Goriest Monster Ever: The Mananaggal

This week we are traveling to the Philippines to learn all about one of the goriest monsters I have ever heard of. Her name is Mananaggal and she is a self segmenting viscera sucker. Basically she likes blood and loves to slurp up your organs! And she can detach her torso from her legs so she can fly off and find her victims. Check it out!

Sources

PBS, Monstrum

Manananggal: Self-Segmenting, Fetus-Eating Monster – LoreThrill

Alleged Sighting of the Mythical ‘Manananggal’ in the Philippines Causes Public Anxiety | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)

SLUMDWELLERS OF MANILA SUCKERS FOR VAMPIRE TALES – Chicago Tribune

Manananggal - Monstropedia

Manananggal: Urban Legend From the Philippines (urbanlegendsworld.com)

Science explains the ‘aswang’ myth in Panay | Lyn Resurreccion (businessmirror.com.ph)

The authentic balut: history, culture, and economy of a Philippine food icon | Journal of Ethnic Foods | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)

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Welcome back to myths in movies. I’m Erin and Sarah couldn’t be here today.

Thank you for joining us as we dive into our favorite movies and learn about fairies, trolls, mythical monsters, and folklore.

As we did a fairytale last week, I thought we could mix it up and cover a monster this week. I got this idea from Monstrum, a pbs series on monsters. Otherwise I would have never heard of it. It hails from the Phillipines and boy oh boy is it terrifying. And quite gory. Just warning everyone0 we are going to be talking about a monster who eats people’s organs and fetuses. So if this isn’t your thing, totally get it, see ya next week.

This week we are covering the oh so gory, Manananggal. (Mon-uh-non-gul)

And I spent a good portion of my day trying to master the pronunciation and I’m pretty sure I will screw it up again.

So let’s go to our campfire tale-

Once upon a time, there was a small island paradise. The people that lived there were pretty happy. They swam in the turquoise water and played on the white sand. At least that’s how Jody spent her time. The town was safe but one thing her mother always told her was not to go out after midnight. For there was a monster that haunted the night. She had long, bat like wings, piercing fangs, and a long, mosquito like tongue. But the thing that scared people most of all- when she went hunting at night, she left her legs behind. Her torso would disjoint from the rest of her body and her intestines would dangle from her stomach.

As Jody got older, her fears got worse. For as she got older, she learned more about the manny. This monster dropped onto roofs and her long snake like tongue would shoot through the ceiling tiles and eat people’s organs as they slept. Then when Jody got pregnant, her fears multiplied. The manny’s food of choice? A fetus.

Jody tried to confide in her neighbor, Gladys. But Gladys ignored her fears and even laughed when Jody set out pots of uncooked rice around every door in her house. One day as Jody was nearly seven months pregnant, she heard an ominous noise. It was a soft tiktik sound, like a bird cooing. Jody gulped. The tiktik bird. It signaled the arrival of a manananggal, the dreaded monster. The soft sound sounded far away but Jody wasn’t sure. The bird was a trickster- the soft sound could mean the bird was close and so was the manananggal.

Jody finished her chores in a snap and raced inside. She placed garlic around the windows and doors and told her husband and Gladys what she had heard. That night, Jody barely slept a wink but in the morning, she was relived that everyone was alive. As Jody started her chores again that morning, Gladys rushed over to tell her that her son was dead. A manananggal had snuck in that night and sucked out his organs. He never stood a chance.

Jody was horrified and hugged her friend. And ever since that day, Jody told everyone:

So be careful when you sleep or you walk among the banana groves, for you never know who might be watching.

The end.

Is everyone horrified? Wonderful. This very special monster is the self segmenting vampiric monster from the Philippines. This creature’s name is Manananggal and the American equivalent would be a vampire. However, Manananggal is much, much gorier. Vampires in American stories have become heartthrobs, but it would be really hard to make this creature romantic. And that’s because her favorite meal is fetus hearts. Hard to spin that into a romantic hero.

So the manananggal. There is a similar creature in Malaysia but I cannot pronounce the name for anything, so we are sticking with Manananggal. Also the research I did mostly concerns the Philippines so that is where we will concentrate today.

Usually we feature a monster from American centric movies but this monster was just too good to ignore. It has been featured in Filipino media like movies and graphic novels. And this isn’t a recent phenomenon either, this creature has been in movies since the 30’s.

There have been a couple appearances on American television, like Grimm and Supernatural. But I had never heard of it so I thought I would do some research and tell you everything I learned.

