Penanggalan
A source-specific profile of the Penanggalan in Walter William Skeat’s Malay Magic (1900).
Quick answer
In Skeat’s account, the Penanggalan is a flying human head with its stomach attached, seeking infants’ blood.
Source status
This is a historical folklore report mediated by a colonial collector, not evidence of a creature’s existence. The selected passage is not presented here as the earliest attestation or a universal Malay account. Pĕnanggalan preserves Skeat’s spelling; his English category “vampire” should not import traits from other traditions.
- record type
- creature
- tradition
- Malay folklore of the Malay Peninsula
- source scope
- Walter William Skeat, Malay Magic, 1900 edition, chapter VI, section 1, “Birth-Spirits,” pp. 320–321 and 327–328. This profile follows the main-text account.
- aliases
- ["Pĕnanggalan"]
Source account
A woman practising religious penance in a vinegar vat is startled by a man. Attempting escape, she kicks her chin; her head separates and flies into a tree. This origin belongs to the selected narrative, not an established rule for every version.
Source realm and behaviour
The setting is the household at childbirth: she cries on the roof or attempts entry through the floor to reach the child. No separate supernatural realm is specified.