Demons are a mainstay in many different religions, and have been used to explain a number of afflictions that befall ordinary individuals, often being victimized for no reason other than their proximity to the malevolent entities. But what are these entities really? Are they simply symbols of the thin sliver of darkness residing within us all? Or could they possibly be actual trans-dimensional beings bent on evil?
The study of demonology has several different names and a long history reaching back into the middle ages and before. The Catholic church first started categorizing and giving names to demons some time around 600 AD. Hundreds of years passed with the mythology gradually becoming more detailed and complex. While some attribute this to a matter of faith, there are also several secular believers who have said whether they are directly related to any given belief system or not, there is something distinctly going on with these disturbing visitors. And they all seem to share common traits.
Demons, according to demonologists, are fallen angels who joined the rebellion during the time of Lucifer. But time and their own isolation has changed them into twisted hideous entities who live without the good in the world and thrive only on evil.
But there is another theory to demonology that follows the field of UFOlogy closer than religion. These theorists suggest that the evil entities people encounter every day known as demons are indeed supernatural creatures, but are from an actual alternate dimension that exists parallel to our world. These creatures are said to possess the ability to warp what we understand as the laws of physics, even able to change their own appearance. And yet they are still bound by certain symbols that appear significant in our dimension. And just as these evil extra-dimensional beings exist, so too do benevolent ones come about who are in constant conflict with these forces of evil.
But whether it’s an alternate dimension or an actual physical hell they hail from, demons are a constant subject on the minds of both those who have never encountered the paranormal and those who have. Cases of demonic possession have been recorded for centuries, but the most well known case is that of Annaliese Michel, who eventually died before her exorcism was complete.
Stories have been told for years of families who took a wrong turn in their contact with the supernatural and soon found themselves the target of a supernatural and hostile entity. And when they appear, several say the level of terror is simply incomparable to anything that should be possible. But where do they come from? Are they stretched out over the cosmos in a completely different type of existence? Or do they come from within our own troubled minds?
Finally, there is a strong distinction often drawn between what most people would consider a traditional ghost and an actual demonic force. These demons often are portrayed as inhuman and only possessing vaguely human characteristics while the rest of them seems to have been carved from pure evil.