Zombies: A Living History
Zombies: are they real? Every culture creates its own version of a zombie. There have been diseases in history that have mimicked behavior of a zombie virus. The plausibility is there. You would never be up against one zombie.you would be up against thousands or millions of zombies. How would you survive? There would have to be total destruction of the zombie spine. Death is mans ultimate fear. There is something more frightening when the dead come back to life and become our worst nightmare. Jonathan Mayberry (Author of Rot and Ruin and Dead of Night) says they are like insectsyou are surrounded on all sides. You cant outrun them, you cant kill them. Max Brooks (Author of World War Z) says that zombies come after the whole human race. Modern zombies come from a film made in 1968 by a as then unknown director George Romero (Night of the Living Dead). George Romero rewrote the book about zombies says Max Brooks. What started as a low budget horror movie became an international sensation. More than half of all zombie movies have been made since September 11, 2001. Romero did not invent the zombie. Its been around as long as man has walked the earth. The Epic of Gilgamesh was the first mention of zombies. Ishtar said I will raise up the dead and they will eat the living and the dead will outnumber the living. The word zombie means animated corpse which comes from the Haitian voodoo religion. In China the living dead are called Jiang Shi. The dead must be given a proper burial or they come back and torment the living <paraphrase>. Arabia 7th century called the Ghoul (had an immoral life). Female demon. In some of the oldest legends a Ghoul was a prostitute per Jonathan Mayberry. The name Ghoul became the name for a zombie in George Romeros Night of the Living Dead. Scandinavia 8th century called the Drauger. Norse mythology. It delights in what it is. England 12th century Revenant. Cleric William of Newberg documented zombies. He wrote One would not easily believe that corpses come out of their graves unless there were many cases supported by ample testimony. HOW TO FIGHT A ZOMBIE: : Katana, Machete 18th century, Mace, Crowbar, Battle Axe 11th century, Entrenching tool, Attack the Legs (hook and take off balance),Spear, Ice Scraper (20th Century), Head Shot, Karate moves . To understand zombies you have to begin at the end death. Corpses out in the open can pollute the water system, diseases, the body is broken down into over 400 different kinds of chemicals. The smell of death. Burials in locked and sealed coffins, tombs, underground, were our way of making sure the dead would not come back. In 2009 2 bodies were dug up by archaeologist and they had rocks in their mouths. Archaeologists speculated that they were buried this way to prevent them from dining on the living. The Greek invented a word for the dead rising Maschalismos which means to mutilate the body so it doesnt come back from the dead. The Chinese restrained the body. The Norse would take the dead body out of the house feet first so it wouldnt recognize where it had come from. We now bolt a coffin shut. A good death and a bad death. A bad death makes the spirit vengeful. The resurrection of Christ is symbolic of coming back from the dead in positive ways. Hes the anti-zombie. Zombies are always hungry. Cannibalism is a fear. Fear of being made into food. In Greek mythology the Titan God Chronos ate his son to prevent them from taking over. Chronos was the father of Zeus. Zeus killed Chronos. The Donner party (1846) is mentioned as an example of modern cannibalism. 48 settlers survived. In 1879 in Alberta Canada Swift Runner he had butchered his wife and 6 children. He said he was possessed by the Windego. Windego psychosis. 1991 Jeffrey Dahmer wanted complete power over the living and the dead. He would drill a hole in the victims head and fill it with acid. He tried to create a zombie. In Papua New Guinea ritualistic cannibalism occurs today. Mad Cow disease has symptoms of zombies. Zombies want to spread a virus. Night of the Living dead clips are shown. Plagues break down the bonds of society and destroy humanity. The Great Plague in Asia thru Europe in the 14th Century killed off a third of its population in 2 years known as the The Black Plague or Bubonic Plague. The Wrath of God. By the year 1400 the population fell by 100 million. In 1918 -1919 a more deadly plague struck..The Spanish Flu spread across the world killing nearly 50 million people in less than 3 years (H1N1 or Avian Flu.) End of the first World War people traveled more which spread the disease. In times of Pandemics denial can quickly turn into panic. In our time SARS, Mad Cow, West Nile Virus, H1N1. When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection at Carleton University in Canada the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all. - Human civilization would collapse. Throughout history there is a primal fear of a hoard (Rome 5th Century Visigoths). Mid 13th Century Mongol hoard stormed into Baghdad. WW II the hoard were the Nazis. Today Terrorists. No way to negotiate. Followed us home like zombies. In a lot of zombie fiction we see something we created something biological. Prometheus and Pandora myths are cautionary tales. Golum in Jewish mythology. In 1816 Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus) about our advancements in technology and when humans try to play God. Galvanization of the dead man tries to reanimate the body. 1968 was the height of the Cold War. Today biological weapons have become our Frankenstein. Anthrax attacks traced to a US biological weapons lab. Need survival skills. Fortify your home. Bugging In. Bugging Out is a last resort. Instructions on how to survive. In May of 2001 the CDC published an official memo on how to survive a zombie apocalypse. Zombies are the perfect 21st Century threat. Explanations of what would happen if a zombie apocalypse hit. Communication, Military Strategy, Global Response, Historic Lessons. Post apocalyptic societybasic needs. Need to form communities. The zombies are not the thing to fear, the thing to fear is what humans are capable of doing when they are afraid. THE END and GOOD LUCK.
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