The manananggal () is a mythical creature in the Philippines that is able to separate its upper torso from the lower part of its body. Their fangs and wings give them a vampire-like appearance.

Mythology

The word manananggál is derived from the Tagalog word tanggál, meaning "to remove" or "to separate", and literally translating to "remover" or "separator". In this case, it may be interpreted as "one who separates itself". The name is also associated with an expression referring to a severed torso.

In Philippine folklore, the manananggal is typically portrayed as a fearsome and grotesque creature, most often depicted as female. It is known to detach its upper torso from its lower half, with its entrails exposed, and grow large, bat-like wings used to fly at night in search of victims.

The manananggal is commonly believed to prey on sleeping, pregnant women by using an elongated, proboscis-like tongue to extract fetuses or draw blood. Folklore also associates the creature with targeting newlyweds, lovers, newborn children, and occasionally grooms who were abandoned before marriage. During its nocturnal hunt, the creature's severed lower torso remains stationary and is its point of vulnerability. Traditional practices for killing a manananggal include applying salt, garlic, ash, or fire to the lower half, thereby preventing the upper torso from reuniting with it. If it fails to recombine before sunrise, the creature is believed to die. They are also thought to avoid daggers, light, vinegar, spices and the tail of a stingray, which can be fashioned into a whip.

Appearances in film and other media

  • Manananggal (1927), directed by José Nepomuceno, was the first-ever Filipino horror film. It is a silent film starring Mary Walter portraying the manananggal in its current form, with the upper torso detaching. Little is known of the film's plot.
  • Manananggal vs. Mangkukulam (1960), the cast includes Peque Gallaga, Rodolfo Vera, and Maricel Soriano.
  • In the erotic novel Melania: Devourer of Men (2018), Melania Trump is depicted as a manananggal who must keep her identity hidden after her husband becomes President of the United States. The novel has been discussed in several podcasts and in 2026 it became the top Amazon search result for 'Melania Trump'
  • In the TV series Aso ni San Roque (2012), directed by Don Michael Perez, Fatima (Mona Louise Rey) is a blind girl with a heart of gold, and is the offspring of a mortal and a manananggal. Her fate is to end the devastation of the aswang in the human world with the help of Anghel, the dog statue at the feet of Saint Roch, which miraculously comes to life. It features Kanlaon (Gardo Versoza), the manananggal leader of the airborne Aswang of the Wind. He once loved and failed to Lourdes (LJ Reyes), a manananggal herself, and the mother of Fatima.
  • Fresh Meat (2013), a novel tie-in to the television series Supernatural by Alice Henderson, features the main characters battling an aswang in the Sierra Nevada during a blizzard. The creature in this novel sucks human organs out through its proboscis, inserts the body parts of other humans into the victim, then seals the hole. The main characters make the traditional stingray-tail whip amulet, coated with spices, and use it to kill the creature.
  • In Midnight Blue-Light Special (2013), the second volume of the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire, the protagonist Verity Price slays a manananggal in a hospital.
  • The episode "Si Esperanza, Ang Rebeldeng Manananggal" ("Esperanza, The Rebel Manananggal") of the 2014 television series Elemento is about the manananggal Esperanza (Glaiza de Castro), a pediatrician with two mortal sons. Her desire is to protect them from adopting the life of being a manananggal. The episode is directed by Topel Lee and co-stars Valerie Concepcion and Maria Isabel Lopez.
  • Nightfall: Escape (2016) by Zeenoh is the first-ever Filipino horror game, a first-person survival horror video game featuring a manananggal as the main antagonist.
  • In "Mommy Dearest", the 14th episode of Season 3 of the supernatural drama television series Grimm and the 58th episode overall, which premiered on March 7, 2014, on the broadcast network NBC, features an aswang attacking Wu's pregnant childhood friend from the Philippines. It turns out Wu's friend married into a family of aswang, and the attacker is her mother-in-law, who claims she will die if she does not eat her first grandchild.
  • Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B, a horror-romance movie made in 2016 and had its cinema screening in 2017, focuses on the love life of a woman who is a manananggal by night. It features the actress Ryza Cenon as the protagonist and actor Martin del Rosario as her lover.
  • Deadly Vows by Keri Arthur has a manananggal terrorising newlyweds in the Castle Rock Reservation.
  • In the game Shin Megami Tensei V, Manananggal was revealed as a new demon and the first representative of Filipino folklore for the Shin Megami Tensei series.
  • In the short story M by Sarah Hall, published in Sudden Traveller 2019, the protagonist turns into a creature that fits the description of the manananggal, though this is not overtly stated.
  • In the multimedia franchise Monster High, a doll based on the manananggal named Corazón Marikit was released in March 2025. A custom manananggal doll of Katseye member Sophia Laforteza was created by Mattel after the group covered the franchise's theme song "Fright Song". In the Music Video of their Fright Song remake, she also wore a Red Dress, makeup and fangs to dress up as she embodied it.
  • In the dark fantasy novel Segmentado (meaning “segmented”) by Spanish writer J. A. Díaz, one of the main characters is a manananggal.
  • A coffee table book released by CANVAS titled Where are my legs? features a manananggal as its main protagonist.
  • Posthouse, an upcoming horror film directed by Nikolas Red. The film is inspired by Manananggal and the 1927 film about it.
  • In the short story Hearts and Half-Measures by Cassiopeia Gatmaitan, read for the podcast PseudoPod, the protagonist is a transgender woman who is also a manananggal.
  • The Manananggal will be featured in the upcoming animated feature film Forgotten Island (2026) by DreamWorks Animation, with Lea Salonga providing the voice.

Other terms and versions

  • Aswang: However, aswang is a generic term and can refer to all types of monsters (usually ghouls, werebeasts, and vampires) and 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.

See also

  • Chonchon – Mapuche creature that also detaches its head
  • Krasue – Floating vampiric female head and entrails that is similar to a manananggal
  • Nukekubi – Japanese creature that also detaches its head to feed on victims
  • Penanggalan – A vampire akin to Manananggal from the Malay peninsula
  • Leyak – Similar creature from Balinese mythology
  • Philippine mythology
  • Soucouyant – a Caribbean blood-sucking hag
  • Tiyanak – Blood-sucking creature in a form of a baby that turns into what is known to be the child of the devil

References

Further reading

  • Filipino Folklore: Manananggal
  • Mananang Game Official Website