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My girlfriend has seen Manananggal in the Philippines

Discussions about Unexplained Creatures and Cryptozoology. E.g. Bigfoot, The Lochness Monster, The Jersey Devil, etc.

My girlfriend has seen Manananggal in the Philippines

Postby Scepcop » 06 Aug 2009, 02:58

Here in the Philippines, there is a folklore and urban legend regarding a creature called a “Manananggal”, a winged female vampire creature that can detach from its torso and fly at night, returning to human or animal form in the day. It has a long tongue that it can shoot out to snatch a fetus out of a pregnant woman, or the heart out of a human victim. It also has the ability to morph into animals such as cats and pigs. Some say the Manananggal is its own species, others say that they used to be human. In Malaysia they also have a similar creature with a similar name.

Wikipedia has an entry on this creature and its legend, which you can read at this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manananggal

Now, the concept of such a creature existing is fantastic to say the least, and people of reason and rationality would naturally be skeptical about it. But the thing is, it’s not just a mere urban legend or folklore here in the Philippines. There are many real people who swear they’ve seen it or had an encounter with it.

My girlfriend’s family is one of them. Not only does her whole family claim that they’ve seen a Manananggal, but they also claim that they’ve done BATTLE with it on two occasions! Hmmmm (clearing throat). They are very down to earth sincere people, and yes like most Filipino families, they are very superstitious. But this isn’t about belief in a superstition. They claim to have had two firsthand encounters and fights with this creature! The story is that when my girlfriend was a baby in her mom’s tummy, the Manananggal creature came and tried to snatch the unborn child with its tongue, for food, one night. The whole family tried to fight it off and yelled for help. Soon the rest of the neighborhood came with sticks to beat the creature away, eventually succeeding.

Then when my girlfriend was 6, the family had another similar encounter with one too.

They are not joking about it, and swear to it to this day. In fact, my girlfriend’s mom even saw the creature morph into a pig as it was withdrawing! She is serious.

The thing is, like the Bigfoot legend, lots of people claim to have seen it, yet no one can capture one, present the dead body of one, or take a good clear photo of it. There’s always an excuse.

As of now, the Manananggal is said not to be inhabiting this town anymore, as it’s become too populated for the creature. I guess if there’s too many people around, the creature no longer has the element of surprise on its side and has a hard time hiding out. It’s said that these creatures migrated south to the forest areas of the Visayas islands, and that’s where you have to go nowadays to see one. Convenient huh?

So what do you think? Does this creature really exist? Or is it a case of mass hysteria and fabricated memories? My girlfriend’s family doesn’t seem like the type to lie though. They are very sincere, down to earth people, but they are superstitious.

But Filipino families seem to be like a symbiotic unit. There is little quarreling or struggles for power. If one person thinks something, it’s likely that the other family members agree on it. Rather than assert themselves to others, they are taught to get along in peace and harmony.

Any explanations? Do you know anyone in the Philippines that has seen a Mananangal? If so, did their story sound credible?

Regards,
Winston
“Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.” - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
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Re: My girlfriend has seen Manananggal in the Philippines

Postby ciscop » 07 Aug 2009, 23:09

woooooooooooooooow !!
have never heard about the manananggal
awesome!!

well... i can tell you of a particular case in psychology
where villagers.. think they are a zorro (in french is called: renard, is like a small wolf i guess...)
so they get possesed by this evil spirit
and then become zorros..
the thing is.. it only happens in southern japan.
it is a located social learned mental illness... ¨it is LEARNED¨.. just like legends.

i am not saying your parents in law are mental
but you did said they are superstitious by nature.

ooh yeah!.. and there is another story.. i wanna share too.. not sure where or in which book i picked on this one, is goes something likes this (take this as an urban legend as i cant provide right now the source)
on germany it was reported that the panda escaped the zoo
and then there were a thousand reports (not sure the number).. of people seeing the panda in the backyard of they own houses or running on the highway. it was reported that the panda was even like... 500 miles from the zoo it was last saw.
the curious thing is by the time the news was aired
the panda had been catched earlier, but the news failed to report that
either way.. people ¨saw it¨
the thing is, if you expect to see it, you are going to see it.
perception and suggestion are curious things...

i loveeeeeeed the manananggal stuff
quite scary!!!!
For every person who reads this valuable book there are hundreds of naïve souls who would prefer to have their spines tingled by a sensational but worthless potboiler by some hack journalist of the paranormal. You who now read these sentences join a small but wiser minority. Martin Gaardner (Psychology of the Psychic)
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