ZOMBIES!!!!!!

In case you would like to learn more about zombies and their general appearance, mythology, history, origin, or how to be become one, please visit one of these sites, which are what I used as my sources for this blog post:

http://news.discovery.com/history/history-zombies-12-6-4.html
http://www.umich.edu/~engl415/zombies/zombie.html
www.flmnh.ufl.edu

enjoy!!! (please do not attempt zobification at home, thankyou :)


Zombies have been a major mythical aspect of many primitive cultures such as a in Haiti and sun Saharan Africa. The native people in these lands believe that zombies not only exist but are a threat to the non infected. However, the concept of a true "zombie" is quite different from what is portrayed in movies such as Zombieland. In Haiti its stems from Voodoo tradition and the belief in witch craft and the practice of black magic. 

In Haitian, the word "zombi" means spirit of the dead. According to Voodoo belief, a Bokor, or priest of black magic, has the ability to raise the diseased from the dead and inhabit their body in order to force them into slave labor. The Bokor is able to do this by making the victimized zombie take a special "magic" powder called coup padre. Tetrodoxin is the main ingredient in the power, which also happens to be a strong and deadly venom  found in the porcupine fish. If someone is bad, legends say that the family of the person will higher a bokor to "zombify" them. After ingesting the venom, the heart rate drops, breathing is suppressed and temperature falls significantly. People living with the victim then bury them, and their remains are then exhumed by the Bokor. The person's memory is erased byt he venom, but they remain physically alert. They then remain under the Bokor's power until the Boker dies.

A Harvard ethnobotanist named Wade Davis wrote a book on the scientific background of zombies after visiting Haiti, the book is The Serpent and the Rainbow. The book confirms that a strong nuerotoxin could be responsible for individuals becoming zombies.