The Talmud notes that demons, like humans, need to eat, procreate and eventually die. The ability for humans and demons to mate and hybridize is already mentioned in the Talmud itself, noting that while Adam slept the demoness Lilith mated with him. (This legend is expanded upon in the biblical commentary of Rabbi Ephraim which I have translated and posted in a previous post on Magic Swords)
Sure there are legendary stories brought down throughout the ages, but are there any truly documented incidents? My research has led me to the following two incidents which involve real historical individuals in real cities and times.
The following incident, occurring in Posen (Posen is the Yiddish and German name for the city of Poznań in modern day Poland) during the years 1681-2 and is recorded in Sefer Kav HaYashar, Chapter 69:
One must know that this demon Machalas and her hosts, mentioned in the previous chapter, sometimes appear to a man even when he is awake. She comes to him in the form of a beautiful woman with a smiling countenance. She laughs with him and bears him children called, “foreign sons” (Hosea 5:7) or “destructive sons” (Isaiah 1:4). And in the end she kills him along with his offspring and his entire family. We have heard tell of just such an incident that took place in our own time. I will relate to you, my friend, how the matter fell out: It happened during the years 1681 (Hebrew year: 5441) and 1682 (Hebrew year:5442). On a busy street in the holy community of Posen there was a solitary stone house with a cellar that was always kept locked and no man was allowed to enter. One day a certain young man did go in and about a quarter of an hour later the residents of the house found him lying dead on the threshold. No one could ascertain the reason for his death. About two years after the young man’s death malignant spirits [chitzonim] began to frequent the outbuilding where all the domestic chores were done. Whenever anyone prepared food to place on the stove they would later find filled with dirt and ashes, rendering it unfit for consumption.
With time the spirits expanded their range, entering even into the main living quarters where they would take hold of the hangings and lanterns decorating the room and throw them to the ground. Still, they never harmed the residents physically. They merely caused them consternation. Eventually they started wandering freely throughout the house. The human residents were so filled with fear by this point that they had no choice but to move elsewhere. This was a source of great anguish to the holy community of Pozen and the citizenry took council together to decide on a course of action. First they tried the strategies of the gentile priests, called yez viter. But when that failed to dislodge the spirits from the house they sent a messenger to the famous Baal Shem [“Master of the Name”] of that generation, Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem of Zamość.
As soon as Rabbi Yoel arrived he placed the spirits under oath using Divine names and compelled them to reveal why they had come to that house. For the spirits are not permitted to take up residence in settled areas but only in dilapidated houses or in the wilderness. The spirits replied that this house was rightfully theirs by Torah law, but they agreed to appear before the rabbinical court of Posen to present their case. A day or two later the judges of Posen went with Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem and took their seats in the court. Then a voice began addressing them, although they could not see any form. One of the spirits explained that this house formerly belonged to a man named So-and-so who was a smith. He used to cohabit with a certain female demon, who bore him “foreign sons” and “destructive sons.” He had a human wife as well, who also bore him sons. But the smith was very much in love with the demon to the point that his soul was bound up with hers. Sometimes he was obliged to interrupt his prayers and leave the synagogue in order to fulfill the wishes of the demon.
One time the smith was leading the Seder on the first night of Passover, in accordance with Jewish custom everywhere, when suddenly he rose from the table to go to the outhouse. His wife said nothing but she immediately went after him to see what business he had there. Through a chink in the wall of the outhouse she saw that inside there was a luxurious room with a table set with vessels of silver and gold and a bed spread with beautiful coverings. In the bed she saw a beautiful naked woman to whom the smith was clinging firmly. Filled with fright the woman went home, her mind in turmoil. About a quarter of an hour later her husband returned to the Seder and she did not say a word to him about what she had seen.
The next day she went to speak to the illustrious Rabbi Sheftel (son of the Shelah) and related to him everything that had transpired. The rabbi sent for the smith who confessed that he had a foreign wife who was not of human stock. Then the rabbi composed an amulet containing holy names by which he compelled the smith to abandon his foreign wife, the malignant spirit. Sometime before the man’s demise the demon came back to him weeping. “How could he abandon her and her children?” she asked. Then she smiled at him, kissing and hugging and cajoling him until he agreed to grant her and her offspring a portion in his estate, bequeathing to them the cellar. Years later Poland was immersed in a war, lasting from 5408 until 5418. In the course of the war the smith and all his heirs were killed and there was no one left to inherit the house. “Therefore,” concluded the spirit, “we spirits are the true heirs, and we have a lawful portion in our father’s estate.”
