Faces of Death in the Philippines: Monsters of Death

Halloween is almost upon us so enough serious talks about death care services, tragedies, and illnesses—let’s get our spook on! Today, on Faces of Death, we talk about the deathly mythological creatures of the Philippines that have haunted us as children.

Bangungot

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The bangungot makes this list because not only is it a mythical monster, it is also a death construct. In the Philippines, if a person dies in his sleep, it could already be considered as a bangungot but as an occurrence rather than an attack by the being. The monster bangungot is a very fat woman that sits on the chest of sleeping people, choking them to death in their sleep. In the west, it can be compared to the nightmare: a female horse that tramples on the chest of slumbering prey.

Manananggal

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The Manananggal is a winged monster. It is a human, commonly a female, who, through witchcraft, grows wings on her back where the shoulder blades are. To be able to take flight, the manananggal leaves behind her lower body so that only the bloody upper half flies through the night. Talk about death care service, but to kill a manananggal, you must find its unprotected and probably uninsured lower half and sprinkle it with salt and spices, healing the wound and making it impossible for the manananggal to return to her human form. Her favorite victims are pregnant woman, the fetus of which she sucks out of the womb via a very long proboscis-like tongue.

Tiyanak

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If you’ve ever seen the movie Rosemary’s Baby, this is the Filipino version of it but with a lot more gore and lesser focus on conception. A tiyanak is depicted in pop culture to be the child of a human female and a demon. In folk lore however, it is a demon that only takes the form of a child. It pretends to be an abandoned child and cries to draw people to it and if anyone tries to save it, the tiyanak may pounce onto the victim for a quick kill or wait until the victim has taken it home before it reverts to its demon form.

Aswang

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Of course, you can never have a list of Philippine mythical baddies with the boogieman himself—the aswang is the most popular monster all over the Philippines. In different regions, the aswang is called by many names and takes many shapes as well. Some regions believe it to be a human that turns into a boar or a hound at night, stalking and killing people in its wake. Some believe it to be a nocturnal demonic entity that feeds on humans especially pregnant women and children. One thing that is common with all these varieties is the aswang’s capacity to kill. Every aswang, no matter what region you hear the story from, is always out to kill and devour its victims.

There are a lot more creatures that lurk in the darkness in the Philippines like the kapre, tikbalang, and duwende, but these 4 have a special place in this blog for making the need for memorial service plans and death care services necessary.