The
Penanggalan or `Hantu Penanggal` is a
peculiar variation of the vampire myth that
apparently began in the Malay Peninsula. See
also the Manananggal, a similar creature of
Filipino folklore. "Penanggal" or "Penanggalan"'
literally means "detach", "to detach",
"remove" or "to remove". Both terms—Manananggal
and Penanggal—may carry the same meaning due
to both languages being grouped or having a
common root under the Austronesian language
family, though the two creatures are
culturally distinct in appearance and
behavior.
According to the folklore of that region,
the Penanggalan is a detached female head
that is capable of flying about on its own.
As it flies, the stomach and entrails dangle
below it, and these organs twinkle like
fireflies as the Penanggalan moves through
the night.
Due to the common theme of Penanggal being
the result of active use of black magic or
supernatural means, a Penanggal cannot be
readily classified as a classical undead
being or a vampire as per Western folklore
or literature. The creature is, for all
intent and purposes, a living human being
during daytime (much like the Japanese
Rokurokubi) or at any time when it does not
detach itself from its body.
In Malaysian
folklore, a Penanggal may be either a
beautiful old or young woman who obtained
her beauty through the active use of black
magic, supernatural, mystical, or paranormal
means which are most commonly described in
local folklores to be dark or demonic in
nature. Another cause where one becomes a
Penanggal in Malaysian folklore is due to
the result of a powerful curse or the
actions of a demonic force, although this
method is less common than the active use of
black magic abovementioned.
The Penanggalan is usually a female midwife
who has made a pact with the devil to gain
supernatural powers. It is said that the
midwife has broken a stipulation in the pact
not to eat meat for 40 days; having broken
the pact she has been forever cursed to
become a bloodsucking vampire/demon. The
midwife keeps a vat of vinegar in her house.
After detaching her head and flying around
in the night looking for blood the
Penanggalan will come home and immerse her
entrails in the vat of vinegar in order to
shrink them for easy entry back into her
body.
One version of the tale states that the
Penanggal was once a beautiful woman or
priestess, who was taking a ritual bath in a
tub that once held vinegar. While bathing
herself and in a state of concentration or
meditation, a man entered the room without
warning and startled her. The woman was so
shocked that she jerked her head up to look,
moving so quickly as to sever her head from
her body, her organs and entrails pulling
out of the neck opening. Enraged by what the
man had done, she flew after him, a vicious
head trailing organs and dripping venom. Her
empty body was left behind in the vat. The
Penanggal, thus, is said to carry an odor of
vinegar with her wherever she flies, and
returns to her body during the daytime,
often posing as an ordinary mortal woman.
However, a Penanggal can always be told from
an ordinary woman by that odor of vinegar.
The
Penanggalan's victims are traditionally
pregnant women and young children. Like a
banshee who appears at a birth rather than a
death, the Penanggalan perches on the roofs
of houses where women are in labour,
screeching when the child is born. The
Penanggalan will insert a long invisible
tongue into the house to lap up the blood of
the new mother. Those whose blood the
Penanggalan feeds upon contract a wasting
disease that is almost inescapably fatal.
Furthermore, even if the penanggalan is not
successful in her attempt to feed, anyone
who is brushed by the dripping entrails will
suffer painful open sores that won't heal
without a bomoh's help.
A Penanggal is said to feed on human blood
or human flesh although local folklore
(including its variations) commonly agrees
that a Penanggal prefers the blood of a
newborn infant, the blood of woman who
recently gave birth or the placenta (which
is devoured by the Penanggal after it is
buried). All folktales also agree that a
Penanggal flies as it searches and lands to
feed. One variation of the folklore however
claims that a Penanggal is able to pass
through walls. Other, perhaps more chilling,
descriptions say that the Penanggal can ooze
up through the cracks in the floorboards of
a house, rising up into the room where an
infant or woman is sleeping. Sometimes they
are depicted as able to move their
intestines like tentacles.
Unlike
Manananggal, all Penanggal are females and
there is no variation in Malaysian folklore
to suggest a Penanggal to be male. Another
notable difference between a Penanggal and
Manananggal is that a Penanggal detaches
only her head with her lungs, stomach and
intestines attached while leaving the body
in a pre-prepared container filled with
vinegar to preserve the body against rapid
decomposition. Additionally, unlike the
Manananggal which uses a proboscis-like
tongue, a Penanggal is commonly depicted as
having fangs. The number of fangs varies
from one region to another, ranging from two
like the Western vampire to a mouthful of
fangs.
