Victims who claimed to have fallen prey to the influence of incubi, could in reality have been victims of sexual assault by a real person. Rapists may have attributed the rapes of sleeping women to demons in order to escape punishment. A friend or relative may have assaulted the victim in her sleep. The victims and, in some cases the clergy, may have found it easier to explain the attack as supernatural in origin rather than confront the idea that the attack came from a trusted person.