10 Terrifying Monsters That (We Hope!) Don't Exist

5. Manananggal

Of all the variations on the Vampire myth, The Manananggal is probably the scariest. In the mythology of The Philippines, The Manananggal is an evil, blood-sucking beast that is able to sprout bat-like wings, before splitting its body in half and becoming a flying torso in search of blood to drink. The monster is usually female and is depicted by many artists as being almost indescribably ugly. To make matters worse, this awful beast prefers to prey on pregnant women while they sleep, ejecting a long, mosquito-esque tongue to suck the blood of its victims (as well as that of the foetus, which it is said to especially enjoy). When particularly hungry, the creature is said to be capable of snatching a foetus directly from the womb, or even removing and devouring a still beating heart from its victim€™s chest. Like Western vampires, it is inactive during the day and can be killed by garlic, sunlight and salt, as well as a special whip fashioned from the tail of a stingray. Just thank your lucky stars that The Manananggal almost certainly doesn€™t exist. It was probably created as a way to explain miscarriages or cot deaths €“ hence why its appearance is so awful, because experiencing such things must be worse than anything else within the spectrum of Human imagination. Having said that, we did recently come across a pretty interesting story of a Manananggal attempting to steal an unborn baby from the womb, before being seen off by the child€™s family (and then aided by the rest of the neighbourhood). Six years later, the monster returned and was beaten back once again. Apparently, most of these bloodthirsty creatures now live on The Visayas Islands, as they have been frightened away by overpopulation.