And again, it’s pretty gory. So for those with weak stomachs, maybe excuse yourself.

So first off- some clarification. A manananggal is a type of aswang which means ghoul or witch. Types include the blood sucking vampire, man eating weredog, evil eye witch, carrion eating ghoul, and the self segmenting viscera sucker.

The manananggal of course is the self segmenting viscera sucker. The word manananggal comes from a tagalog word tanggal (TAN-ah-GALL) which means to separate. So the name manananggal means one who separates themself.

That little segment was for our dear co-host Sarah, who so enjoys etymology.

So first we’ll get into some facts about what she looks like, how she hunts, etc. and then we will get into the history of the creature.

The manny starts out as a beautiful woman during the day. During the night however, she transforms. She detaches her upper body from her torso, usually dumps it in a banana grove because it turns out the banana trees kind of look like human limbs. Or at least the stump part.

So her torso and legs can kind of blend in amongst the trees. So that part is disgusting- the whole detaching yourself. Her intestines kind of dangle from her stomach as she beats her bat like wings and flies off.

Her eyes became wide and staring, her hair becomes wild and crazy, and then her teeth sprout into fangs and her hands become razor like claws.

Oh! Most importantly, she has this really long, thin tongue. So kind of like a mosquito. Just longer and less pointed.

Cute huh?

So what does she go hunting for? Well our girl loves organs. She likes to hide on the roof and use her tongue to poke through the ceiling and then slurp up organs. Usually she goes in through the belly button but she can also get to your organs through the ear or mouth. Her favorite prey is pregnant woman because then she can slurp down the fetus and all its various organs.

I know, it’s gross, but in fairness, I did warn you.

She also loves the blood of women who recently gave birth. She’s basically all about those babies. And while she can poke her tongue down through any crevice, in some variants, her whole body can ooze through a crevice or she can just pass thru walls entirely. So apparently sometimes she doesn’t even need her tongue.

In addition to lurking outside people’s homes, there are stories of her seducing men. She likes to flirt with them, lead them back to a secluded place and then eat their organs. She likes her victims alive so their organs stay fresher. So be careful out there guys. You never know who you are going home with.

Now what can you do to prevent her from eating your organs? You have a couple options. Of course you should know that it is very difficult and she has a few tricks up her sleeve. Like I said in the fairy tale, she is usually accompanied by the tiktik bird.

Which is not a real bird, so I’m going to stop you from googling it right now. But this bird is very tricky because most birds get louder the closer they get to you. That’s sort of how sound works right?

But in this case, this tricky bird gets quieter the closer it gets to you which means that the manananggal isn’t far behind.

So I guess if you hear a quiet bird, run?

There are a few more options you have. You can leave pots of uncooked rice around the house, or hang up garlic around windows and doors. It also doesn’t like loud noises, so if you suspect she’s lurking about, bang your noisiest pots and pans together.

This is you go to if you think that she is close to your house. Basically if you’re under your attack, this is your best bet.

In Malaysia, it is believed that her intestines drag along the ground and that the slime it produces kills everything in its path. Once it’s dead, a thorny plant springs up and it’s almost impossible to kill. But from the terrible story, we get some advice. Put thorns around the doors and windows so that the manananggal will impale herself before she gets inside to kill you.

And now I’ll tell you the way that requires no work and if you’re a fan of Hocus Pocus, you will know where I’m going. Much like the witches, this monster is sort of vampiric monster and vampire rules apply. Which means that if she sees sunlight without her torso that she left behind, she’s toast. Her whole body will turn to ash. The only problem is that when the sun dips again, she will pop right back up.

But helpful if you can get away from her in the interim.

Now those are all options, but the most well known option is this one. This is how you expel a manananggal that is terrorizing your town and you want to get rid of her for good.

You find her body, the torso that she left behind. Sprinkle spices like garlic, vinegar, and/or salt onto her stump. You can also sprinkle glass, depending on who is telling the story. Sprinkle that onto her stump and she won’t be able to reunite with the lower half of her body. And then she will die.

I have read some news stories where people describe how they deal with the monster. Several people squeezed garlic onto their walls. Pungent but effective.

Here’s a quote from one guy interviewed in the paper. He says, that “if a woman is pregnant, it`s best to put coal dust on her belly and sleep with a bullet on a string around her neck or waist''.

I’m not sure what the bullet would do. If bullets were made of silver, I would think of this is similar to how you kill a vampire but I don’t think lead would do it.

