what could account for the myth of zombies?

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has this ever been addressed, by mythbusters or anything like that? I watched a bit of (gross) zombie movie last night and I was thinking about it. My first guess is rabies. Rabies apparently makes people want to bite just like animals. And it causes brain damage so you would wander around looking scary. I don't know if there are 'mass outbreaks' of rabies that cause groups of people to run around town biting other people though. If it's spread by fleas like the plague I guess it could happen. Any ideas?

Have you read The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis?
I won't do a good job of explaining it so here's a link.

http://archives.cbc.ca/science_technolo ... ips/17209/

that was one thing I didn't factor in, drugs. I didn't even know the myth was Haitian in origin...I wonder where the biting/flesh-eating part of the myth came from...I just read the wiki entry on this and someone else mentions rabies. I'm pretty intrigued by the voodoo aspect.

I saw the movie based on the book years ago. It was a bit overdone but still interesting. They made it into kind of a thriller. From what I understand the victim can feel everything but is completely paralyzed and normal signs of life are so diminished they could only be picked up by medical equipment. The victims are buried and then dug up and culturally they really believe they are dead. This is similar to how the vampire myth began. When people went into a coma they were thought to be dead and buried. Later when grave robbers opened the grave to look for loot they would find evidence that the corpse had woken up, by broken fingernails, scratches on the inside of the coffin lid etc.

Comas? someone in a coma may have been presumed to be dead, and then they get up? I was thinking of what a zombie virus would have to do, I reckon it would have to increase testosterone production 10 fold... and destroy parts of the brain associated with more `human` attributes, eg. Frontal lobes etc. And do something to the part of your brain which deals with hunger, and familiarity with other members f your species. Then the Zombie would be a very aggressive hungry nut job... And to ensure it didn't attack other zombies it could do something to make it not attack things which smell of testosterone as with such huge volumes of iti n their blood they would smell of it to others.... subconsciously. I can't see how this virus would work though... Rabies does sound like a likely candidate for the myth though...

I was thinking about comas yesterday. And also generally poor people would have had wooden coffins so maybe they might have been able to break out of them and walk on home, looking like h*ll. I read the wiki about it and I'm wondering if the eating other people thing was something that got added in later...because in the Haitian thing I haven't been able to find any mention of that, just that the people were drugged, in a trance like state...of course it did say that some medicine men were doing this to people so that the people would be in their thrall because of the drugs (although experiments have been done to disprove the drug theory) so if they commanded the people to harm others I suppose this might have happened on occasion or two...because bites are very scary attacks, because of the dull nature. There was a study done that said that robbers are more likely to enter a home where they know there is a loaded gun than they are to enter a home where there is a dog, because of the fear of being bitten.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/ ... 260445.htm

that is amazing...unreal. The 'trial and error' part of this process probably filled a couple of graveyards, to say the least. It makes me wonder what other kinds of things the Haitian witch doctors have been up to over the centuries.

Apparently Wade Davis went down there to investigate the possibilities for a new anesthetic.

Aside from the Haitian witch-doctor origins, I think the cultural significance of the zombie as a concept is similar to that of the vampire or the werewolf - but while the vampire represents unchained sexuality, and the werewolf untamed aggression, the zombie represents the human fear of death (unlike the charismatic vampire or the cunning werewolf, the zombie is stripped of everything that originally made it human, and is instead driven by mindless bloodlust).

This, incidentally, is precisely why running zombies are wrong on every level: the staggering, stumbling zombie horde - which nevertheless ends up surrounding the heroes' hideout - is supposed to represent the fact that no matter how fast or how far we run, no matter how securely we protect ourselves... sooner or later death will find a way in and turn us into hamburger.

great analysis. it makes me wonder if also this is our innate fear of being preyed on and eaten alive...since we are at the top of the food chain it's not something we consciously fear. and also what other humans with a sociopathic bent can do to you.

also, I was thinking, if they have done this then you know our CIA has done similar experiments. And then I remembered the Bourne movies. Probably a whole bunch of sci-fi movies about mind control but I don't know if any of them use datura and the other thing.

As far as I know, the 'eating human flesh' part of the mythology is a direct result of the 'Living Dead' films. Before Night of the Living Dead, zombies just shuffled silently about like mummies, with their arms sticking out in front, following the will of the zombie-master who raised them from the dead. They were like Genie cadavers, satisfying their controllers' power mad whims.They didn't travel in feral packs, devouring the brains of innocent strangers like malfunctioning robots. They had to be directly ordered to devour the brains of innocent strangers.

Of course I'm referring to Hollywood Zombies, not the real drug addled ignorant heathen Haitian zombies. I have no idea what they eat. But if they are in fact, just drugged people who only think they've died and been resurrected, that would answer Craig Ferguson's question "Do zombies poop?"

Most likely, yes. Unless they're decomp-stipated.

Speaking of movie zombies, anyone seen Shaun of the Dead?

You'd be correct on that score, I think. George Romero is the man largely responsible for the classic image of the zombie most people have these days.



Nice one.

I remember reading in Max Brooks' excellent book The Zombie Survival Guide the theory that since zombies didn't digest anything, all the flesh they ate just sat inert in their digestive systems until it either burst their intestines and started to accumulate in their peritoneal cavity, or got forced out of the zombie's tradesman's entrance by the sheer volume of stuff arriving through the front.

Mmm, beefy



That film's almost required viewing for any zombie-movie fan, I reckon. I love it to bits, because it satisfies both my need for zombie carnage and romantic comedy Plus, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are a brilliant duo, who play off each other really well, in both the comedic and serious moments of the movie.

Another zombie movie that you ought to catch (aside from the Return Of The Living Dead movies, which are fun) is Flight Of The Living Dead: Outbreak On A Plane (can you guess which film it was clearly inspired by? ), which is exactly what it says on the tin. It's undoubtedly dumber than a box of rocks,, but it's still very enjoyable.

One of my favorite parts of Shaun of the Dead is when they discover the zombie woman in the backyard and at first they think she's just stinking drunk.

*WARNING: USELESS TRIVIA*
*WARNING: USELESS TRIVIA*

The fear of being buried alive was so prevalent that a contraption was set up when someone was buried. A string extended from inside the coffin, up through the ground, to a bell suspended above the ground. This way, if someone was buried alive, he/she could pull on the string and ring the bell. Thus, they were "saved by the bell."

Of course, someone would have to be posted at the gravesite and watch for the bell. This person would be required to stay overnight and work the "graveyard shift."

*END OF USELESS TRIVIA*
*END OF USELESS TRIVIA*