Manananggal

Lola's story

When I was a girl in Manila, the grown-ups said that some nights a lady would stand very still in a dark corner, and then, pop, her top half would lift right off and fly away on big bat wings, leaving her legs behind. "That's the manananggal," my Lola told me. "She flies over the rooftops looking for a snack."

"What kind of snack?" I asked.

"Not you," she said, "because this house smells of bawang." And she stirred the garlic rice a little louder.

In my stories, the manananggal is less scary and more forgetful. Once, my grandson Chun found a pair of legs in fancy shoes standing all alone in the park. Guess who came knocking on our window that night?

What people say

People tell manananggal stories all over the Philippines, especially in the Visayas. They say she looks like an ordinary woman by day. At night, her top half separates at the waist, grows bat wings and flies off, while her legs stay hidden somewhere. In the old stories, if you find her legs and sprinkle them with salt or ash, she can't join back together before sunrise.

How to stay safe

Garlic, garlic, garlic. Many families say the manananggal hates its smell, so a little garlic by the window, or a pot of garlic rice, keeps her flying past. And, like Lola always says, come home before dark.