The zombie theme is now so popular that there is even a completely official International Zombie Day - October 8th.
Someone sincerely believes that we (that is, humanity) will arrange for ourselves a grandiose "self-cutting", if not even by unleashing a global nuclear war, then by dangerous experiments with viruses and human genes.
And someone just likes to tickle their nerves, sitting down in the evening in front of the monitor with a plate of sweets and watching how movie people and zombies recklessly engage in mutual “genocide”.
Zombies - this, apparently, is our subconscious irrational fear from the series "What will happen if the body is deprived of the soul and all its other functions are left?"
And actually, stories about the walking and aggressive dead people scare each other since the days of Ancient Sumer (and this, for a minute, 3500 years ago). Recall, for example, Tibetan rolanga, Indian vetals, Japanese busos, Scandinavian dragoons, etc.
But if at one time people were really afraid of these creatures to a nervous shiver, now zombies are just an element of pop culture.
What do we all know about them from movies and TV shows? That a zombie can only be killed by damaging his brain; that if a person was bitten by a zombie, then he, too, in a couple of hours will become a zombie; that in a matter of weeks 90% of people will become infected with a zombie virus; that this process is possibly reversible, etc.
And here are 10 real zombie facts:
10. Mary Shelley with her novel Frankenstein can be considered a pioneer in the literature on this subject.
As you know, in 1818, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein or Modern Prometheus was released in England, in which the scientist Victor Frankenstein (in an attempt to learn the secrets of living matter) creates something terrible from parts of different human bodies, but, nevertheless, living and even a primitive thinker is a creature.
That is, it turns out that Frankenstein’s monster was both dead and alive. What is not a zombie (albeit with a "stretch" in the form of any, but reason)?
By the way, even before the appearance of this literary work, some scientists actually conducted experiments on the revitalization of dead bodies (just at the junction of the XVIII and XIX centuries, the basic principles of the action of electricity were discovered).
So, a certain Giovanni Aldini (possibly a real prototype of Victor Frankenstein) on January 18, 1803 staged a public demonstration in London to “revive” the body of the executed murderer. Having connected a 120 volt battery to it, Aldini “forced” the corpse to twitch, open its eyes and make grimaces (some people in the hall fainted from this sight).
9. The phenomenon of zombies exists in wildlife
Quite often, by the word “zombies” we mean not only the walking dead, but also quite living people whom someone convinced (in words, through video or any other “non-physical” methods) to act only this way and not otherwise.
But, as it turns out, the very idea of controlling another being is not a human invention at all.
So, in nature, there is a parasite fungus cordyceps, capable of controlling its ant carrier. Cordyceps infects an unfortunate insect with spores and “makes” it rise to the nearest plant to a height of 30 cm. Here the ant attaches to the leaf, and the mushroom literally grows through it, using the body of the “host” as an incubator, and its chitinous shell as a defense . The ant naturally perishes.
By the way, sometimes ants "zombify" themselves as well. We all observed that they usually move one after another. So: if they accidentally close the chain in a circle, then they run "in round dance mode" until they are exhausted to death.
8. Voodoo cult practiced in the Caribbean today
Despite the fact that, as we have already said, legends of the walking dead existed in most countries of the world, the source of modern zombie horror stories is the Caribbean Islands (and most often the island of Haiti).
The Voodoo cult (with which, in fact, the term “zombie” is connected: translated from the Bantu language as “the soul of the dead”) is still practiced here. Imagine - the Haitian criminal code even contains a special article No. 249 prohibiting the conversion of people into zombies and equating this action with murder.
According to local legends, the Bokor sorcerers who possess black magic are able to resurrect the dead and turn them into wordless slaves. Most of the Caribbean population sincerely believe in this, and therefore try not to “upset” the bokors in any way, not wanting to become a “walking corpse” one day (because sorcerers are very “touchy”, and besides, they have a huge influence in these parts, and therefore, bringing them to any responsibility is very problematic).
7. For the first time, the term “zombie” was coined by William Seabrook
In 1929, the book of The New York Times by William Sibrook, The Island of Magic, was published, where he talked about his visit to Haiti. Describing the life and life of Haitians, Sibruk devoted a rather large chapter and cult to Voodoo, where he assured that he personally saw the process of "creating" the "walking dead", whom he called "zombies."
But, unlike the modern concept of zombies - aggressive and bloodthirsty creatures, Sibruk's “living corpses” even aroused sympathy: they were apathetic, weak-willed, deprived of memory, but understood the simplest commands and performed some meaningful actions.
Bokor sorcerers used them as free and meek labor, able to work on plantations and other hard work for years, seven days a week and almost without food.
By the way, the American soldiers who served in Haiti from 1915 to 1934 added to the “oil into the fire” of the rapid spread of horror stories about zombies. They also listened to stories of Voodoo black magic, and then retold them when they returned home. Since then, zombies have entered American popular culture.
6. There are officially recorded cases of zombies of people
Believing in zombies or not is everyone's personal business. But there are official documents that recorded very strange cases, indirectly proving that the phenomenon of "zombies" (whatever that may be explained) still takes place.
The most famous of these incidents happened to Clervius Narcissus. In 1962, he suddenly fell ill after a major quarrel with his brother, and died 3 days later. He was immediately buried (after all, in fact, the Caribbean climate does not contribute to the long "storage" of the dead).
And after 18 years, Clervius returned home ... His case is unique in that, unlike other zombies, he retained his memory (although he spoke and moved mechanically and monotonously).
