You Think You Know Zombies?
Ha, you say. Of course you do. A zombie is a reanimated
corpse. You may even know the word zombie originated from the Kongo word nzambi
which means spirit of a dead person. It was later altered to zonbi in Haitian Creole
by descendants of African slaves, and eventually became zombie. How is a person
zombified? Well, that’s easy. The innocent victim is infected by a pathogen.
The origin can be natural or manmade, but begins with Patient Zero. The
infection spreads with a bite and then the victim develops an insatiable
appetite for human flesh, particularly tasty brains.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. That’s only the short history of
zombies and like many myths, this one has some basis in fact.
Early Zombie Lore
Fear that the dead won’t stay buried is common in folklore.
Many Stone Age burial sites in the Middle East had corpses interred beneath
large stones. In an ancient site in Syria dating back 10,000 years, the dead
were not just weighed down with heavy weights, but also decapitated—an early
link to modern zombie lore. Although piles
of rocks discouraged animals from digging up remains, removing grandpa’s noggin
also kept him from a moonlight stroll.
Ancient Greeks were equally careful with their corpses. Archeologists
working in Sicily unearthed a Greek necropolis called Passo Marinaro dating
from 800 BC. The entombed, children as well as adults, were found in a variety
of positions; staked, tied, or again weighed down by stones. According to the
Greeks, certain deceased were more prone to walk among the living. These
included victims of murder, a plague, or a curse. Greeks also piled on the
extra big rocks for those born on unlucky days. Bad enough being killed by a
plague or curse, now you had to spend eternity with a boulder on your head.
Early hints at the development of modern zombie lore can be
found in places other than the Middle East. Norse mythology contains tales of the
draugr or “again walker” who like to munch on locals. They pass on their curse by
biting a victim (sound familiar?), but can also have supernatural powers such
as shape-shifting or entering a person’s dreams. Romania has its own native zombies with
strigoi, a combination zombie/vampire. They drink blood and rise from the dead
to stalk the living, generally a relative.
To stop them the grave must be dug up and the head and heart removed.
One way to turn into a strigoi is to die single, so some communities marry off
the corpse as a preventive measure. Take that, eHarmony.
Modern Zombies
Present day zombie lore has two types (three if you count
the mixed drink made with rum and fruit juices.) The first is the “not quite dead” created by voodoo
magic. This one has a practical social application. A family or community
decides a certain individual is an annoying pain in the rear. They hire a bokur, a voodoo priest specializing
in black magic. The bokur uses spells, incantations and a liberal dose of coup
padre, a powder made from the poison, tetrodoxin. It slows heart rate,
respiration, and drops body temperature. Thinking the victim perished, the body
is buried and then later removed by the bokur. The new zombie is in an addled
state with memory erased and transformed into a mindless drone. All in all, an
efficient method for removing undesirables from society and a win-win for both
the community and the bokur. An annoying pain in the rear is gone and the bokur
receives a docile servant. This type of zombie doesn’t consume flesh and is
relatively harmless. He might even be happier. Leave him be.
The second type of zombie is a strictly Hollywood creation
from screenwriters in La La Land. Patient Zero is infected by either a natural
or manmade entity. Death is the result, but the corpse is reanimated by a
mysterious biological process and develops an insatiable craving for human
flesh. One bite from a zombie spreads the infection and chaos reigns. Although
fictional, some folks take the threat of the zombie apocalypse seriously, like
the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. The CDC is tasked with investigating
dangerous pathogens and their scientists are apparently endowed with a cheeky
sense of humor. People don’t like to think ahead and prepare for emergencies.
The CDC realized the steps to slow the spread of a dangerous viral outbreak
would be the same as needed to combat a zombie apocalypse, and people might pay
more attention to the latter. Official zombie apocalypse guidelines are now
posted on the CDC website. They include such things as items to keep in an
emergency kit and how to make a disaster plan. The site went over like
gangbusters and crashed the day it went live.
L. A. Kelley writes scify and fantasy adventures with humor,
romance, and a touch of sass. You can find links to her book on L. A. Kelley’s Amazon Author Page. Her zombie killing name is The Big Freak.
