The Manananggal Tradition in Philippine Folklore

Record summary

The manananggal is a Philippine nocturnal being associated in many accounts with separating the upper body, flight, and attacks on sleeping people. Early twentieth-century documentation appears in folklore collections, colonial-era ethnographies, and regional writing, although terminology overlaps with tik-tik, wakwak, and aswang. The lead is valuable for studying how a shape-shifting or body-transforming figure changes across language communities and publication contexts. Researchers should identify a dated regional source rather than treating later horror-film versions as evidence for the earlier tradition.