Penanggalan

Penanggalans feed on the blood and entrails of the young. When their cannibalistic hunger strikes, penanggalans bathe their bodies in an alchemical substance that smells like vinegar. Once submerged in the concoction, their neck rips from side to side, allowing their head to float upward and pull out their lungs, stomach, and intestines. They leave their bodies in the vinegar bath much like a molting crab leaves its old shell, then fly off to find a victim filled with blood and guts.

As grotesque as these creatures are when hungry, the penanggalan appears young and healthy while wearing their body. Such is the nature of their existence: they consorted with otherworldy beings, gaining a lifetime of youth in exchange for an evil hunger for the young. But they are not immortal. They age and die normally like the people they once were-they just retain their youthfulness throughout this existence.

It can be difficult to spot a penanggalan among the populace. The faint scar ringing their neck at the point of separation can be explained away as a blemish, and it can be hidden under a flashy necklace. Meanwhile the faint, sour scent of a penanggalan's preserved body, while peculiar, is not uncommon in the sweaty tropics they frequent.