A woman was interviewed for the paper and she said this-

''My mother said she often saw my grandfather, Augusto, fly over the house as a manananggal,'' said Elvira Militante. ''First he rubbed himself down with his magic oil.''

She doesn’t say what else her grandfather did, but she says how they stopped him. They mixed chemicals and acids into his flying oil. Apparently that did the trick and he quit flying around town. I think you would need to visit a village in the Philippines for the exact recipe because there are some stores that carry spices just to ward off this creature. Although, they probably have an etsy store because everyone seems to have a side hustle.

Okay- so we’ve covered how she hunts and how can you get rid of her. Now let’s focus on how she is created.

So there are several different versions of this. The one I have heard the most often is a woman swallowing a black chick that has been produced from the throat of a mature manananggal.

There is so chance I’m swallowing a baby chick, so I think I am alright there.

But my favorite way, or the variant I found most entertaining goes like this- a manananggal is created when a woman is scared by her husband. For instance, if a woman is bathing in a tub and her husband comes in and scares her, she would be so frightened, her head would pop off and land in the nearest tree.

I mean, that’s the best thing I think I have ever heard.

Now, if you have swallowed the bird and are concerned you will turn into a manananggal- I have got some tips.

It’s important that you remove the bird from your belly before it matures. Once it has matured, it’s too late.

So if you want to remove the chicken, you should hang upside down from a tree. You’ll want your husband or a close friend to beat your stomach. While they do that, they should also try to fumigate you.

Of course, if you don’t have chemicals that will work, you should instruct your friend or significant other to swing you violently around until you finally puke the bird up.

According to the newspaper article I read, there is a less violent way. This from the Chicago tribune where they interviewed several Filipinos. You can sprinkle holy powder and a mixture of spices on the body. That should cause the monster to dissolve into ash.

So best of luck!

Now what do you do if your friend has already transformed into a manananggal? You’re going to have to kill her. I know, I know- but she’s going to kill a bunch of people, so she must be stopped.

You’ve got several options. Like I said earlier, she can be killed if sunlight hits her torso without the upper body attached. I did say that she would turn back into a manananggal once the sun set, but that seems to depend on the variant of the story you heard.

You can get a gun, dip your bullet in vinegar and try to shoot her. However, this is more difficult than it sounds. The wings beat together and they tend to deflect the bullets. This leads me to the best option-

Stab her in the back with a spear. I know, I know, she’s your friend and you don’t want that to happen. But she should have thought of that before she swallowed that black bird. She’s not your friend anymore. She is a monster with her intestines hanging out as she glides off to kill a lot of people and slurp up their organs.

So spear it is!

Okay, now that I’ve made this a little more lighthearted, let’s get into the history of the manananggal. This is where, well I guess it was always a bit weird.

You see the history of this creature is deeply intwined with the invasion of the Philippines. We don’t really have a good idea of where the creature emerged from because when the Philippines were invaded, whatever records they had were destroyed.

We do know that the manananggal is mentioned in Spanish records in the 1530’s, so it’s been around a long time.

What we do know is that women’s place in society radically changed when the Spanish invaded. And it has been speculated the legend of the manananggal is a reaction to that change. So pre Spanish invasion, women were an important and valued member of society. And they were extended a lot of rights than men possessed. For example, there was no stigma attached to divorce which is pretty incredible for the 15th century. Women also held important roles like shamans, midwives, and healers.

This of course all changed with the Spanish showed up. They, like much of European society, thought women belonged at home and that their most important duty was to birth and raise children. No exceptions.

And so they labeled women who acted as midwives and healers as witches. Cool. And when this monster is recorded, women are removed from their important place in society. No longer are they are healers, but now are parasites. People who destroy society rather than build it up.

And this monster is almost the exact opposite of a midwife, right? So women are no longer helping to deliver children, but rather portrayed as eating them.

There’s an excellent work about this by a scholar named Kathleen Nadeau. She wrote a very interesting work entitled, Aswang and Other Kinds of Witches: A Comparative Analysis’. And this examines the roots of aswang folklore.

And she wrote something that I want to share:

“The real fear of the Europeans may be based on the fear of uncontrollable women. In contrast, the fear in regional Southeast Asia may be of something or someone who may represent a danger to their children,” Nadeau writes.

So perhaps those separate fears collided when the Spanish invaded the Philippines. The Spanish saw Filipino women working outside the home and occupying exalted places in society. That shook them to their core an thought that society would collapse. Perhaps they embraced the myth of the manananggal and elevated it to the point where the monster became a vital part of the cultural myths. And it wouldn’t have caught on with Filipinos if it hadn’t scared something within them, which was their fear of endangering their children.

