Manananggal
By night a woman detaches her torso, sprouting bat wings to hunt. The manananggal feeds on infants and sleeping lovers with a needle tongue; her abandoned lower body is her weakness—salt or ash prevents her return before sunrise.
Story beats
- 1) A seemingly ordinary woman hides a curse or pact, craving viscera and heartblood.
- 2) Past midnight she twists free at the waist, wings unfurling as she leaves her legs standing in dark brush.
- 3) She targets pregnant homes and isolated travelers, thin tongue threading through roofs to sip life away.
- 4) Villagers discover the detached lower half and smear salt, garlic, or ash on the wound to doom her when dawn forces reunion.
Context & symbolism
Manananggal stories warn against secrecy in close-knit barangays and dramatize fears around childbirth and vulnerability. The split body mirrors double lives, while community vigilance (salt lines, teamwork) becomes the path to safety.
Spanish colonial accounts blended local aswang lore with European vampire anxieties, creating a uniquely Filipino flying predator whose weakness is mundane kitchen materials rather than sacred relics.
Motifs
- Split torso and abandoned waist
- Bat wings and needle tongue
- Salt, ash, or garlic as banes
- Predation on unborn or sleeping
Use it in play
- Players guard a midwife’s hut through the night, hunting the hidden lower body while the torso circles above.
- A merchant hires the party to protect cargo; one companion is secretly a manananggal craving the passengers.
- Tracking salt shortages in a village reveals sabotage by someone aiding the monster.
- Capturing the detached legs opens a fraught negotiation: cure the curse or end it at dawn.