The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together with Strange Customs, Fables, and TalesGrant, James (Archaeologist)
History
The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together with Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales
Grant, James (Archaeologist)
Occultism; Superstition; Trials (Witchcraft)
Psellus founded a system of demonology, which had for its basis the
natural history and habitation of demons. His first class consisted of
fiery devils, that wandered in the regions near the moon, but were
prevented from entering that luminary. They displayed their power in
blazing stars, in counterfeit suns, moons, and meteoric lights, and
prevented foul weather. These demons, we are informed, occasionally
resided in the furnaces of Hecla, Etna, or Vesuvius. His second class
was made up of aërial devils, that inhabited the atmosphere, caused
tempests, thunder, and lightning, rended asunder trees, burned down
steeples and houses, struck men and beasts, showered stones, wool, and
frogs from the skies; counterfeited in the clouds the battles of
armies, raised whirlwinds, fires, and corrupted the air so as to
spread disease. The third class was terrestrial devils, such as lares,
genii, fauns, satyrs, wood-nymphs, foliots, robin-goodfellows, or
trulli. The fourth class was aqueous devils, as the various
descriptions of water nymphs. The fifth class consisted of
subterranean devils, known by the name of Getuli or Cobals. They
preserved treasure in the earth, and prevented it being suddenly
revealed; they were also the cause of horrible earthquakes. Psellus's
sixth class of devils was named lucifugi. They delighted in darkness,
entered into the bowels of men, and tormented those whom they
possessed with frenzy and the falling sickness. An opinion prevailed
that devils possessed corporeal frames, capable of sensation; that
they could feel and be felt; that they could injure and be hurt; that
they were nourished with peculiar food; that they did not hurt cattle
from malevolence, but through a desire to obtain natural temperate
heat and moisture from the animals they killed; that they disliked the
sun's rays; and that they attained a great age.
Of all the kinds of demons we have heard of, the most loathsome are
the vampires. Horst speaks of a vampire as a "dead body which
continues to live in the grave, which it leaves, however, by night for
the purpose of sucking the blood of the living, whereby it is
nourished and preserved in good condition, instead of becoming
decomposed like other dead bodies." Fischer, who believed there were
vampires, informs us that the bite of a vampire left no mark upon the
person, but that the bite speedily proved fatal, unless counteracted
by the injured person eating some of the earth from the vampire's
grave, and smearing himself with his blood. These precautions had only
a temporary effect, if at all successful; for the bitten victim,
sooner or later, became a vampire himself--died and was buried, but
continued to follow the examples of old vampires in nourishing
themselves, infecting others, and propagating vampirism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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