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Yes, Zombies are real. Hollywood has fictionalized and dramatized them; however there are/were real zombies. If you are expecting the walking dead to shuffle down your street anytime soon, you will be sorely disappointed.
A Brief History of Zombies
Real zombies are not "the living dead" but the "mistakenly dead." In the past there were not many people that knew how to verify if a person was dead. As a result, more than one person was buried alive. When the lucky ones recovered enough to scratch and claw their way out of their graves, they were misidentified as either zombies or vampires. This actually led to several strange customs throughout the world such as driving a wooden stake through the heart of the dead before they were buried. There were even people that sold coffins with breathing tubes and bells that could be rang from "down under" to alert people that the occupants were not dead.
In Japan sushi chefs are trained how to serve a particular type of blowfish that is highly toxic. Improperly preparing the fish can "kill" you. In actuality, the fish's toxin slows the body's processes down so much that it is impossible to tell if the person is alive or dead. This led to the custom of the dead being left to lay for three days before burial.
The non-fiction book The Serpent and the Rainbow, and the "adapted" (fiction) movie version shows that Haitian zombies were the result of another form of fish toxin. The Haitian, or Voodoo, zombie was the basis for the Hollywood version of zombies seen in most popular horror movies. This trend started with the first zombie movie, White Zombie, and continues to this day.
But, if the living dead rise in search of brains, you bet your machete that we will be here to tell you all about it!
Future of Zombies
As crazy as it sounds, it is entirely possible for "rage" zombies like those seen in 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. These were not the typical "walking dead." They are infected living humans with uncontrollable and infectious rage.The folks over at National Geographic recently published an article explaining how this could actually happen. In short, you combine the Rabies and Flu viruses and you have the Rage virus. For more on this see the National Geographic Channel documentary The Truth Behind Zombies.
The question was posed, not for the first time, in a Twitter discussion with The Walking Dead
executive producer Glen Mazzara. While he dodged the question, it has
drawn the attention of many zombie fans. So how about it? Do zombies
poop (defecate)? We examin this questions and invite you to discuss all aspects of zombie biology in our forum. |
Those zombies are at it again! But you're wearing a top hat, so you're clearly far superior. Build a temple of the dead.
