Keep in mind that some of the contents of this articles may have triggering references and spoilers of the show so if this is not a thing for you then do stay away from reading this (´◡`)
Vampires.
They are EVERYWHERE in all cultures. One of the most famous vampires was Count Dracula - Vlad the Impaler if you're talking about the real person. Maybe in the future edition I might cover his story someday ;) However, have you heard about a myth where a witch turned into a vampire, a very intriguing one?
This myth is close to my familiarity and has a difference of names and stories according to different countries in South East Asia. A penanggalan or in Malay, penanggal is a vampire entity and its name "tanggal" means to take off which the appearance of this vampire is... Wait for it, a floating disembodied woman's (usually) head with its trailing organs still attached. Long story short, it's a flying vampire with dangling organs - just the head and no body.
Some say penanggalan is a ghost in native languages although it's not an undead entity yet. One can be a penanggalan to perform black magic. To become a penanggal, a woman/witch must meditate during a ritual bath in vinegar, with her whole body submerged except for the head - it's like relaxing in a bath filled with vinegar.The penanggalan form is active at night as the creature regularly soaks its organs in vinegar to shrink them for easy entry back into her body. Since there's vinegar soaking in the body, a penanggalan has a scent of vinegar. It doesn't stop there, an ordinary woman who is suspected to be the entity has the vinegar smell too. (Hint: It was usually a beautiful woman)
The penanggalan's victims are usually pregnant, menstruating women and young children. Back then, the Malays had slit-houses near the waters, so the penanggalan would hide under the stilts of the house and use its long tongue to lap up the blood of the new mother. To those who became penanggalan's meal will contract a wasting disease that can cause death. Like any other vampires, they also had fangs in modern deceptions.
To defeat and avoid any penanggalan's attacks, one needs to scatter the thorny leaves, usually mengkuang leaves with fine thorns on their sides. This would either trap or injure the exposed lungs, stomach and intestines of the penanggal as it flies in search of its prey. When someone was expected to give birth in the village (as back then there was no hospital/it was too far away), the villagers would wrap mengkuang leaves on fences to avoid penanggalan to attack the mother and the newborn. Pregnant women can keep scissors or (sharp) nutcrackers under her pillow as an extra precaution.
When the penanggalan is left to hunt, one can permanently destroy the body by either pouring pieces of broken glass into the empty neck cavity, which will sever the internal organs of the penanggal when it reattaches to the body. One can also sanctify the body and destroy by cremation so that the penanggalan was prevented from reattaching to its body by sunrise - when everyone wakes up to do their daily tasks and ghostly entities are absent. Another non-lethal way to get rid of penanggalan is to turn over the body, so that when the head is attached back it will be attached to the reverse side, thereby revealing to everyone what she really is.
A penanggalan twinkles like a ball of flame - like a will-o'-the-wisp as any other ghost that has the similar phenomenon. Not every country knows this entity as a penanggalan alone, for example in the Philippines, it was called as a manananggal and palasik in West Sumatra. However, they all share the same idea of this myth - a witch practicing black magic to be a flying vampire. As a person who knows this story well enough, the 'actual' pictures of penanggalan are... disturbing although they are props for a movie; however, here is one of the light-hearted ones I can give for the blog. If you wish to see more on Google then... good luck and hope that you can sleep well!
Be aware that there will be disturbing pictures of the said entity so if you can't stand gore or you are weak-hearted it is best for you to stay away :3
