BLOG POST 3: Flying Monster

Is there really a creature that is able to cut itself in half then fly into the sky? What if I told you that people in the Philippines believe in the existence of that creature. A creature that roams the night sky searching for prey in the provinces of the Philippines is called the "Manananggal". Mananaggal means to "detach" or to "separate".







As you can see from the image above, the manananggal have two wings. In other illustration of the mananaggal,  its wings are attached at her back. During the day, the mananaggal is attached to its lower half because if they failed to reunite with their lower half, their bodies will start to burn due to the light from the sun and no, they don't look like that during the day if that's what your thinking. When the sun is high in the sky, they live like a normal person.

I've learned how to kill a mananaggal from watching a Filipino horror movie called Shake Rattle and roll. In order to kill a mananaggal you must first find its lower half. Its lower half is very vulnerable because it would only stand still until the torso unites with it. A mananggal is like a type of an aswang because its weakness is salt. Once you find the lower body of the mananaggal, make sure that the upper half is not around, immediately pour a lot of salt inside its body. Even though the torso is separated from its lower half it would also feel the pain due to the burning sensation of salt. Even if it tries to attach itself back it would be impossible because the salt will prevent it from happening.

I have read a news article entitled "I was killing a mananaggal" written by Jucell Marie P. Cuyos at the site www.inquirer.net,  that immediately caught my attention. If you've read the news article you would probably feel disgusted from what the man did to her niece. His reason was so irrelevant from what he did. The news article stated that they found the man naked at his house. Even the victim, his 6-year-old niece, was also found naked and her internal organs was eaten by his uncle. They sent the man to some professional to find out if it was some sort of cannibalism. The police interviewed the mother of the victim and said that there was something wrong with his brother, the uncle of the victim, but she refused to leave him alone since he was the only family she got left. For it was the mother's fault for leaving her child alone with her troubled brother. It wouldn't had happen in the first place if she take some serious precautions.

I've learned how to kill a mananaggal from watching a Filipino horror movie called Shake Rattle and roll. In order to kill a mananaggal you must first find its lower half. Its lower half is very vulnerable because it would only stand still until the torso unites with it. A mananggal is like a type of an aswang because its weakness is salt. Once you find the lower body of the mananaggal, make sure that the upper half is not around, immediately pour a lot of salt inside its body. Even though the torso is separated from its lower half it would also feel the pain due to the burning sensation of salt. Even if it tries to attach itself back it would be impossible because the salt will prevent it from happening.

When the light from the sun is gone, it's time for the mananaggal to feast. They would go deep within the forest and start to detach its upper body. It would take time before it completely detach from its lower half, however, its wings will start to appear. Right after detaching its torso it would flap its wings and will then set off to find its prey. The mananaggal favorite food is the heart of a fetus. The mananaggal's tongue are very long and very slim. If it finds a pregnant woman, or sometimes a woman giving birth on their house, it would go to the roof and wait for the right time to slid down their tongue until it reaches the fetus/ baby. Sometimes, the mananaggal sucks only the blood of the unborn child. When the baby is born, the body is very flat. I think a mananaggal is like a mosquito. After the mananaggal is satisfied from eating a lot of fetuses, it would unite once again to its lower half before the sun rises from the horizon.


There are many beliefs how the mananaggal reproduce. First, some people believe they mate like humans do by luring one male mortal as a partner. Second, people believe that it is hereditary because they think the manananggals have this stone in their stone that will be passed to their child. Next, people believe that they can infect mortals by the use of their blood. Last, some people believe that it can be transmitted by contamination like a disease. Since it is now the 21st century, the people don't usually believe in the existence of such creatures but in the provinces almost a hundred percent of the people still believe in their existence because there are still things explainable things that are happening.

An article entitled "MONSTER 101: MANANANGGAL" written by Ivheepot on site called www.bubblews.com, reminded me that these scary creatures would be a perfect choice for a Halloween costume. Since mananaggals are one of the famous folkloric creature in the Philippines, it would be an awesome experience to be a mananaggal on Halloween or you can just make a scarecrow with the same features as the mananangal and put it on the roof or in front of your house.



 

In my conclusion, manananggals are indeed terrifying but there are still no concrete signs that they really do exist, however we still can't let our guard down because there are still a lot of people saying that they really do exist. If you don't want to lose your baby to these creatures, you'd better remember how to fight them.