According to Javier Ortega, editor-in-chief of Ghost Theory, on May 21, 2011, he was surprised to learn that the CDC is Prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse. Ghost Theory’s mission is to document paranormal cases, try to find logical and scientific answers to these and write about updated news and reports with interviews and analyses from a skeptic’s stance.
What the CDC Suggests
Tamara L. Morris, certified as a Community Emergency Response Team member, wrote that the CDC recommends preparing for all disasters, including zombies. There are natural and manmade disasters. Now the CDC has included carnivorous zombies in its list of disasters to prepare for. Preparing for any catastrophes requires the same basic items: nonperishable food, first aid supplies, one gallon of water a day per person, medications, portable radios, flashlights, batteries, hygiene products, clothing and blankets and important documents.
What the CDC Would do During a Zombie Epidemic
According to an emergency CDC zombies blog, written by Assistant Surgeon General Ali S. Khan MD, if zombies appeared, the CDC would do an investigation similar to other disease outbreaks. The agency would provide technical assistance to the US and international partners. This could include consultation, lab analysis, patient care, tracing contacts and infection control. An investigation might include determining the cause of the illness, source of the infection: virus or toxin, discovering how it’s transmitted and how quickly it spreads, ways of preventing further cases and the best treatment for those infected. The CDC and other federal agencies would send medical teams and first responders to help people in affected sites.
According to an article, “Are you Ready for a Zombie Apocalypse?”, the threat of a zombie disaster is a glib campaign to convince people to be prepared for emergencies. Dr. Kahn’s bio, on CDC Khan, states his career focuses on emerging infectious diseases, bioterrorism and global health.
Fictional Zombies
Probably, the most well-known work of zombie fiction is the 1968 classic horror film, Night of the Living Dead, set in Pennsylvania. According to Kahn, Harvard psychiatrist Steven Schoolman wrote a fictional medical paper about zombies for use in the movie. The disease is referred to as Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome caused by an infectious agent.
Zombies: Facts
Both Zombie Awareness, featured on True TV Crime Library, and Zombies Really Exist in Haiti: These Creatures Aren’t the Living Dead Featured in Horror Movies state facts about zombies. Zombies and those recovered from the state were interviewed. Victims lapse into a deep coma after ingesting a potion and, since vital signs aren’t found, are declared dead. Although they were aware of their surroundings, victims were paralyzed and couldn’t speak.
There’s a case of post zombie traumatic stress in which actor Woody Harrelson, of Cheers fame, claims he suffered from. He had finished filming Zombieland in 2009. A photographer followed Harrelson and his daughter in a terminal of LaGuardia Airport. It was alleged the actor seized the man’s camera and struck or pushed him in the face. Port Authority Police investigated. Harrelson, through a publicist, pled post zombie traumatic stress, claiming that his filming of the Zombieland made him think the photographer was an attacking zombie. No criminal charges were filed.
Zombie Belief
The concept is rooted in Vooduon, Voodoo, Hoodoo: Vooduon, a Syncretic Religion, a blend of Catholicism and the Yorba religion that was developed by African slaves. Practicing the Yorba religion meant punishment, including death, to slaves. African gods and goddesses were worshipped as saints of the Catholic religion. Deities are called loas. High priests are houngans; priestesses, mambos. Bokors are sorcerers who practice black magic.
Zombie Recipe
Bokors create a highly toxic mixture. Dumbcane is added because it injures the larynx, making breathing difficult and speech impossible. The poison is blended into food or placed over an open wound so it gets absorbed into the victim’s bloodstream. Victims are buried before being “resurrected” by bokors who force-feed them a mixture of sweet potatoes, sugar cane and Datura stramonium, zombie’s cucumber. The mixture creates disorientation and hallucinations. Bokors give zombies new names and new lives. Confused victims follow and totally obey bokors and his or her new masters.
Zombies and the Puffer Fish
Distinguished Harvard ethno-botanist Wade Davis PhD went to Haiti to research zombies in 1982. He interviewed Clairvius Narcisse, a man, and Ti Femme, a woman, who claimed they were zombies. Both told him how they died, witnessed their funerals and how a bokor “resurrected” them. Davis spent months doing research, including interviewing hougans, to confirm his suspicions that some form of drug was involved in creating zombies.
He collected samples, observed their preparation and took them to the US for analysis. Davis' most significant finding was that all zombie powders had a common ingredient: puffer fish. The fish are most notorious as the potentially deadly Japanese delicacy, fugu. Its poison is tetrodotoxin, hundreds of times more toxic than cyanide. The symptoms of puffer fish poisoning are similar to those described by Narcisse: paralysis followed by coma and death.
Davis' critics state no DNA analysis was performed linking zombies and the puffer fish
and that the amount of tetrodotoxin obtained from the zombie powders Davis collected was unlikely to be enough to create the toxic symptoms Davis hypothesized. The medical basis of zombies is still debated.
Zombies Today
Traditionally, zombies worked in fields at night. Some Haitians believed to be zombies lead normal daily lives having families and jobs. Zombies are docile; however, there are a few exceptions.
Papa Doc Duvalier, former Haitian dictator, had a private army of alleged zombified tonton macoutes who obeyed all commands. He had his own Vooduon church with many followers. According to Haitian Penal Code, Article 249, zombification is illegal. It’s considered a form of attempted homicide when a person is given substances to induce a coma; it becomes murder is when the person is buried, whether or not she or he dies.
Could flesh eating zombies actually exist sometime in the future or is this a creative ploy to convince people to be prepared for emergencies? Only time will tell.
Sources:
- Ali S. Kahn, Emergency CDC Zombies Blog, CDC Public Health Matters Blog.
- CDC Online Newsroom Staff, CDC Khan, CDC Government Media.
- Douglas and Pat Williams, The Supernatural, Aldus Books, 1965.
- Javier Ortega, CDC is Prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse, Ghost Theory.
- Javier Ortega, GhostTheory, Ghost Theory.
- Jim Haskins, Voodoo & Hoodoo, Scarborough House, 1990.
- Julian Franklyn, Death by Enchantment, Sphere Books Ltd., 1971.
- Katrina Schaefer, Are you Ready for a Zombie Apocalypse, abc15.com.
- Photo Gallery Staff, Zombie Awareness, Tru TV Crime Library.
- Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Facts on File, Inc., 1992.
- Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, Checkmark Books, 1993.
- Tamara L. Morris CDC_Recommends_Preparing_for_All_Disasters_Including Zombies news.yahoo.com.
Jill Stefko - I'd rather deal with the paranormal than human abnormal - having dealt extensively with both.