The local psychiatrist Lamarck Douillon, wanting to expose the false Clairvius, questioned him (composing questions with the help of the sister of the “living dead” and his other relatives, who, incidentally, immediately and unconditionally recognized him).
But the "impostor" answered correctly, remembering to the smallest detail even his own funeral. Claervius said that all these years he worked on a sugar plantation and was able to leave only after the death of the bokor sorcerer, who turned him into a zombie (perhaps at the request of his brother Claurius).
In addition, there are documents on returning to their native lands 29 years after the "death" in 1907, Felicia Mentor (in a state of complete insanity and without memory), Nataghetti Joseph (6 years after the funeral in 1966), Francis Ilius ("deceased" "Three years ago - in 1979), etc. They say there were similar cases in the 1990s.
5. Perhaps zombies are "created" with the help of nerve agents
Naturally, any doctor will rightly say that the “walking dead” (from the point of view of science) is an impossible phenomenon. After the death of the brain, a person may be “technically” alive, but he certainly will not be able to walk (and even more so, work!).
How then to explain the above cases? This question was asked very seriously in 1982 by Dr. Wade Davis. He specially went to Haiti, where by hook or by crook (as well as flattery and packs of money) he managed to talk to several bokers and their close associates and even get "samples" of drugs that these sorcerers use in the ritual of "reviving" the dead.
As a result, the composition of all 8 funds brought by Davis turned out to be different (and several of them turned out to be useless dried grass). But the trip paid off: in most of the "useless" samples, tetrodotoxin was discovered - the strongest natural poison of a nerve-paralytic effect.
Knowing full well that the bokors were unlikely to just take their secrets and give them his secrets, Davis nevertheless suggested that by accurately measuring the necessary dose of the drug, the sorcerer is able to put a person into lethargy for about a day.
During this time, he will be buried, and then - a matter of technology: dig out the coffin and take a completely "finished" slave. But do not forget to constantly “feed” it with substances that suppress the will.
4. The first film about the Living Dead (The White Zombie) was released in 1932, but director J. Romero is considered the "father" of the zombie horror
After the publication of the book of William Sibrook and the appearance of many stories about zombies from American soldiers, cinema, of course, could not miss this "tidbit" (and, potentially, a very cash) topic.
And in 1932, the first film about the Walking Dead was released - The White Zombie, in which the plot was built just around the meek and dumb zombie workers in the Haitian sugar factory.
The budget of the picture was minimal - 50 thousand dollars, but at the box office he collected 8 million. “This is a real“ gold mine ”!” - the directors rejoiced. Cinema about zombies began to shoot a lot and often.
But this genre gained real success only in 1968, after the release of the first zombie horror from George Romero called "Night of the Living Dead". It was then that the audience and saw the "same" monsters obsessed with only one goal - to eat the living (that's why J. Romero is called the "father of zombies").
And then there were his own "Dawn of the Dead", "Diaries of the Dead", etc. To date, more than 500 films have been shot about zombies.
3. August 19, 2001 in Sacramento (California) the first "zombie parade"
Who are the most fanatical fans of the zombie genre? Naturally, these are young people. And where there is youth, there is a "movement". If I like to watch movies about The Walking Dead, why can't I look like them? At least sometimes. So there were the first zombie mobs, zombie walks and, finally, zombie parades.
Technically, the first zombie event took place back in 2000 in Milwaukee (USA) at the Gen Gon game festival, but there were only about 60 people there, and the idea itself came spontaneously.
But the first organized "zombie parade" actually took place in August 2001 in Sacramento. Since then, something similar has been happening everywhere (and in some places - every year).
The first zombie parade in Russia took place in Moscow Arbat in April 2009. Now they are in almost all the major cities of the country (and gradually become more “realistic”).
2. In 2003, Max Brooks developed a guide on how to survive a zombie virus epidemic.
Americans generally take the idea of a zombie apocalypse very seriously (some even build special bunkers for their family, equipped with the most necessary tools and stuffed with a considerable supply of provisions, with the goal of “staying” more or less comfortable there for at least the first weeks of the zombie epidemic) .
And so, in 2003, the writer Max Brooks took and wrote the most real (and very detailed!) Guide on how to behave if “day Z” still comes: what you need to have at hand, where to run, where to hide what weapons (as well as improvised means) can be used against zombies, and how to kill them for sure, what to move on, with whom to have (or not) deal in the process, so to speak, of survival, etc.
By the way, this book has long been translated into Russian. But, to be honest, from the point of view of the Russian reader, it is slightly primitive, and in some places and, hmm ... not entirely logical. Oh, but what about them (the Americans) to take ...
1. In the US there is a CONOP 8888 plan - instructing the Strategic Command in the event of a zombie apocalypse
Some scientists (especially, of course, Western ones) do not categorically reject the possibility of something like a zombie epidemic, because new viruses constantly appear on our planet (and old ones sometimes mutate very significantly). Moreover, people more than once already nearly “multiplied humanity by zero” by their own experiments.
What if one day the rabies virus (or even the banal flu) mutates so much that it makes people literally bite each other? Brrrr ... What a mess!
That's just in this case, the brave warriors from the United States and there is a special plan to localize the virus and protect the population. CONOP 8888 provides a step-by-step outline of what and how the US Army should do when Day Z arrives.
And, by the way, it also says that some countries (including Russia, and especially its “Trans-Ural” part - because of the low population) are quite safe in case of a zombie apocalypse. And this is great news, isn't it? Although ... But who are we afraid of at all, these zombies?