Tanggal

Variations: ASWANG, Preay ("vampire"), Srei Ap

All throughout Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Melanesia, and the Trobriand Islands is a vampiric sorcerer known as a tanggal ("comes apart"). By day, it looks like an ordinary woman, but at night it detaches its head from its body and flies off by undulating its intestines and flapping its ears and lungs (see LIVING VAMPIRE). It attacks people for their blood and feces, which it feeds on. The tanggal is easily repelled by GARLIC, SALT, and spices.

Source: Guiley, Complete Vampire Companion, 26;

Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 13, 237; Spence, Encyclopædia of Occultism, 93­94