Jones "incubus and incubation"

This chapter on incubi was incredibly intriguing to me. The whole idea of nighttime sexual visitors being responsible for erotic dreams (and possibly even conception) is a fascinating side effect of a time when women were so sexually restrained that even sexual dreams were regarded as sinful. Jones' article describes an incubus as "a lewd demon who visits women at night, lies heavily on their chest and violates them against their will." Definately, the fear-gasp I have experienced after a frightening dream can account for the feeling of something strange having lied "heavily" on my chest. The fact that an entire cultural dream-fear phenomenon grew out of just erotic dreams is almost unfathomable.

According to this website, should a woman become impregnated by an incubus, the child will be born with supernatural powers. In Arthurian legend, Merlin, Arthur's half brother, was concieved by an incubus.

This article brings in the cultural/psychological aspect that drives the creation of the supernatural in the public mind. It follows, therefore, that the creation of vampires in the public imagination is driven by similar factors, which hopefully will be later revealed in subsequent class articles.