Aswang Mannananggal

(AZ-wang Man-ah-non-gil)

Variations: Manananggal, Mannannagel

This VAMPIRIC WITCH gets its name from a derivative of the Tagalog word TANGGAL, which means "to separate." Rather unique for a vampire, this creature creates more of its own kind by tricking a woman into drinking the cooked blood of another person. Once the victim has been converted and transformed, the creature will look like a typical woman with long HAIR, but on nights of the full moon it will transform into its true form. Sprouting large, leathery, batlike wings with long clawed hands and a maw full of fanged teeth, the aswang mannananggal rips its upper body away from its lower and takes flight to hunt out its prey—unborn children from their mother's womb. Should it not be able to find a suitable meal, it will temporarily sate its appetite by dining on human entrails.

Like the ASEMA and the ASIMAN who can remove the skin from their bodies, and the PENANGGLAN who can also separate its body, the aswang mannananggal is also only vulnerable when it is separated. The only way to destroy this vampire is to find where its lower body is hidden and rub it with GARLIC or SALT, which will destroy it. When the upper and otherwise invulnerable half returns at dawn to rejoin itself, it will be unable to. When the sun rises, the upper half will revert to its human form and die.

Source: Alip, Political and Cultural History, 77­78;

Garcia, Philippine Gay Culture, 176 ­77, 179; Mc Andrew, People of Power, 92; Ramos, Creatures of Philippine, 15, 130