by Chrystina Trulove-Reyes

Created on: August 26, 2008

Zombies. A lot of people have heard of them, though there are at least two images that pop into peoples heads. The first is of the old-time creature, who with single-minded determination raised its arms in front of it and shuffled toward cowering and hapless humans. The second type of zombie is one that has jerky movements but is actually very quick and apparently can think.

But where did Hollywood get their idea for a zombie? Zombies have historical and mythological roots in the religion commonly called, Voodoo'. Voodoo originated in Africa and was brought to America with the slaves several centuries ago. However, the voodoo that most people think of now actually stems from Haiti, where Voodoo was given a makeover'.

Zombies still managed to escape our attention until a book called The Magic Island by William B. Seabrook, hit the market in 1929. In the book Mr. Seabrook describes his experiences in Haiti, which included encounters with the un-dead. He also states that a person called a bokor' (a Voodoo Sorcerer) would either cast a spell or give a potion to the person who would then die, only to reawaken as the bokor's slave.

Who would be willing to do such a thing? Well, people often sold members of their family to the bokor in order to repay a debt, or as revenge. The newly created zombies would then be used as slave labor. Because of this, it was commonly believed that if a family prospered, it was because they had, at their command, a small army of un-dead.

Two Cases.

Clairvius Narcisse was said to have been poisoned by his brother, with whom he had quarreled with over the arrangement of lands. After his death and burial in 1962, a bokor recovered his body and gave him a paste made from datura, then made the newly created zombie work for him until the bokor's death two years later. Without the regular dosages of datura paste, Clairvius regained his sanity and returned home, unlike many of his fellows, who had suffered brain damage from a mixture of the dosages and being buried too long before being recovered.

The second case involves an elderly woman who appeared in a village dressed in torn and dirty rags. One family recognized her as a sister that they had buried thirty years before. Questions were asked but she seemed incapable of revealing any significant information. In the end, the doctors claimed that she had several mental disorders which were the cause of her apparent state.

Conclusion

In the end, yes, zombies are real. Zombies have been proven to exist by documentaries, witness accounts, and even science itself. Zombies are created either from a mixture of highly toxic and hallucinogenic drugs introduced into the susceptible human body, or from the state of a person's mind. Are there zombies, such as the ones described in the book, The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, or the Hollywood version of a zombie? It is very improbable, but not impossible.

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