The Penanggalan
In Malay folklore, a woman's head detaches at night and flies off through the dark, and she has to soak her body in vinegar to fit back into it.
What was reported
The penanggalan is one of the strangest figures in Malay folklore: by day a woman, often a midwife, but at night her head detaches from her body and flies off in search of prey, trailing what lies beneath it. She has to keep a vat of vinegar at home to shrink herself so she can return to her body before dawn.
People planted thorny plants around their houses, so she would be caught as she flew past.
Explanations offered
It belongs to a family of flying-head beings across Southeast Asia, alongside the Thai krasue and the Philippine manananggal. Folklorists link these figures to fears around childbirth, a dangerous time for mothers and babies before modern medicine.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Perak, Malaysia
- Witnesses
- Malay tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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