Apocalypse Zombies

Todd Jepperson

Well, well, well.   What would you get if you crossed rabies with influenza?  If you guessed rabid pigs, you might be right, but that’s beside the point.  If you guessed an airborne virus that causes people to go into a maniacal, homicidal rage that could be transferred by a bite, you think too much about this stuff.  Welcome to the Zombie Apocalypse! 

In one of my last posts, I made sure you knew the National Geographic Channel was airing a special called “The Truth behind Zombies” this past Saturday night.  Here’s a link to the post.  If you caught it, you were entertained by the world’s best and brightest Zombie experts as they broke down Haitian Zombie roots and todays modern monsters.             

Today, I was notified that Salem News  has posted an article to reassure us we could one day wake up to find out that Zombies aren’t just in our dreams anymore. Has anyone seen the movie 28 Days Later?  

           

“Max Mogk, head of the Zombie Research Society, is also interviewed in the National Geographic documentary. Mogk shares this cheery tidbit: "All rabies has to do is go airborne, and you have the rage virus."

           

So, unless anyone can correct my math: swine flu + rabies = zombies.  Make the jump and read about it for yourself.

National Geographic – The Truth Behind Zombies

Todd Jepperson

If you’ve still got a T.V. and electricity, you’ll want to tune it to National Geographic Channel Saturday night. Pull up a chair and listen as Max Brooks (author of the best-selling Zombie Survival Guide) and his team explore the Haitian Voodoo roots of Zombies, as they try to explain how they came to be and if they’re more Hollywood myth or reality. Also, meet some people who are apparently more prepared than the rest of us for when the restless dead take over. Grab a pen and paper, take notes, and be ready!

330 Year Old Text Shows Fear of Zombies

"Our Common People attempt to avert the danger of chewing by placing under the chins of the dead a portion of recently excavated earth, lest they perhaps open their mouths and chew on the attached bands. Others, who do not consider this a sufficiently safe measure, before the mouth of the dead is closed, also place a stone and a coin in the mouth, so that in the event that it begins to chew within the grave, it would find the stone and coin and would abstain from chewing."

That is an excerpt from an ancient manuscript written in 1679 by Philip Rohr. What this manuscript addresses is the fear of having the dead rise to feast upon the living. Sound familiar? Even 330 years ago we were preparing to combat the undead. De Masticatione Mortuorum which translates from Latin as "On the Chewing Dead" was recently featured on National Geographic. While they are mostly trying to make comparisons to vampires, you and I both know where the real threat lies.