Between 28 Days Later, Zombieland, and The Walking Dead and its many spin-offs, it might seem like zombies are purely fictional. However, many are now wondering…could zombies be real? Well, let’s find out!
Where It All Started
Of course, the Walking Dead was far from the first time zombies have hit the mainstream. No, the history of this particular breed of undead dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries in Haiti when slaves were transported from Africa to Saint-Dominque. As slaves died, many believed that their souls would travel back to Africa. Soon, these beliefs gave rise to a new religion, when it mixed with the colonizers’ Catholicism: voodoo. Specifically, “zombie” came from the Kongo word “nzambi,” meaning “spirit of a dead person.”
Eventually, voodoo came into more focus, and the zombie of modern legend was born. In 1932, zombies graced the silver screen for the first time in White Zombie. However, it wasn’t until 1968, when the drive-in smash Night of the Living Dead debuted, that zombies really took over the world. And we haven’t looked back since!
However, could zombies ever come for us in real life?
Zombies Could Be Real…Sorta
So, could zombies rise from graves on earth? Well, while dead beings cannot come back to life, at least not the way they do on the Walking Dead, humans can lose control over their bodies. Peter Cummings, a neuropathologist at Boston University and an advisor to the Zombie Research Society, says that some diseases and syndromes can cause one to act like a zombie.
For example, there’s a Klüver–Bucy syndrome. “That has a whole bunch of weird stuff,” Cummings said. “There’s hyperorality [the desire to put inappropriate objects in your mouth], the inability to recognize objects, distractibility, and dementia … in their catatonic state, they can become quite violent.” Lethargica is another disease that can make people hallucinate, catch a stupor, and even become catatonic. In case even the smallest touch, they could go crazy. “Now, doesn’t that sound like a zombie?” said Cummings.
But the ideas of zombies must come from somewhere, right? Well, historians and scientists have a pretty good idea of the underlying notion behind zombies and our fascination with them.
Metaphor For Human Culture
Most experts agree that the reason so many love zombie shows and movies are that they help us deal with not only death, but other human issues as well.
“At the root of the zombie culture and the ubiquity of zombies across all forms of entertainment right now — from movies to TV shows, novels, and video games — is the fact that the zombie is a very adaptable metaphor for so many cultural fears and pressure points,” stated Barna Donovan, professor of communication and media studies at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey. “When we look at how zombie films have been made as early as the 1930s, we can see zombies readily reflecting the most unnerving fears of American society at any given time.”
Sources: Global News, Living101