The Famous Zombie

The Zombie is a classic mythical creature that almost everyone knows about. Zombies go by different names such as walkers, biters, ghouls, etc. Throughout media and fiction there have been several different types of zombies, too many to count but most of them have a couple things in common; They are “undead” or have been brought back to life after death and they eat human flesh, some zombies will eat animals as well. Most zombies don’t have free will, whether that be from someone else or the intense desire for human flesh and violence.

The first civilization to fear zombies may have been the ancient Greeks, as when archeologists have discovered graves from that time the person’s dead body was weighed down by rocks and other heavy objects as if they were trying to prevent the dead body from getting back up and out of the grave. This isn’t a proven fact as there could have been other reasons, this is just speculation. 

Zombie folklore originated in Haiti in the 17^th Century when slaves from Africa were being transported there to work on the sugar plantations. The Zombie myth is said to be a projection of the trauma slaves went through in Haiti. After the Haitian Revolution the zombie lore went into Haiti’s mythology and was then brought into the Voodoo or Vodou religion. 

There is a process called ‘zombification’ in which a Bokor, a Haitian voodoo sorcerer, performs this process that gives them the power to create and control their homemade zombies. Bokors do have different methods of completing the zombification process, some involve the person’s hair and blood along with a voodoo doll, while others use a mixture called “coup de poudre” which means powder strike. It is made from herbs, human and animal parts, and then the bokors either get the victim to ingest, inject, or they may even use a blow dart. This mixture is considered a poison as once it is in the victim’s system it will make them immobile, breathless, and their heartbeat will slow down until it is barely perceivable. This makes them appear dead, with the victim still alive and aware of everything but can’t do anything. Once the body is buried, the Bokor then goes to the grave to dig up the body within an eight-hour time period. After this the Bokor performs a voodoo rite where the Bokor captures the person’s “ti bon ange,” the part of the soul that is connected to the person, there are more methods to this but they all produce two zombie types, the spirit zombie, the ti bon ange, and the zombi cadaver also known as the zombie corpse. The Bokor traps the spirit zombie in a container wrapped in a personal item of the victim.

Now that the control device is ready after a couple of days the Bokor gives the victim another mixture called the “zombi’s cucumber” that revives the corpse and puts the victim into the “zombie state” where the victim can’t speak, has no memory and has no recollection of their old personality. This allows the Bokor to easily control their zombies to do their bidding. Once the Bokor dies the zombie will be free and able to go back home or to their place of burial.

If zombies were to somehow be real like in the media, majority of the time you should go for the head when you kill one, of course this also depends on the type of zombie since different types have different weaknesses but your best bet is going for the head and they will be dead and sometimes it is just better to run away.  

Now I could never list all of the media that involve zombies as there are way too many but some of the most notable include; The Walking Dead Universe, World War Z, the Dying Light series, the Dead Island series, the Resident Evil series, I am Legend, Thriller the music video, and more.

Even if you don’t necessarily care for zombies you can still enjoy zombie media since shows like The Walking Dead include non-zombie related themes too, such as drama and character development. In literature and stories zombies are used to symbolize life and death, and the overall fear of death, among other meanings.