We see this in horror films in the modern era. Horror changes and evolves so that the monster can speak to whatever society is afraid of at that time. It could be urbanization, consumerism, technology, science, terrorism, etc.

And this monster is such a fixture in society that it has potentially changed cultural practices. For instance, many homes in rural areas are built with very steep pitches. If you’re from snow country, you know how useful steep pitches are. If you’ve got a flat roof and you’ve got two feet of snow on your roof, you can only wait for it to melt. But with a steep roof, heavy snow slides right off. And you might think a foot of snow? That’s not much, surely a roof can sustain that weight. Well it adds up. A foot of snow can weigh about four pounds. And on a roof, that adds up to 6200 pounds so you are essentially parking a heavy truck on your roof.

And if you’ve got wet snow, that’s like two pickups on the roof.

And last winter, there were storms in my neighborhood that brought two to three feet. That’s two or three pick ups on the roof. So you really really don’t want a flat roof in snow country.

Anyway- the steep roof in the Philippines is used because of the manananggal. A flat roof is easy for her to perch on, but a steep roof makes it more difficult. Yes, she has wings, so she could technically hover but it’s more difficult and you want to throw up as many obstacles as possible.

Another obstacle is how parents sleep at night. A kid could be less protected by themselves, but very often parents will put kids in between them. Just another way to keep them safer.

Now you’re probably wondering if people really believe in this creature. Like I’m making it sound if you went to the Philippines right now, everyone is out banging pots and pans together to ward off this creature. I would say it’s similar to Bigfoot. Some people really believe and some don’t.

I came across an article in the Chicago tribune from the nineties. There had been a spate of attacks and people were freaked out. Two girls saw the creature perched on a house and then there were a rush of reports after. There was a significant case in 1992 in Manila which was unusual. Most sightings and attacks are contained to rural villages, so for an attack to happen in the capital was unsettlingly. There were quite a few miscarriages and women were quick to blame it on the manananggal.

So people were squeezing garlic on the walls to try to keep themselves safe. There was this poor elderly woman people were blaming for it. She tried to explain that she was missing three toes on her foot which showed that she had been a victim. But others were convinced that the missing toes were from when she transformed back into a human and her toes got lost somewhere along the way?

Kind of like in harry potter, when they disapparate and if they don’t do it correctly, they can leave body parts behind.

Okay so that about does it for the monster. Now I want to talk about a cultural issue. In the pbs video I saw about this, they theorized that the monster influenced the way people enjoyed a local delicacy. It’s possible. It’s called balut and it’s a fertilized duck egg. So when you eat it, there is a tiny duck inside. It’s served heavy on the spices and since those are the same spices used to kill the manananggal, it’s possible this is a way to psychologically reckon with the monster.

I’m not sure, I think there’s a bunch of practical reasons why this egg is eaten, but you be the judge.

Okay- so balut. Fertilized duck egg. It’s incubated for about 18-20 days, sometimes 16. Some vendors will mark how many days it has been incubated. This way beginners can choose one that has been incubated for a shorter period of time. Shorter period of time means the embryo is less developed and it is less unsettling to eat.

This is a very common dish is Asian culture, even outside the Phillipines. Heavily salted and spiced eggs were a common way to preserve eggs before refrigeration. And they are sometimes known as hairy eggs because when you crack them open to cook, sometimes feathers would spill out.

I know, I know, it’s very unsettling.

But this is common in China, Vietnam and Cambodia. In fact, it’s believed that China inventued the method of incubation that is used in making Balut. In fact, the Philippines embraced the fertilized egg rather late. According to my research, it’s only been in the last seventy, eighty years that the country has really taken to it.

So, what kind of eggs do they use? They generally use mallard eggs because that duck is most common in the Philippines. But I know what you’re thinking- why don’t they use chicken eggs? Well, chicken eggs have a very thin shell which is not ideal when you need the egg to last longer and you’re not having a chicken sit on top of it to incubate it. And of course you need to transport it, etc. Just easier to have the thickest shell possible and that honor goes to the duck.

