Ghost hunters may want to know more about the types of demons they could encounter. This can save them from the trouble of not knowing how to respond to it or making a blunder that could leave them susceptible to a demonic attack.
Let’s take a look at the most common demons. As a ghost hunter, you may not encounter high-level demons, but it can be useful to understand the most common types of demons.
If you want to learn more about the dangers of demons, I invite you to read the article below.
Related article: Can Demons Hurt You? [A Demonologist Weighs In]
#1: Zozo
Zozo has a reputation as a Ouija board demon, and thousands of people have encountered him while playing the game.
Many ghost hunters don’t recommend bringing them along on a ghost hunt because it can hurt you without an easy fix. No one fully understands Ouija boards; even the experienced could still get hurt.
Other ghost hunters dislike the Ouija board on ghost hunts because of the lack of hard science.
It can be too easy to manipulate the board. Whether the person does it intentionally or by accident, they don’t see it as valuable information due to the power of suggestion.
This demon goes by other names such as Mama, Zo, Oz, Zaza, Pazaza, and Pazuzu. You won’t likely encounter this demon during a ghost hunt unless you bring the Ouija board.
If you encounter him during a session, the first thing you should do is say a prayer for strength and close the session immediately. In some cases, he will refuse to leave. Keep saying goodbye until he leaves.
Signs of this demon’s presence include:
- Mentions paradise (meaning hell)
- Says the number 28
- Losing track of time
- Random sense of empowerment
- Extreme uneasiness
- Unexplainable depression
- Making sexual advances
Never taunt or make jokes with any demon you might encounter. Encountering a demon is dangerous, and you want to remove yourself from it as quickly as possible.
Related article: Demon Zozo: Dangers and warning signs when using Ouija
#2: Succubus
According to ancient lore, succubuses were demons of sexual immorality. One of the most common symptoms of a succubus is that you would experience sex with a female demon in your dreams.
It’s more like being raped by a demon. During the day, you may feel like something is in your subconscious in the back of your mind. It can be hard to escape this feeling.
A succubus can make you feel fear and constant depression. You would describe a succubus as more of a vampiric spirit over it being a person.
They love to take your energy. You often feel more exhausted and fatigued than ever before after an encounter with a succubus. This creature works from illusion and deception because it draws you in with sexual immorality.
Succubi feed off the problems they can create in your life, such as rage problems, lost time, obsessive sexual issues, and difficulties in your relationship. Ultimately, they want to degrade you sexually and make you more vulnerable.
According to Malleus Maleficarium from 1487, you could eliminate a Succubus by reciting the Ave Maria, The Lord’s Prayer, holy water, making the cross sign, or letting a exorcist banish the demon.
#3: Beelzebub
One of the things that you should know about demons to control the situation better is that even demons have a hierarchy.
Lower-level demons will suffer limitations for what they can do. In demonology, Beelzebub earned a reputation as one of the seven princes of hell.
Beelzebub represents gluttony and envy, and he’s a former seraph that became a high-ranking demon. In Christianity, Beelzebub became known for performing exorcisms because he could control all the demons in this world.
This fact was known so well in ancient times that when Jesus began to drive out demons in Luke 11:14-28, they accused him of driving them out in the name of Beelzebub. Jesus rebuked them by saying that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
Beelzebub can restore and upset a person’s emotional and mental balance. He has a reputation for making people insane. Beelzebub could often be seen as a fly; some even refer to him as the Lord of the Flies.
If you encounter a haunting with the unusual presence of flies, bugs, or other insects – this might be a sign of the presence of Beelzebub! He is also known for being responsible for demonic possessions.
In the Earling possession, the demon attacked and possessed a woman named Anna Ecklund. Her father summoned the demon as she did not consent to incestuous sex. A priest finally succeeded in banishing the demon.
#4: Surgat
He’s mentioned as a minor demon in the Great Grimoire of Honorarius. Believe it or not, this was a pope who would summon demons to banish them back to the underworld.
However, historians aren’t 100 percent sure if Honorarius III wrote this grimoire. Despite being a minor demon, Honorarius describes him as “Surgat who opens all locks.”
This description was meant to describe him as difficult to hide from and nearly impossible to escape.
Despite being a minor demon, his deception and cunning make him one of the most frightening demons you can encounter. Surgat is also mentioned in the Grimorium Verum and the Secrets of Solomon.
If you encounter the spirit of a child or loved one, beware! Surgat might be at play!
#5: Ronove
Known as the Great Earl of Hell, Renove commands 20 legions of demons. To put that into perspective, one legion typically represents 5,000 demons, which means he has over 100,000 demons as his command.
Renove is considered a master of the mind and uses it to impact our physical world. He teaches rhetoric, art, and languages. He does this to help people get the confidence of others for nefarious purposes.
He has often been called the taker of old souls and often comes to earth for old humans and animals near death.
If a person suddenly can speak unknown (for them) languages, it might be Renove at play.
#6: King Asmodeus
Known as the demon of carnal desire, King Asmodeus is known as the king of demons, and he’s the demon of lust.
He’s known to twist a person’s sexual desires to match wickedness, including incest. His specialty is to spread lust. He also ranks as one of the seven princes of hell, which makes him a high-ranking demon.
He also happens to be envious. In the Book of Tobit, he’s said to have murdered seven husbands on their wedding nights over Raguel’s daughter Sarah.
