The eerie, sightless stare of wax-figure mannequins disconcerts many an onlooker, but the famous wax museums of today which host hyper-realistic looking wax models of celebrities and historical wax...
On the Spanish island of Mallorca, an ancient tradition known as 'correfoc' has been captivating locals and visitors alike for decades. This unique festival , rooted in medieval street theatre and...
Belief in malevolent spirits inhabiting the human body has persisted across cultures for millennia. During the Middle Ages, exorcisms were commonplace to rid individuals of supposed demonic...
One of the most fascinating discoveries from ancient China are coin swords. Coin swords, also known as cash swords, are an ancient type of feng shui talisman that has been around since the Qing...
We often talk about the modern world’s obsession with celebrities. People love to talk about the rich and famous. This is nothing new. It’s been a part of human nature since time immemorial. Before...
A legendary volcanic rock in Japan associated with an ancient evil vixen-demon, has split in two. While geologists assure the occurrence is natural, others are convinced the chaotic fox spirit has...
“There is no good, and there is no evil. There is only the flesh and the patterns to which we submit it.” At least that was one of the things which the character Pinhead was supposed to say according...
Most of us are familiar with the images of the deities, kings and queens of Egypt; but for every one of the famous scenes reproduced from those times, smaller, more obscure supernatural figures are...
The folklore of the wicked witch and her diabolical animal familiar is a well-known and often repeated tale. When the seasons change and the nights get long it’s not uncommon to see images and...
As long as humanity has had beliefs in a higher power, the use of magic, spells, curses, and incantations have featured widely across cultures. A number of influential texts or ‘grimoires’ (textbooks...
A “wizard battle” and over 300 other bizarre stories including “trapped demons” have been published by Biblical scholars translating apocryphal ancient Christian texts into English for the first time...
Lullabies are not a recent invention. In fact, they stretch back thousands of years, undoubtedly to the time before written history. Many ancient Mesopotamian lullabies, from the cultures of Babylon...
Christine Judith Nicholls / The Conversation A rich inventory of monstrous figures exists throughout Aboriginal Australia. The specific form that their wickedness takes depends to a considerable...
A new genetic study of 1739 Asian individuals from 219 populations has found that on the Indian sub-continent today Denisovan DNA exists mostly among isolated, tribal communities. It also found that...
Waves of violence, corruption and crime in a Columbian city are to be addressed with an audacious exorcism by a Catholic bishop who plans to launch holy water over the city from a helicopter...
In the temple-schools of Mesopotamia , students learned exorcism rituals, how to mix healing atonements, perform astrology, and how to cure demonic possession. While these skills may seem archaic now...
Exorcism is again in the news, as the Vatican announces a new training course will be held to meet increased demand for deliverance ministry. So, what does this actually mean, and should it be a...
Since men and woman have been capable of making vocal sounds, incantations have been floated on airwaves by enchanters, who whispering charms, spells in rituals, hymns and prayers, invoked curses,...
The Grand Grimoire, sometimes referred to as the ‘Red Dragon’ or the ‘Gospel of Satan’, is a medieval grimoire believed to possess immense powers. According to legend, it was written by an apocryphal...
Death, the ancient Egyptians believed, was not the end of our struggles. They believed in an afterlife and that the worthy would go on to paradise, but their dead didn’t simply pass over to the other...
Theodoret of Cyrrhus (423–457) tells us that when little girls played games in forth-century Syria, they played monks and demons. One of the girls, dressed in rags, would reduce her little friends...
Archaeologists in Serbia have discovered the first known golden curse tablets in ancient Roman tombs in Serbia. The tablets contain inscriptions in long-forgotten languages with strange magical...
Demons have existed in myths and legends since ancient times. In the hierarchy of evil, as laid out in grimoires and occult texts, each demon has a name and a precise function. In medieval times,...
Psychological Distress Some researchers have suggested that Incubus/Succubus attacks are related to strong sexual repression. As noted above, tales of Incubi and Succubi were originally linked more...
