BABYLONIAN DEMON GODS.

Babylonian demons were legions and most of them exceedingly malevolent. Many of the Babylonian gods retained traces of their primeval demoniacal characteristics, and this applies to a great triad, Ea, Anu, and En-lil, who evolved into a godhead from an animistic group of nature spirits. Each of these gods was accompanied by demon groups. An infinite number of guardian spirits is included in the demonological system. These dwell in houses and are the tutelars of village communities and clans. Thus the disease-demons were the beloved sons of Bel, the fates were the 7 daughters of Anu, and the 7 storm-demons were the children of Ea.
In the art which claims control of the secret forces of nature by ritualistic methods, an extremely prudent, cautious, attentive and discreet role was developed towards the consequence of one's behavior.  The description of the primeval form of Ea was done as follows: his head like a serpent's, the ears as those of a lizard, his horns twisted into curls, his body as a sun-fish full of stars, his feet armed with claws, and the sole of his foot with no heel.
Ea was the great magician of the gods; his sway over the forces of nature was secured by the performance of rites, and his services were obtained by human beings who performed requisite ceremonies and repeated appropriate hymns. Although he might be worshiped and propitiated in his temple at Eridu, he could also be summoned in mud huts.
Ura, is said to be the demon of disease. Once he made up his mind to destroy mankind, but Ishnu, his counsellor, appeased him and gave humanity a chance of escape. Whoever praise Ura and magnified his name would rule the 4 quarters of the world, and should have none to oppose him.He should not die in pestilence, and his speech should bring him into favor with the great ones of the earth. Wherever a tablet with  the song of Ura was set up, in that house or nation there should be immunity from the pestilence.
Many Assyrian spirits were half-human and half-supernatural, and some of them supposedly contracted unions with human beings. The offspring of such unions was a spirit called Alu, which haunted ruins and deserted buildings and entered houses of men like a ghost to steal their sleep. A ghost had the ability to drain away the strength of the living.
An old text says, "When a ghost appeared in the house of a living man there were destruction of that house. When it spoke and hearken for an answer, the man was suppose to die, and lamentation came after."
In the closing lines of the epic of Gilgamesh, we read that the dead were left unburied and their ghosts haunted the living until given proper sepulture. They roamed the streets looking for houses in which to dwell. They frequently terrified children (weak souls) into madness or death, and bitterly mocked those in tribulation. They were the outcast of mortality, spiteful and venomous because they had not been properly treated. It was dangerous even to look upon a corpse, lest the spirit of the dead man should seize upon the beholder.
The Utukku, an evil spirit lurked generally in the desert, laying in wait for unsuspecting travelers. The travelers of today are the ones who without knowing enter the realm of many evil spirits that are waiting for them when they are initiated in the consumption of any type of hallucinogen.
The evil spirit does not confine its haunt to the more barren places, for it is also to be found among the mountains (greedy and proud souls), in graveyards (wicked souls), and even in the sea (materialistic souls). An evil fate befell the man upon whom it looks.
The Labartu, a feminine evil spirit, is spoken of as the daughter of Anu. She is suppose to dwell in the mountains or in marshy places, and is particular addicted to the destruction of children.
The belief in "taboo" was universal in ancient Chaldea. There were taboos on many things, but especially among corpses and uncleanness of all kinds. The taboo is found alluded into a text "as the barrier that none can pass." The taboo is usually intended to hedge into the sacred thing from a profane person or common people, but it also can be employed for sanitary reasons. Thus the flesh of certain animals, such as the pig, may not be eaten in hot countries. Food must not be prepared by those who are in the slightest degree suspected of uncleanness. These laws were usually of the most rigorous character. If a man violated the taboo placed upon certain foods, then he himself became taboo. No one had anything to do with him. He was left to his own devices, and, in short, became a sort of pariah.
Because of the belief in the power of supernatural forces, anyone who came into contact with a person who was in any way unclean, or with a corpse or other unpleasant object, he was supposed to come within the radius of the evil which emanated from it.