ZOMBIES

Zombie (zäm-bē) - Though "zombie" is now used as a general term for a person (or animal) that has reanimated after death, the term "zombie" has a specific meaning in the world of Vodou, Vodun, and Voodoo. The word "zombie" comes from the Louisiana or Haitian Creole term "zonbi" (zän•bē), which refers to a person who died and was reanimated by supernatural means, and moves about under the control of a bokor (a priest-sorcerer). This term "zonbi" is likely related to the word for "spirit" or "ghost" among certain languages of the Bantoid language subfamily of Africa - for example the Kimbundu word "nzúmbe" (nzüm•bā) "ghost," or the Kikongo word "nzambi" (nzȯm•bē) "spirit of a dead person."

In 1982, Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis (then a graduate student at Harvard) traveled to Haiti to investigate the claims of "zombification" - turning someone into a zombie by pharmacological means. In his work among Haitian Vodou priest-sorcerers, Davis discovered that a powder called "coup de poudre" ("strike of powder") - when introduced into the blood stream (through an open wound, etc.) - produces a death-like state for several days, though the poisoned person remains conscious and aware during this period. Further analysis of samples of these powders revealed a common pharmacological agent - tetrodotoxin. Tetrodotoxin (te•trō•də•ˈtäk•sən) is a strong neurotoxin (which generates paralysis) found naturally in the tissues of several animals; in the case of coup de poudre, it appears to have come from local species of pufferfish. Days later, the victim is claimed in the cemetery, buried in a coffin. The victim is then exposed to a second compound, composed of datura - this compound revives the victim from the tetrodotoxin paralysis and can generate amnesia and dissociation, putting the "zombified" person into a controllable stupor.

Davis's work also focussed on a case study of zombification, a Haitian man by the name of Clarivius Narcisse. Narcisse had been poisoned and presumed dead on May 2, 1962. He was recovered from his burial, drugged with a datura-based compound, and was made to work as a slave (among other zombies) on a sugar plantation. The bokor who controlled him died two years later, and Narcisse had eventually recovered (most of) his faculties and rejoined his family.

According to How Stuff Works: "Article 246 of the Haitian Penal Code classifies the administration of a substance that creates a prolonged period of lethargy, without causing death, as attempted murder. If the substance causes the appearance of death and results in the burial of the victim, the act is classified as murder." This is anti-zombification legislation.

Resources:
• Wade Davis, "The Serpent and the Rainbow".

• Wikipedia pages on Clairvius Narcisse and zombies.

• The How Stuff Works page on zombification.

• Max Brooks, "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" a brilliant fiction work about a zombie pandemic.