The current owners of the house responded that they purchased the structure for the full price from the smith and his representatives. Moreover, spirits do not have the legal status of offspring. Finally, their mother the demon had compelled the smith to live with her against his will! Having heard the two sides the court handed down its ruling. Indeed, the spirits had no case, nor did they have any share in the estate because their true dwelling place is in the wilderness, not in areas of human settlement. After the ruling was delivered Rabbi Yoel bound the spirits by oath to vacate the premises, including the cellar, and return to the forest and the wilderness. From this incident you have a clear demonstration that when a man clings to Lilith or to one of the cohorts of Machalas he uproots himself and his entire family from the world until no memory of him remains.
Therefore a man must distance himself from immorality lest a demon come to him in the form of a woman and cling to him or his offspring, Heaven forbid, so that he will cause himself harm. Fortunate is the one who makes protective barriers for himself and adheres to the wife of his youth, who is likened to a grapevine. And fortunate is his soul, for he does not deliver his strength to foreign powers. In any event, a man must be careful not to waste his seed. And if this sin should overtake him against his will, Heaven forbid, let him immediately rectify the blemish through repentance. Then all will be will with him, selah.
Thus ends the first incident.
The second incident I will bring here occurred in Worms, Germany (possibly in the 17th cent.) and is recorded in the Sefer Ma'ase Nissim ("Wondrous Incidents") of Juspa Schammes (of whom I mentioned his book of customs in a previous post on magical swords). In this book, Juspa collected 23 remarkable stories that took place in Worms either in earlier generations or in his lifetime. A scanned copy of the first edition Yiddish print of 1696 can be viewed here. Story 21 deals with the demoness "Queen of Sheba". It has been translated into English and Hebrew in "R. Juspa, Shammash of Warmaisa (Worms)" (Shlomo Eidelberg, 1991) pp. 87-88. Being that this translation is fantastic, I felt no need to redo anything and I present it as is:
Story 21: The Queen of Sheba in the house"Zur Sonne"
The house known as "Zur Sonne"is a stone edifice which stands near a synagogue. The house was formerly called the Devil's Head. There once lived a well-respected man who was very poor and did not want anyone to know of his poverty. In this large house there was a storage room in which the man would sit alone in retreat and lament his poverty, One day the Queen of Sheba came to him. He thought that in his entire life he had never seen a more beautiful woman. Her hair was sparkling gold and so long that two maid servants were needed to carry it.
She said to the man: "If you will sleep with me every day when the clock strikes twelve noon, I will make you a rich man, richer than anyone."
The man, seduced by both her beauty and her promise, agreed. Everyday at twelve noon, the Queen came to the storage room accompanied by two maid servants who carried her hair in a golden
basin. When the Queen lay near the man, they put the basin beside the bed, then removed themselves from the room. An hour later, they would return and follow the Queen out of the storage room.
The Queen forbade the man to expose their relationship. If it were revealed to anyone, the man would lose his life. He did as she commanded. Every day, after the noon meal, he would retire to the
storage room and lay in bed with the Queen of Sheba. The Queen kept her promise; she brought him great quantities of gold and silver.
The man became rich and his wife began to dress in expensive clothing. On holidays his wife would wear rings on her fingers and dress in elegant clothes. Although she enjoyed this new situation, at the same she was suspicious. She asked her husband :"How did you come to where all this wealth? Surely it is not from your trade."
The husband became most angry and replied: "What does it matter, as long as I have it." The wife remained silent.
One day his wife asked :"My dear husband, what do you do every day at noon in the storage room? You stay in there a long time."
The husband replied: "I have become used to a noon-time nap." The wife asked no further questions, but remained suspicious about his daily retreat to the storage room. One day she took the storage room key from her husband and ordered a duplicate from the locksmith. Once, when he was in the storage room, she opened the door with the new key and went inside. There she saw her husband lying with the Queen of Sheba. She saw the golden basin beside the bed which contained the Queen's golden hair. The wife quietly left the room. She carefully closed the door so that no one would wake and discover that someone had been in the room.
When the Queen arose, however, she told the man that he must die because he had revealed their secret; somebody had been in the room and had seen them sleeping together. The man swore that he had told no one, that he did not know what she was talking about, and begged for his life. The Queen agreed to spare his life, but told him that he would never see her again."Your wealth will disappear and you will be poorer than before. I will kill the two children I bore you by cutting their throats. Go to the Rhine River bridge in three days time and you will see a coffin. In it will be the children. The Rhine will be their burial place."
Three days later the man went to the bridge on the Rhine and saw a casket floating in the river, A short time later he became greatly impoverished.
Therefore, no one should allow himself to be seduced by money.
And thus end this second story.
I find it interesting that the demonesses have different reactions upon being discovered in terms of their children. In the first one, she pleads and cajoles to allow her demon children a place to live in the house. In contrast, the Queen of Sheba decides to kill her children, seemingly as part of her vengeance on the man.
