Seeing Demons

Notandum autem, quod in his urbis legionum partibus fuit diebus nostris vir quidam Cambrensis, cui nomen Melerius, futurorum simul et occultorum scientiam habens, cui talis hanc eventus scientiam dedit. Nocte quadam scilicet Ramis Palmarum, puellam diu ante adamatam obviam habens loco amoeno, et ut videbatur opportuno, desideratis amplexibus atque delitiis cum indulsisset, statim loco puellae formosae formam quandam villosam, hispidam et hirsutam, adeoque enormiter deformem invenit, quod in ipso ejusdem aspectu dementire coepit et insanire. Cumque pluribus id annis ei durasset, tandem in ecclesia Menensi meritis Sanctorum loci ejusdem, optatam sanitatem recuperavit. Semper tamen cum spiritibus immundis magnam et mirandam familiaritatem habens, eosdem videndo, cognoscendo, colloquendo, propriisque nominibus singulos nominando, ipsorum ministerio plerunque futura praedicebat. In longe vero futuris atque remotis, sicut et ipsi, frequentius fallebatur, in propinquioribus 'autem et quasi infra annum futuris minus falli consueverat. Videbat autem eos fere semper pedites et expeditos, et quasi sub forma venatorum, cornu a collo suspensum habentes, et vere venatores non ferarum tamen nec animalium, sed animarum. Circa monasteria quoque, et loca religiosa magis eos et in multitudine majori videri solebat; ibi nimirum exercitu: ibi numerosis opus est viribus, ubi rebellio. Quoties autem falsum coram ipso ab aliquo dicebatur, id statim agnoscebat, videbat enim super linguam mentientis daemonem quasi salientem et exultantem. Librum quoque mendosum, et vel falso scriptum, vel falsum etiam in se continentem inspiciens, statim, licet illiteratus omnino fuisset, ad locum mendacii digitum ponebat. Interrogatus autem, qualiter hoc nosset, dicebat daemonem ad locum eundem digitum suum primo porrigere: similiter et dormitorium monasterii cuilibet intrando, lectum monachi falsi, et religionem habitu, non animo praeferentis, eisdem indiciis ostendebat; dicebat autem spiritum gulositatis et crapulae supra et infra sordidum esse: spiritum vero libidinis et luxuriae pulchriorem aliis, sed foetidissimum. Contigit aliquando, spiritibus immundis nimis eidem insultantibus, ut Evangelium Johannis ejus in gremio poneretur, qui statim tanquam aves evolantes omnes penitus evanuerunt: quo sublato postmodum, et historia Britonum a Galfrido Arthuro tractata experiendi causa loco ejusdem subrogata, non solum corpori ipsius toti, sed etiam libro superposito longe solito crebrius et tediosius insederunt. Giraldus Cambrensis, Itinerarium Cambriae, Liber I Cap V Source: Here, p45-46

One must note that in our days there lived in the neighbourhood of the City of the Legions, 1 a Welshman named Meilyr, who had knowledge of future events and hidden things, to whom this knowledge came during the following incident. On a certain night, that of Palm Sunday, in a pleasant and convenient place, he met a girl whom he had long loved, and while he was indulging in the desired and delightful embraces, suddenly, instead of a beautiful girl, he found himself with a hairy, rough, and hideous creature, the sight of which demented him and made him mad. After he had suffered from this for many years, he recovered his longed for health in the church of St. David, through the merits of the saints. But he always had a great and wondrous familiarity with unclean spirits, in seeing them, and knowing them, and talking to them, and calling each one by its proper name, and with their help he would predict the future. Just as they are, he was frequently wrong about things remote in time and space, but in things nearer and that were to happen in the span of a year, he was less mistaken. He saw them nearly always on foot and garbed in the manner of hunters ready for the chase, with horns hung around their necks, they who are truly hunters not of wild animals but of souls. He was accustomed to meet them most often around monasteries and cells, for certainly where there is rebellion there is need for an army, and numerous equipment and men. Any time that someone spoke falsely in his presence, he instantly knew it, for he saw a demon on the tongue of the liar, and, as it were, leaping about in exultation. Also looking on a book poorly or deceitfully written, or containing something false within it, though he was completely illiterate, he placed his finger on the false passage. When he was questioned as to how he knew such things, he said that a demon first stretched out a finger to the same place. Likewise, entering into the dormitory of a certain monastery, he pointed to the bed of a false monk, he who wore the habit but did not bear the soul of religion. He said that the spirit of gluttony and drunkenness was far beyond all others most ugly, and that the spirit of lust and luxury was fairer than others but the most foul smelling. Sometimes it happened that when the unclean spirits troubled him too much the Gospel of Saint John was placed in his lap, and then instantly they all flew off like birds, but later when it was removed and the History of the Britons by Geoffrey was put in its place, 2 just to see what would occur, they would return in greater numbers and sit all over his body, and the book also, for much longer than usual. Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales, Book 1, Chapter 5 1 Caerleon 2 Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain