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71 Gnawing Facts About . . .


Zombies
1. The word zombie is
related to the African
word nzambi, which
means god. The Grand
Serpent, the Le Grand
Zombi, was the father of
all laos, or other gods,
and appeared in the
shape of a python.b
2. October 8th is World
Zombie Day.a
3. There are basically two
theories on the origin of
zombies: 1) a cursed
person dies and returns as a zombie, and 2) a person contracts a virus or is exposed
to radiation.g
4. Mummies are not usually regarded as zombies because while zombies are in a
constant state of decay, mummies are deliberately physically preserved.a
5. According to zombie lore, the only way to kill a zombie is to damage its brain or cut
off its head.g
6. Because viruses are not independent living organisms and need a living organism to
reproduce, a zombie virus could be considered a misnomer because zombies are
generally thought to be dead.a
7. While the causes and depictions of zombies throughout history have varied, one
element links them: they all have compromised brains.c
8. George A. Romero is often referred to as the Father of the Modern Zombie and is
widely viewed as the creator of the modern zombie cinema. He has written and
directed more zombie films that anyone in history.c
9. Modern conceptions of zombies originally began with
voodoo religion in the West African Yorubi tribe and
then traveled with captured slaves to the Caribbean
island of Haiti, a busy slave center in the 1700s.e
10. Prolific zombie filmmaker George A. Romeros first paid
Zombiism stems from the Vodun
directing job was filming Mr. Rogers tonsillectomy for
religion
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Romero said this project
a
somehow inspired him to pursue a career in horror films.
11. Critics note that George Romeros zombie films are great because they use zombies
as a device for social commentary. In other words, they are not movies about
zombies, but rather about groups of human beings and how they react in crises.c
12. A parasitic fungus, a species of Ophiocordyceps, effectively turns ants into zombies.
A recent study found that the fungus can synchronize several ants to bite down
simultaneously on the underside of a leaf and then die. The fungus then sprouts
through the dead ants bodies.a
13. According to Haitian folklore, feeding salt to a zombie will restore the person to
freedom. That doesnt mean the zombie will become a living person again but, rather,
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that the body will return to the grave.d


14. The most famous real-life zombie is Haitian Clairvius Narcisse.
He claimed he was turned into a zombie by a combination of
powerful neurotoxins and hallucinogens.b
15. There is a law in Haiti that makes it a crime to turn someone
into a zombie. Article 249 states that if someone drugs another
person, buries him as though he were dead, and then digs the
person up and brings him back to life, it is still considered
murder.a
Clairvius Narcisse is
said to have been
16. A disease called Yaws can actually make people look like
turned into a zombie
zombies. The disease causes painful, oozing sores on the face,
legs, arms, and feet. The painful wounds on the bottoms of the feet sometimes cause
a sufferer to walk in a slow, zombie-like shuffle.b

17. Besides being able to move after they are dead, zombies do not have superpowers. In
fact, zombies actually have fewer abilities than they did when they were living human
beings.a
18. The abbreviation RLF stand for reanimated life form, which is another way of saying
zombie.a
19. In the case of a zombie outbreak, generic weapons are always preferable to custom
or rare firearms with rarer forms of ammunition.a
20. In the case of a zombie outbreak, a persons physical fitness will have a significant
influence on a persons odds of surviving.a
21. Zombies may have the trademark zombie limp because their
bodies are affected by the same decomposition process as any
normal corpse. Additionally, rigor mortis would cause serious
tissue and muscle damage at the zombies each step. Since
zombies do not regenerate or heal, any damage is permanent.
Eventually, a zombies top speed would be reduced to a crawl
and perhaps even slow to the point where it could not move.b
22. Some critics theorize that zombies prefer the taste of human
flesh (if they can taste anything) because warm human flesh
may have to do with a zombie virus needing fresh DNA or some
parasitic microorganism receiving some form of nourishment
from live blood cells.a

Zombies limp because


their bodies are
affected by
decomposition

23. While vampires are fast, strong, difficult to kill, relatively intelligent, and able to
regenerate, zombies are slow, rather weak, easy to kill, and dumb. Any wound or
damage they receive is permanent. So, in a fight between a zombie and vampire, the
vampire would most likely win.b
24. Zombie fans debate whether how long it would take a person who died from a zombie
virus to reanimate. Theories put the moment of reanimation between a few minutes to
several hours.b
25. Experts note that in order to survive a zombie attack, it is imperative to follow a few
guidelines: 1) do not take shelter in a vehicle in which you do not have the keys, 2) do
not leave weapons out for zombies to find, 3) do not give your only weapon to a
hysterical person, 4) do not retreat to your basement without supplies, 5) do not get
surrounded by zombies, especially in an elevator, and 6) do not let personal emotions
and anger impede survival.a
26. Some scientists claim that a zombie apocalypse is not necessarily an impossibility
because humans are susceptible to neurotoxins, brain parasites, real rage virus (such
as mad cow disease), neurogenesis, and nanobots (which can operate in a host even
after the host has died).f
27. In computer science, a zombie is a computer that has been taken over by a virus, a
Trojan horse, or a hacker. Most owners of zombie computers are unaware their
computers have been compromised.a
28. The top 10 safest countries during a zombie outbreak according to geographic
location, topography, armed populace, population density, and military preparedness
are the following: 1) Australia, 2) Canada, 3) United States, 4) Russia, 5)
Kazakhstan, 6) Bolivia, 7) Norway, 8) Finland, 9) Argentina, and 10) Sweden.g

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29. Stories of the dead being brought back to life are thousands of years old. For
example, 5,000 years ago in the Middle Eastern tale the Epic of Gilgamesh, an angry
goddess threatens to bring the dead back to eat the living.b
30. Zombies in Chinese myth are called the Kuang Shi (the hopping corpse). While they
have human bodies, they do not have independent thought or free will. In some
Chinese myths, zombies are dead people who die far from home and must walk back
to their home villages before they can rest in peace.b
31. In Scandinavian stories, zombies are called draugr. According to legend, draugr were
fierce warriors, but after they died, they were not content to lie in their grave. Instead,
they came back to attack the living. To kill a draugr one had to cut off its head, burn
its body, and scatter its ashes out to sea.b
32. It is generally believed that in the hours before rigor
mortis sets in, zombies would be at their most
dangerous. They would, briefly, have the strength and
speed of living humans before their bodies would be
ravaged by decomposition.b
Zombies are at their strongest
before rigor mortis sets in
33. A revenantfrom the French term revenir, meaning
one who returnsis a popular zombie-like creature.
Like zombies, they begin to suffer decomposition and smell like a rotting body once
they come back to life. However, unlike modern zombies, their teeth begin to grow
into terribly crooked and jagged protrusions. Also unlike zombies, they do not eat
people or drink blood.b

34. Zombie stories have been found all over the world, including Europe, Asia, North
America, Africa, and the Middle Eastthough Haiti has been the source of modern
zombie stories.d
35. Voodoo zombies, or zombies based in Haitian lore, are created by evil priests called
bokors for several reasons: cheap labor, revenge, and power.c
36. According to the Voodoo religion, once a zombie has been created, the bokor, or the
evil priest who created the zombie, must keep the zombie obedient by feeding it a
paste made from a plant called the zombies cucumber. Legend states that
chemicals in the cucumber keep zombies weak so they are easy to order around. In
the United States, the zombies cucumber is called jimsonweed.b
37. According to Haitian voodoo, there are several precautions people can take so that
their deceased loved one can avoid being turned into a zombie: 1) bury the body
under heavy stones so they are harder to dig up, 2) watch over the grave for 36 hours
(after 36 hours, death is final and a bokor can no longer turn a dead body into a
zombie), and 3) cut the head off the body.b
38. George A. Romeros 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead is universally credited as
being the film from which all zombie movies today have their roots. In the movie,
radiation from a fallen satellite brings dead people back to lifeand they have an
appetite for human flesh.c
39. Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 rom zom com or romantic zombie comedy. The film
was written as a spoof honoring George Romeros Night of the Living Dead. It stars
Simon Pegg as the couch-potato-turned-zombie-hunter Shaun. It has also been
called a zomedy.b
40. The popular Dead World series is different from other zombie genres because it
depicts a ruling class of zombies that are organized and intelligent.a
41. The most popular zombie-based manga (Japanese comics) storyline is called High
School of the Dead. The story is about a group of high school students who have
been caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Additionally, they must face the
threat of the societal collapse and the decay of their own moral framework.a
42. The Internet has opened up new venues for the zombie genre to grow, particularly
zombie-themed Internet comics, such as the Zombie Hunters, Last Blood, Everyday
Decay, and Slaughter, Inc.a
43. In the case of a zombie outbreak, there are certain hot
spots for zombie infection, including hospitals, police
stations, churches, malls, and department stores.a
44. Early zombie movies were often associated with
Voodoo-style zombies rather than viral or radiation
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zombies For example, White Zombie (1932) tells the


story of a womans transformation into a zombie at the
hands of a Voodoo master.

Police stations are a hot spot for


zombie outbreaks

45. The very first zombie movie ever made is the 1932 American film White Zombie. It
was also the first horror movie that was not a silent film, as well as the first
independent horror film to star Bela Lugosi, an icon of horror cinema.c
46. In the very first zombie movie ever, White Zombie, lead actor Bela Lugosi was paid
just $800 for his performance, making him the highest paid actor in the movie. Even in
1932, that wasnt a lot of money. The movie grossed less than $25,000 at the box
office, though the films budget was around $50,000. White Zombie is public domain,
which means no one owns the rights to the film anymore.a
47. The movies Zombie Strippers (2008) and Zombies, Zombies, Zombies (2008) are
ranked as some the very worst zombie movies of all time.a
48. Ethnobotanist Wade Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 after hearing reports of
zombification. He found that the zombies were most likely exposed to a dangerous
mix of potent neurotoxins and hallucinogens. He wrote his discoveries in the book
The Serpent in the Rainbow, which was adapted into a movie of the same name by
horror director Wes Craven in 1988. Some critics have dismissed his work as
unscientific or fraudulent.b
49. The term Zombophiles is a term used to describe fans of the zombie genera.a
50. According to Haitian lore, a Vodun (Voodoo) zombies soul is returned to the victim
upon the creators death. Consequently, if someone used a zombie as a servant after
the creators death, they would risk retribution for violating Vodun law.b
51. In Haiti, zombie powder is most likely given to the victim through the skin on the left
inner arm due to its proximity to the heart. After becoming exposed, the victim
becomes violently ill and paralyzed. Though the person cannot move, he or she can
still see, hear, and feel everything. Then the person is buried alive in a Haitian Vodun
zombification ceremony and then later reanimated.b
52. Many times victims of Vodun (Voodoo) zombification
are reported to walk clumsily, speak with slurred
speech, and act spacy or inattentive. Experts note
this is probably a result of permanent brain damage
caused by a combination of prolonged oxygen
deprivation from being buried alive and exposure to
zombie powder, which is a mix of the neurotoxin TTX
and the hallucinogenic dautra and Calabar beans.b

Zombies represent our fears about


the human condition

53. Recent research shows that most likely only about 1 in 100 attempts at Voodoo
zombification in Haiti would be successful. The other 99 times would result in death.a
54. Critics note that the profound influence the atomic age had on the public
consciousness helped usher in the age of the modern zombie. Radiation became a
staple of horror entertainment and was the cause for mutant animals, giant insects
and zombies.b
55. George A. Romeros 1968 The Night of the Living Dead was the first zombie movie to
show a physical cause of zombification. Previously, zombies were created through
Voodoo or other type of black magic.c
56. The movie Dead Snow is a 2009 Norwegian zombie comedy about a group of
students under attack from Nazi zombies in the mountains of Norway. It was
nominated for the Most Memorable Mutilation scene.
57. Toxic zombies are zombies who have come back to life through radiation, exposure
to a virus, or poisonous chemical leaks. These zombies are usually rotting, smell
bad, cant feel pain, and prefer to feed on human flesh. They typically cant move fast,
but they can smell fresh blood and can hear very well. Voodoo zombies are zombies
under another persons control and they retain a limited capacity for human attributes,
such as pain and emotion. They appear in stories in the Caribbean, Central and
South America, and the southern United States.b,c
58. Zombie powder allegedly used in Haitian zombification is made from poisons taken
from animals, such as the spiky puffer fish, the hyla tree frog, and the cane toad. In
addition, the powders contain human remains as well as some hallucinogens.b
59. Critics note that zombiescreated either from superstition, radiation, or viral mutation

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represent what is frightening in the human psyche and they serve to explore many
profound assumptions about life and death.d
60. The Germans have a version of the zombie called the Nachtzehrer, which has two
common translations: night waster or night eater/chewer/gnawer. The Nachtzeher
has traits of both the zombie and vampire. When a Nachtzeher is first reanimated, it
gnaws on parts of its own body and then seeks other victims to feed upon.a
61. Long ago, people were sometimes buried alive because
they were in a coma, which doctors mistook for death.
When thieves dug up their graves to steal jewelry, the
corpses seemed to come back to life. This has played
a role in developing the zombie myth.e
62. There are three general schools of thought about how a People were sometimes buried
alive, which led to zombie myths
zombie virus would behave. First, dormant infection,
where the virus would spread around the world and
remain unnoticed until the recently dead begin to reanimate. In this case, everyone,
bitten or not, would become a zombie. Next is active infection only, which means that
only those who are bitten by a zombie would be infected and ultimately die as a
result, only to reanimate after their deaths. Finally, dormant and active infection,
which is the worst out of the three: all persons who die would reanimate, but those
who are bitten would die much faster.a
63. Critics note that zombies are an extreme representation of conformity and represent
the inner struggle many humans have regarding the conflict of individuality versus
conformity.b
64. The term philosophical zombies represents a philosophical concept of a living
human organism that has no conscious experience.a
65. Zombie fans hotly debate whether Dr. Frankensteins creation can be considered a
zombie. One side of the debate claims that a zombie should be defined as a
reanimated corpse, regardless of how that reanimation occurs. The other side says
that the corpse must be reanimated by either a virus or radiation and eat human
flesh.a
66. Mary Shelleys Frankenstein was the first novel to approach the idea of human
reanimation from a nonsuperstitious point of view. Whether Frankensteins monster is
a zombie or not, Shelley was the first to depict a reanimated body caused by
science.b
67. A Canadian-based team of statisticians created a zombie virus outbreak scenario and
found that the only hope for any human civilization faced with such an outbreak would
be a fast, aggressive extermination response. Taking a defensive stance would not
work. For example, in a stereotypical urban city with a population of 500,000 people,
it would require an aggressive military response within 3-8 days. After 8 days, it would
be nearly guaranteed that civilization would not bounce back.a
68. Zombies represent all that is dark and base about the human condition. The fear of
zombies often stems from real human fears regarding unfamiliar or chaotic forces in
the world.b
69. Most zombie survivalists adhere to the following survival list: 1) 14-90 days worth of
nonperishable food, 2) a personal water source and/or 14 to 90 days worth of
drinkable water, 3) at least one firearm with 1,000 to 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 5)
a gasoline electricity generator with 2 to 4 weeks worth of fuel, and 6) a sturdy
melee/close combat weapon and some form of martial arts/close combat training.a
70. One of the most well organized zombie survivalist sites is ZCORE, which stands for
Zombie Coalition Offensive Response Elite. It costs $4 to join.a
71. The people in the popular horror film 28 Days are not technically zombies because
they do not die before they take on a zombie-like appearance and become fixated on
killing.b
-- Posted October 27, 2012
References
a Brown, Nathan Robert. 2010. The Complete Idiots Guide to Zombies. New York, NY:

Penguin
b Hamilton, Sue L. 2007. Zombies (The World of Horror). Edino, MN: ABDO Publishing

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Company.
c Krensky, Stephen. 2008. Zombies (Monster Chronicles). Minneapolis, MN: Lerner

Publications Company.
d Pipe, Jim. 2007. Zombies (Tales of Horror). New York NY: Bearport Publishing.
e Schuh, Mari C. and Aaron Sautter. 2007. Zombies (Blazers-Monsters). Mankato, MN:

Capstone Press.
f Sloth, TE and David Wong. 5 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Apocalypse Could Actually

Happen. Cracked. October 29, 2007. Accessed: October 20, 2012.


g Zombie Facts: Real and Imagined (Infographic). Live Science. October 6, 2011.

Accessed: October 20, 2012.

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