The Legend of Lamia

In greek mythology, lamia was the beautiful, highly sought after queen of libya and a mistress of zeus's. In some stories, hara actually has the body of a woman and the tail of a serpent. Many wore amulets to ward off la mashtu, pazuz and, yes, that one from the exorcist, the king evil wind demons is often depicted driving her back to the nether world. The word itself can sometimes yet refer to this whole class of demons and witches.