Lamia

Lamia
Powers and Abilities	Super strength
Vulnerabilities	Silver knife blessed by a priest
Appearance	Humanoid
Episode(s)	6.04 Weekend at Bobby's

History

Lamias are usually only seen in Greece. Dean and Sam Winchester hunt and kill one in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that had been going on a rampage, having killed six men.

Characteristics

Based on the shadow it casts on the wall of a rectory, the lamia is a humanoid monster that has a high-pitched, warbling scream. It is strong and has large claws that it uses to tear open the chest cavities of its victims. It then feeds on its victims' hearts ("Juices hearts, chugs the blood"). Lamia's are near invulnerable to most conventional means of killing

Powers and abilities

• Claws – Lamias sport large black claws, which they use to rip out human hearts.
• Super strength – A lamia is strong enough rip open a human chest, as well as thrown a grown man across a room with ease.

Weaknesses

• Silver – Stabbing a lamia with a silver knife blessed by a priest can kill it.
• Rosemary, salt, and fire – Covering a lamia in rosemary and salt and then setting it on fire can also kill it.

Episodes

The claw of a lamia.

6.04 Weekend at Bobby's

Sam and Dean are in Wisconsin on the trail of a monster that cracks open the bodies of its victims. It leaves a large black claw in the chest cavity of the latest victim, and they call Bobby for help. Even though Bobby says that he's busy, he spends hours researching, going so far as to break into a University library to find a book that he needs. It's early morning the next day when he calls Dean to tell him that they're hunting a lamia. Usually only in Greece, a Lamia "juices hearts and chugs the blood." He tells them it can be killed by a silver knife blessed by a priest.

Later in the episode, Dean calls Bobby and asks for an alternate method they can use to kill the lamia. Apparently, they went to a rectory, but the priest they asked to bless the knife was killed by the lamia and Sam is being tossed around by it. Bobby is surrounded by law enforcement when Dean calls, so he tells Dean to find salt and rosemary and "blend the herbs, saute over a high heat, and cook well." Dean finds salt and rosemary in the rectory's kitchen and tosses them on the lamia. He then disconnects the gas line from the back of the stove and creates a makeshift flamethrower that he uses to roast the lamia, killing it.

Lamia in Lore

In ancient Greek mythology, Lamia was a beautiful queen of Libya who became a child-eating demon. While the word lamia literally means "large shark" in Greek, Aristophanes claimed her name derived from the Greek word for gullet, referring to her habit of devouring children.