Manananggal

Philippine mythology
Title	Manananggal
Description	Self-segmenting flying viscera sucker
Gender	Female
Region	Philippines
Equivalent	Penanggalan
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The Manananggal (sometimes confused with the Wak Wak in some areas by the Filipinos) were called Penanggalan in Malay folklore is a mythical creature of the Philippines. It resembles a Western vampire, in being an evil, human-devouring monster or witch. The myth of the manananggal is popular in the Visayan region of the Philippines, especially in the western provinces of Capiz, Iloilo, Antique. There are varying accounts of the features of a manananggal. Like vampires, Visayan folklore creatures, and aswangs, manananggals are also said to abhor garlic and salt.^[1]. They were also known to avoid daggers, light, vinegar, spices and the tail of a sting ray which can be fashioned as a whip.^[2] Folklore of similar creatures can be found in the neighbouring nations of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Features

A manananggal is described as being an older, beautiful woman (as opposed to an aswang), capable of severing its upper torso in order to fly into the night with huge bat-like wings to prey on unsuspecting, pregnant women in their homes; using an elongated proboscis-like tongue, it sucks the hearts of fetuses or blood of an unsuspecting, sleeping victim. The severed lower torso is left standing and it is said to be the more vulnerable of the two halves. Sprinkling salt or smearing crushed garlic or ash on top of the standing torso is fatal to the creature. The upper torso then would not be able to rejoin and will die at daybreak. The name of the creature originates from an expression used for a severed torso: manananggal comes from the Tagalog, tanggal (cognate of Malay tanggal) which means to remove or to separate. Manananggal then means the one who separates itself (in this case, separates itself from its lower body).

Superstitious folk in the Visayan provinces still hang cloves of garlic or onion around windows, doors, etc. with the purpose of repelling this creature as well as the aswang. They are a favorite theme for sensationalist tabloids. They may be a product of mass hysteria or intentionally propagated to keep children off the street, home at night and wary or careful of strangers, or simply to entertain them.

Proliferation

Different regions have different stories on how manananggals proliferate. One story relates that manananggals have black chicks in their throats, which provide them with their power. A manananggal cannot die until the chick is removed, which be done by smoking the manananggal upside down in a tree or spinning her until she vomits the chick up.^[1]

Another story says that heredity or contamination by physical or supernatural means can turn someone into a manananggal. For example, contaminating someone's meal with an old manananggal's saliva or human flesh can pass it on. A third story relates that a girl who later became a mananaggal confided in her human boyfriend that she felt the urge to eat sick people's sputum. ^[2]

Capiz

The province of Capiz is the subject or focus of many manananggal stories, similarly with the stories of other types of mythical creatures, such as ghosts, goblins, ghouls and aswangs.

Appearances in film and other media

• Shake, Rattle and Roll 1984

Herbert Bautista plays a teenager in a faraway province in an episode of this horror anthology movie series. A manananggal is said to live within the vicinity and is out to eat people. He is given the task by his grandmother to kill this creature. Having found a way to prevent it from returning to its body, he must now survive the night to protect his family from the creature's attacks. This story is one of the most popular and suspenseful episodes of the entire series.

Cast: Irma Alegre, Herbert Bautista, Mary Walter

• Shake, Rattle & Roll IV (1992)

A homeless family and their neighbors in the city of Manila are plagued by attacks from a manananggal. A little boy suspects a nun (Aiko Melendez) to be that creature but no one believes him. He finds himself racing to prove his suspicions before he becomes the monster's next victim.

• Manananggal in Manila (1997)

An English-speaking Manananggal spreads terror in Manila.

• Krasue, 2002 film by Bin Bunluerit

Other terms and versions

• Aswang: Manananggals are popularly referred to as aswangs. However, "aswang" is a generic term and can refer to all types of ghouls, mananangals, witches (mangkukulam), etc.
• Tik-tik: Manananggals are sometimes referred to as tik-tik, the sound it makes while flying. Folklore dictates that the fainter the sound, the nearer the manananggal is. This is to confuse the victim. Black cats and crows often signal a tik-tik's presence, and deformed faces or bodies in children are allegedly signs of the aftermath of a tik-tik attack.
• Leyak

See also

• Philippine mythology
• Tiyanak—Blood sucking creature in a form of a baby that turns into what is known to be the child of the devil.
• Krasue—Floating vampiric female head and entrails that is similar to manananggal.
• Chonchon-mapuche creature that also detaches its head
• Nukekubi—Japanese creature that also detaches its head to feed on victims.

References

Further reading

• Eugenio, Damiana (2007). Philippine Folk Literature: An Anthology (2nd ed.). Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. pp. 498. ISBN 978-971-542-536-0. 
• Eugenio, Damiana (2002). Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. pp. 490. ISBN 971-542-357-4. 
• Cruz, Neal (2008-10-31), "As I See It: Philippine mythological monsters", Philippine Daily Inquirer, http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20081031-169390/Philippine-mythological-monsters 

External links

• http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/manananggal.html
• http://www.geocities.com/gcalla1/manananggal.htm
• http://www.agonyagogo.com/penina.html