A Dybbuk.
Dybbuks (Yiddish: דיבוק, from Hebrew "adhere" or "cling") are malevolent spirits from Jewish folklore, comparable to "unclean" spirits in other religions. Although often the Dybbuk are considered demons, there is a difference between an "unclean" spirit and an actual demon: demons are considered fallen angels or spiritual evils whilst "unclean" spirits such as the Dybbuk are considered the restless souls of unhappy humans or animals (similar to the idea of ghosts).
A Dybbuk was the spirit of a dead sinner who, instead of continuing on to the afterlife, decided to hide out by inhabiting the body of a living person, where they would either live quietly or, more frequently, pester and torture the victim.
According to folklore the victim had to have committed some sort of sin in order for the Dybbuk to get inside, thus it could not harm the "righteous" - if one was possessed by a Dybbuk it could be exorcised by a properly trained rabbi.
Trivia[]
- Dybbuks appear in Dungeons and Dragons, but here, they are actual demons. Dybbuks retain their ability to possess their victims, but can also do sordid activities using them, and the victims need to have lost their lives first before they could be possessed. Plus, Dungeons and Dragons redesigned the Dybbuks, making them more like jellyfish.
