Sat Dec 30 2000 09:26:
Behold the extent of my geekiness. Last night Celeste was telling
me about the menanggalan, a member of the Filipino undead which
takes the form of a woman whose head and internal organs separate from
the host body and fly around at night. Instead of being frightened by
this gruesome depiction, I was elated to have discovered the source
of one of the weirder monsters in the 1st edition AD&D Fiend Folio.
They call it a penanggalan there, but it's the same thing. You can read a conversion
of the monster to 3rd Edition AD&D here,
or read about the folklore and cinematic appearances of the [mp]enanggalan in an article here. Plus,
I now know how to pronounce the name! ([mp]en-a-nang-ga-lan) Jake,
take note.