The Penanggalan

It was oh, ninth grade I suppose, when I was actually bored enough to utilize the library of my humble high school in my oh-so-Baptist hometown. I didn't expect to find anything of interest but to my surprise the school actually gave in to the 'freedom of religion' schtick and provided the holy bible, and according to law a few other less checked-out books. One of them was called The Picture Book of Devils, Demons and Witchcraft, and it was in this book that I discovered the glory that is the penanggalan. Needless to say, I never returned it.

Originating in the Malay Peninsula, the penanggalan is a rather gruesome breed of vampire. There are many explanations of what causes the creation of such a
monstrosity, but one of the most prominent is the belief that it is the detached head of a woman who died during childbirth, that in her madness ravages the region in search of blood and flesh. The penanggalan is always depicted as a severed and floating female head with entrails and bit of bone hanging from the neck, as well as the heart.

According to oral tradition, the creature appears as a normal woman during the daytime, and it is only at night that the head detaches from the body and perches on trees or roofs of houses of women who are in labor, waiting to drink the blood left by afterbirth. The women who have been preyed upon almost always contract a fatal wasting disease and die soon after. The penanggalan is also referred to as the penanggal, and in the Philippines, the manananggal.