The Manananggal

The aswang may be the most popular aswang but the manananggal is by far the most feared of all the aswangs. It is the Philippines' version of the vampire. It usually is depicted as an older beautiful woman but where I lived it was usually a man so I drew it as such. It is similair to the aswang in that it's nocturnal and feeds on blood, liver, and fetus'. A few of the differences are that it does not eat the fetus. It feeds on its blood of the unborn child and when the baby is born it has some sort of facial abnormality. Another difference is it feeds from outside the house using its really long tube-like tongue to drink everything down. It can turn people into a manananggal by tricking them into drinking the cooked blood of another person. The biggest difference of all is that it can grow huge bat-like wings from its back and fly! The only problem is that in order to fly its torso must seperate from the legs. So, while the manananggal is flying through the night, its legs are just chilling somewhere and, funny enough, this is how you kill a manananggal!! If you're out late at night and happen across a pair of legs you're to pour salt, garlic, or anything extremely acidic on the top of the legs. Then, when the torso returns to reconnect, it cannot because the salt burns up his insides. If the manananggal can't return torso to legs by sunrise it dies. Many farmers to this day still carry salt in pouches on their belts in case they ever come across a pair of legs on their way home from farming. Enough of this scary stuff for now! Next week I'll share about my personal favorite....The Bululacao!