Raye's History House

Zombies are fun. Or horrifying, depending on whether you’re dressing up as one for Halloween or if one is coming after you.

Where Does Zombie Folklore Come From?

The oldest form of zombie folklore that we know dates back to 17th century slaves who were brought to Haiti. In fact, the oldest instance of the word zombie used in English was in the 1800s and spelled ‘zonbi.’ The word came from people who spoke Haitian Creole and probably originated from the Kimbundu (spoken in western Angola) word ‘nzúmbe,’ which means ‘ghost.’

The zombie myth grew in the New World largely because of slavery. Death was seen as the only way to escape bondage and return to Africa, but for many slaves, the idea of turning into a zombie stopped them from taking their own life. (Horribly depressing stuff, I know).

Throughout the 18th and 19th century and into the 20th in the United States, zombies were heavily associated with black people and, for black people, zombies were linked to slavery.

Zombies for centuries in the New World signified the fears associated with slavery. In the words of Zora Neale Hurston when she visited Haiti in 1937, zombies “can take orders, and they’re supposed to never be tired, and to do what the master says”. Zombies were what the masters were trying to turn slaves into: mindless creatures that did anything they were told.

So, Has There Ever Actually Been a Zombie?

Now that we know what zombies actually are, they don’t seem so fun anymore. (History has a tendency to be much worse than you expected it to be). But, since we now have an understanding of real life zombies, has there ever been any?

The answer, as you probably expected, is not a determinate yes or no (especially if you have a lax idea of what a zombie is and an open mind). There have been several stories throughout the years of real life zombies, but the facts are muddy.

The most famous stories come from a 1997 article in the British medical journal The Lancet. One of these stories claims that a Haitian woman who appeared dead and was buried in the family tomb reappeared three years later. After an investigation, the tomb was found to be filled with stones. The woman’s parents took her to the hospital, and she wasn’t heard from again.

The second story from the same article was about a Haitian man named Clairvius Narcisse who was declared dead in a hospital and buried in Haiti in 1962. Narcisse showed up in his village 18 years later and claimed that he had been buried alive, dug up, and forced to work on a sugar plantation.

Stories of reanimation also show up in the Bible, such as in the Book of Ezekiel. This story describes a pile of bones that began to shake and then became covered with muscle and flesh, turning into a person who seemed alive but wasn’t really.

There’s also the case of Cotard’s syndrome, which some people have pointed to as instances of real-life zombies. People with Cotard’s syndrome believe that they are dead or in a state of decay. One example of a person with this syndrome was a 53-year-old woman who thought she was dead, said she smelled like rotting flesh and asked to be taken to the morgue.

Most present-day instances of zombie claims come from Haiti, where a voodoo practitioner, called a Bokor, is said to revive people and turn them into zombies. Bokors sometimes achieve this effect by giving people tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin found in pufferfish. People who take tetrodotoxin have difficulty walking, confusion, and respiratory problems, making them look like a zombie. The problem is that tetrodotoxin is dangerous and can lead to brain damage, paralysis, and coma.

Zombies in Nature

Although you’ll be hard pressed to find a person who has become a zombie, certain plants and animals have been shown to become something akin to a zombie.

For example, the genus of fungi Ophiocordyceps infects certain insects and takes control of their minds. The most well-studied of these fungi is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis which infects, controls, and eventually kills carpenter ants in North America. The fungus forces the ants to climb to a high elevation so the fungus can release its spores to a wide area.

Or, there was the 2018 discovery in the Ecuadorian Amazon where researchers discovered that Zatypota persontatoria wasps could infect and control Anelosimus eximius spiders. The wasp lays its eggs on the spiders abdomen and when the larvae hatch, they can control its body.

Similarly, in 2014, UK researchers discovered a bacteria that could infect plants and force them to grow leaf-like extensions instead of flowers. The leaves attract more insects which helps spread the virus.

So, are zombies real? Eh, maybe.

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