Earlier, we spoke about the succubi, and King Asmodeus is known to witches as the “prince of incubus and succubus.”
He’s also known as Lilith’s husband, another demon of lust. He’s a spontaneous force that is unpredictable beyond human standards.
That nature of doing the unexpected makes him dangerous to deal with. The archangels are known to control Asmodeus and his sphere of influence.
This powerful demon makes him difficult to defeat, and anyone who ever comes to meet Asmodeus should consider themselves truly unfortunate. You don’t want to encounter Asmodeus.
#7: Incubus
Previously, we mentioned incubus; you may have wondered what they are. Incubus are demons that are the opposite of succubus but have sexual intercourse with sleeping women.
Like succubus, incubus can sometimes haunt a building or home. In many cases, the people reported it as being a boyfriend, but they felt something was off about them. Upon waking, they might have felt like they had truly gone through the experience.
In many cases, an incubus or succubus might create relationship problems between two people out of jealousy. The specifics can differ somewhat from one case to the next. For example, one victim described the incubus’s voice as hypnotizing and frightful at the same time.
According to the Church, there are ways to eliminate an incubus. You have to do the sacramental confession, make the sign of the cross, reciting Ave Maria, move to another house or home, or let a priest perform an exorcism.
Related article: Why we can’t see demons [+ what the demonic looks like]
#8: Mammon
King Mammon, another one of the seven princes of hell, rules over the domain of greed.
He knows about everything and anything that deals with money. Some people will deal with him to get more money, but they should beware because he’s not what you think—he’s an old demon.
Think of him as evil personified and all the acts associated with selfishness, including murder.
Those who went to Mammon seeking wealth can trust it won’t end well. This is the demon of greed, and his nature is darker than it appears on the surface. He’ll do whatever he can to get what he wants.
Something not many know is that he is hell’s ambassador of England.
#9: Abaddon
Abaddon is referred to as “The Destroyer” in Revelations. In Hebrew, “Abad” means “to perish.” Another thing is that “Abaton” is the Greek word for a pit.
He is the demon of death, destruction, and the netherworld.
Abaddon means nothingness. Some, such as those in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, don’t believe that Abaddon is a demon, but most Christian denominations consider him evil. He’s also known as the demon of impurity. Sometimes, they call him the King of Grasshoppers.
Abaddon is a damned cherub that Lilith tempted into a fall from heaven. After the fall, he became an archdemon.
After the War in Heaven, he was known as the angel who banished Lucifer and his group of rebel angels. Most describe Abaddon as more like a natural force than an actual being.
His name may even talk about a part of hell where there is fire and snow.
In most biblical sources about Abaddon, he’s one of the scariest demons of hell. Demons and angels alike fear him. Some high-level demons even said they feared Abaddon as much as Satan.
#10: Belphegor
One of the seven princes of hell, Belphagor, is the demon lord whose dominion is over the sin of sloth.
Before this angel fell from heaven, he was known as Belfagel. He’s a friend of Asmodel and Mammon.
During his time as an angel in heaven, he didn’t enjoy his heavenly duties. Instead, he preferred to lay around in sloth, which could be why he now resides over the dominion of sloth.
When Lucifer began his rebellion against God, Belphagor didn’t join him in the battle, nor did he join God. He instead preferred to idle nearby. This earned him the wrath of God and sent him to hell. As he fell from grace, Belphagor became the archdemon of sloth.
Balphegor draws his victims into idle dreaming and sloth, intending to cause them to sin in sloth.
What Do You Do if You Encounter One of These Demons?
As a ghost hunter, you most likely won’t encounter any of the demons mentioned on a ghost hunt except for Zozo, the succubus, or the incubus.
However, that doesn’t mean you won’t encounter a lesser demon under their rule. Many of the demons mentioned have a high ranking, and they will send other demons to do their bidding.
The first thing to remember is not to feel fear. While it can be hard, demons feed off negative emotions like fear and can worsen things this way.
One thing that people often forget is that demons only can attack you if you allow them to. They need consent.
The demons try to energetically weaken you, scare you, or launch psychic attacks to get this. But as long as you stand firm in your belief that you can say “no” to them, and they have no power to hurt you – they can’t!
Some people will use salt rings and cleanse an area with sage, but nothing will remove the spirits from the area in a truly haunted location.
You could also say a prayer to ward off demonic entities. In the final and worst case, you may need to seek an exorcist to remove the demons.
Never pay anyone for this because the Catholic church offers it as a free service, as do most religions. It is not moral to charge for a service like this.
Related article: Can Demons Hurt You? [A Demonologist Weighs In]
Many Different Types of Demons
Each of the demons mentioned rules over different things, and they have different characteristics.
You will find many types of demons, and depending on the culture, you may encounter different folklore around the demons.
This also makes it hard to identify a demon. Depending on what religion you refer to, they might have different names. I have a hard time believing there are different demons. This is also why it can successfully approach them in a multi-faith way.
Final Thoughts
Especially if you plan to hunt ghosts, you may find it useful to know the different types of ghosts and demons you could encounter.
In all likelihood, the demons you encounter would be the servants of the ones mentioned above, but it could be helpful because you know more about what type of demon you might be dealing with.
Whenever you encounter a demon, you should exercise caution since demons exist only to destroy. There is nothing good that can come from an interaction with one. Never summon or provoke them.
If you want to learn more about how to spot demonic haunting, you find a helpful article below.
Related article: 10 Signs of a Demonic Haunting