So basically what happened was there was a downturn in the economy in the 1950’s. People were trying to feed their families and ducks often roamed wild in rural areas. And basically balut was born. It was exceptionally popular among lower income levels and like everything, it has grown so that people of all socioeconomic levels love it. In fact, it’s considered the national street food. Sort of like the hot dog in America. And while it is wildly popular, it still ranks beneath pig intestines. So maybe

Now what’s interesting is that when you eat balut, you usually get it from a street vendor and they produce these eggs in their backyard. No giant corporations have taken over the industry. And that’s really been a boon to the small farmer. They can produce everything is a relatively small area and for a relatively small amount of money. Low start up costs, low maintenance costs, all perfect for a small farmer.

I also learned a lot about ducks during the course of my research. It turns out ducks are very good for farming, especially in rice paddies. Ducks are let loose in the paddies and they hang out in the water. They eat whatever grubs or insects are around, which means they are a natural pesticide without any nasty chemicals. And when they swim around the paddy, they churn the water with their little webbed feet and that stimulates the growth of the rice.

They work so well I actually have a few numbers to share. When ducks were used to grow rice, they more than doubled productivity and they brought costs down by 30%.

So get yourself a duck!

If you’re thinking that oh it’s small scale farmers, they can’t possibly produce that many eggs. You would be wrong sir!

One region in the country that produces the most eggs is particularly impressive. It’s not very large, there are only major cities. But they have a ton of ducks! There are about 1.3 million ducks in backyard farms, just in that one region. That’s pretty impressive. And some of these small scale farmers handle a ton of volume. One of the largest small scale farmers handles about 60k eggs a day! And you might think that volume of eggs means they aren’t really a small scale farm. That’s a fair point but it’s still produced by a farmer, not a conglomerate.

How do people feel about it? Are people grabbing an egg, telling the manananggal to go to hell, and then slurping it down? Not really. I know I said balut is very popular but it hasn’t escaped Western ideas. What do I mean? Well, Western attitudes toward the dish have tirckled in and since we think it’s gross, people have taken that to mean it’s a challenge to eat. And since it’s a challenge, this idea of it being a manly thing to eat and a possible aphrodisiac has sprung up. Interestingly, some ethnic groups forbid pregnant women to eat it. They are worried that it will cause a birth defect and I don’t blame they for being skittish, since it is kind of a cultural taboo.

Okay, so I know the big question is looming. What does it taste like? Well I live in Utah which is not a hotbed for exotic food. The state snack is green jello. I mean that’s where we are. But I did a little research, of course.

So the egg is usually served warm. In fact, in Vietnam it is actually grilled. So basically what you do is, you smack the egg with a spoon so it will break. You sip the broth and then sort of down the rest of it. Or if you want, you can eat the rest with a spoon.

The broth is supposed to taste like strong chicken stock. The egg yolk tastes like custard and is supposed to be quite creamy. So that sounds good. And then the little duck inside. Um, that is supposed to just like liver. And some people really like liver- including my mother. One of her favorite meals was liver and onions prepared by her favorite restaurant in southern California. Whereas my father hated liver. His mom prepared it often and my dad always said, there isn’t enough ketchup in the world to make liver taste good.

So you know- just depends.

Not all eggs that are fertilized end up having the embryo in them. But don’t worry- they don’t go to waste. Those are also sold! And many are cooked into another dish called the rotten egg omelet. It’s basically scrambled eggs with a lot of spice and then that is stuffed into a banana leaf.

Now you might wonder how they can tell if there is a fetus inside. So what they do is, they check each through a process called candling. And this is a very common process for any kind of egg farmer. This way they can check for cracks, etc. Anyway- what they do is shut off the lights and hold a egg up to a candler. It’s basically a glowing light that lights up the interior of the egg. The whole egg lights up and you can see a shadow inside and that is the duck fetus.

And that’s all I know about balut! There’s an episode of survivor where they make the contestants eat a bunch of these eggs. They don’t do that anymore, like there are no more gross out food challenges. And that’s probably best- most of the foods they use are purposely gross. They don’t prepare the food the way that it would normally be done so it doesn’t taste good, it’s just kind of freaky. Which is obviously the point of survivor.

So at the beginning of this, I talked about where balut is influenced by the manananggal. The manananggal eats fetuses, eating balut means you are eating a fetus too. And the spices used are the same that are used to kill the manananggal. So are they related? Probably. But I think it’s a soft relation and something that occurred so gradually, it’s difficult to plot the relationship. And I think that even if there wasn’t a manananggal, people would still eat fertilized eggs. It’s how food was preserved in Asian cultures and a major way to provide nutrition.

But tell me what you think! Or tell me how gross you found the manananggal! Tweet at us over at mythsinmovies or email us at mythsinmovies@gmail.com.

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And goodbye!

Sources