In Philippine folklore, the Manananggal is a vampire-like creature that separates its upper body from its lower half.
The name is linked to the Tagalog word tanggál, meaning “to remove” or “to separate.” In stories from the Visayas, the creature is commonly portrayed as a woman whose torso detaches at night, sprouts large bat-like wings, and flies away with its entrails exposed.
Folklore often says that a Manananggal hunts sleeping people, especially pregnant women, using a long, proboscis-like tongue to draw blood or consume a fetus. Its lower body remains hidden while the upper half feeds. This creates the creature’s main vulnerability: if salt, garlic, ash, or another substance is placed on the lower half, it cannot reunite with it before sunrise.
Manananggal is sometimes treated as a type of aswang, but aswang is a broad Filipino label for several supernatural beings, including ghouls, witches, and vampire-like monsters. Related Southeast Asian figures include Malaysia’s penanggalan, Indonesia’s leyak, and Chile’s chonchon, but they are distinct traditions.