8 mystical medieval books that are even scarier the more you read them

From the basics of the Satanic code to a guide on how to make a pact with the devil, these books are clearly not for the faint of heart.

Mysterious Books of the Middle Ages

The author of the Codex Gigas is said to have sold his soul to the devil.

This massive Latin manuscript was written by a Benedictine monk in the 13th century in the Czech Republic. Measuring 92cm long, 50cm wide, 22cm thick, and weighing 74.8kg, the 310-page book contains everything from a complete copy of the Bible to instructions on how to perform an exorcism.

In fact, it is rumored to contain all human knowledge. What makes it even more interesting is that the entire book seems to have been written by a single scribe, which would have taken 30 years to complete. The Codex Gigas is sometimes called the 'Devil's Bible' because of the giant drawing of a demon inside.

Legend has it that a monk was awaiting execution for his crimes. He begged the gods to spare his life if he could create a masterpiece in just one night. The monk sold his soul to Satan in exchange for the Devil's help and created the Codex Gigas before dawn, then sealed the pact with a large illustration of the devil inside the book.

The Picatrix book contains recipes for mixing blood, semen, urine and opium.

This 11th-century Arabic grimoire has long been considered obscene due to its graphic imagery. In addition to being a scholarly work filled with medieval philosophy, astrology, and science, the Picatrix also includes recipes for mixing human and animal blood, brains, urine, and other bodily fluids with opium and other dangerous substances to achieve various magical results.

For example, the charm 'allows you to appear in the form of any animal you wish' . To do that, you need to take the semen of a healthy man, place it in an eggshell along with the semen of the animal you want to transform into, then bury the egg in warm dung for three days.

The Grand Grimoire teaches how to summon and control demons

Looking to make a pact with the devil? The Grand Grimoire (also known as The Red Dragon) has what you need. This manual teaches the reader how to summon a demon and make a pact with it, forcing it to do your bidding. Supposedly based on the writings of King Solomon, The Grand Grimoire is still used by some Haitian Voodoo practitioners.

The authentic book is currently kept in the Vatican's secret archives, with rumors that there is no way to destroy it, not even by fire.

The Satanic Bible Contains Rituals for Sex, Compassion, and Destruction

Considered the foundational text for contemporary Satanism, the Satanic Bible contains the essays and rituals of the infamous "Black Pope": Anton Lavey.

Anton Lavey had many jobs before delving into Satanism: "He was a lion tamer for the Clyde Beatty Circus, then a professional promoter, oboe player, crime photographer, artist, hypnotist and psychic investigator."

The Satanic Bible is divided into four sections: Satan , Lucifer , Belial , and Leviathan . The Book of Belial contains magical rituals for "sex, compassion, and destruction . " The Book of Leviathan also includes invocations for these three, including the invocation of Satan.

Voynich Manuscript Filled With Inexplicable Surrealist Drawings

With its depictions of naked women, bizarre symbols, and indecipherable text, no one really knows what the Voynich manuscript is about. The colorful and detailed manuscript is obscure and mysterious, covering everything from medicinal herbs to zodiac symbols.

Overall, we still don't know what its purpose was. The book is believed to have been written in Central Europe in the late 15th or early 16th century. Scholars aren't even sure what language it was written in, who wrote it, when, where, or why.

The mysterious Soyga book disappeared for hundreds of years

Queen Elizabeth I's advisor, John Dee, was a mathematician and astronomer. John Dee, who was also fascinated by the occult, attempted to decipher a strange Latin book of magic called Soyga , also known as Aldaraia or "the book of killing".

The book disappeared after Dee's death in the early 17th century, then reappeared in 1994 with two copies, one in the British Library and one in the Bodleian Library.

Scholars are still trying to figure out its mysteries, but so far they know that it is a book about demons, magic spells, and astrology. The Soyga Book also contains the names and genealogies of angels. Its final pages contain a string of letters that cannot be deciphered.

John Dee spent much of his life trying to communicate with angels. Dee said he asked the angel Uriel to help him understand Soyga better , but was advised that only the archangel Michael could interpret it.

The Oera Linda book was popular with Nazi occult groups.

The Oera Linda Book is widely considered a forgery and not a genuine ancient text. However, it was a favorite of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, who considered it the Nordic Bible .

He believed that the Indo-Iranians were the original inhabitants of Atlantis. In addition, the Nordics pioneered all Western civilizations, and were responsible for the development of the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and elsewhere. To this day, some neo-Nazis and other fringe thinkers maintain that the book is authentic and accurate.

The Munich Book is All About Dark Magic

Also known as The Necromancer's Manual , this 15th-century Latin grimoire deals solely with demonology and dark necromancy.

Munich is divided into three parts. The first is about illusion magic, which tricks people into seeing things that aren't there. The second is about psychological magic, which uses emotions to gain superhuman power. The last is about divination magic, which allows a person to "see" into the past or future.

One of the most famous and terrifying sections of the book is the instructions on how to create a "dark mirror of Lilith" for divination purposes.