done that the conjurer can then ask those souls anything he wants and he will
get an answer.
Purson This guy is quite an authority in hell, and
he likes to blow a trumpet.
He looks pretty cool, riding a bear, holding an angry viper in his hand, and he also has
a lion’s head.
When summoned he can answer pretty much anything about the hidden mysteries of the world.
If it’s just cash you want, he also knows how to find treasure.
Succubus You might have heard of this kind of demon,
which is said to be female and can enter the dreams of men in the night.
Well, we guess she works day shifts too for people who like napping.
She will seduce guys in the night, but that might not work out well for the man.
It’s said if he partakes in her seduction he may become very unwell and even die.
She’s more folkloric than actually featured in the demonology books we have mentioned.
There is a kind of male version of her that visits women and is called an Incubus.
Back in the bad old days some people would write that a woman could fall pregnant to
such a demon and that is why some kids were born deformed.
How it apparently was done was that the succubus would collect the male sperm and then deliver
it to the Incubus and he would then impregnate the woman with it.
Vepar This demon might have been useful in war because
he could apparently control the seas.
If you summoned him he could make the seas rough for others or smooth for you.
He can also on request make a person’s skin full of sores that will leak worms.
He can reverse that if asked by the conjurer.
Surgat This is just a minor demon and he is a one-trick
pony.
His power is that he can unlock all doors.
You might have heard of him from the movie Bird Box.
Phenex We are told this demon isn’t very bad at
all and hopes one day to get back into heaven.
Apparently that never happened and won’t happen.
He will be very obedient to the conjurer and can teach a person about the sciences or the
arts.
He might even make someone a great poet.
He’s said to look like the mythical bird, the phoenix, and can be heard flying around
singing songs with the voice of a sweet child.
To get anything out of him, though, you have to turn him into a human.
According to the book, “Pseudomonarchia Daemonum”, that’s possible if you have
an exorcist handy.
Forneus This Great Marquis of Hell usually appears
in human form and he just makes things right for people in their social life.
He will make sure all your friends love you, and better still, he’ll make sure your enemies
love you, too.
All in all, if you can conjure this demon you’ll just have a good name about town.
Astaroth This is one of the top demons, said to part
of the evil trinity with Beelzebub and Lucifer.
He has been described by one demonologist as “a great and a strong duke, coming forth
in the shape of a foul angel, sitting upon an infernal dragon, and carrying on his right
hand a viper.”
He looks for people who are weak and makes them lazy and full of self-doubt.
He can also make men invisible and give them power over the serpents of the world, so we
guess like most demons he can grant power and take it away.
That’s the end of our list, and as we said, it could have been much longer.
We have one question for you, and that is, do you believe in demons in any way, shape
or form?
Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other episode The Zozo Demon - What You Should Know Before
Using a Ouija Board.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.