Imagine waking up buried alive beneath the Earth, or listening to your family weep over your dead body, knowing you’re still alive.
These aren’t examples of stories from movies or books. These are things that have happened on more than one occasion in real life.
Yes, zombies are real. Technically, if you watch iZombie or other zombie lore like that, their zombies are very much like the real deal—slow heart rate that is nearly undetectable. Granted, a real zombie isn’t going to have glimpses of people’s memories or inherit personality traits after eating said person's brain, or gain any of the cool zombie strength or speed, but what’s happening physically to real zombies is similar. It’s just a matter of the slowing down the vitals enough for it to appear as though one is dead.
Luckily, the real zombies (technically zombis) don’t want to eat your brain or flesh. Recently, I was reading the book The Serpent and the Rainbow again, and it got me thinking: “What would you do if you woke up as one of the undead that walks the Earth?”
In the book, Wade Davis traveled to Haiti to investigate two cases of zombis and try to figure out what was used in the zombification process. This, of course, was the basis for the film of the same name by Wes Craven, who many of you already know I love (if you missed it, you can read that newsletter here).
Being buried alive sounds absolutely horrible to me. I can’t handle how claustrophobic an MRI is, so I can’t even imagine how terrifying it would be in a coffin underground. Boy, would I hope to wake up above ground instead.
I guess the one good thing is you would be highly motivated to claw your way out. But as you were doing that, your already confined space would fill with the earth as you are digging your way out.
Yet, these zombis did just that.
Things went from the frying pan into the fire in their case. They finally broke free, only to be beaten and bound before becoming a slave to their new master.
Wade Davis didn’t claim that they were zombis forever; no, in reality it’s more of a two-step process. First, “kill them” with the zombi powder. Then, “bring them back to life” and drug them to keep them under your control.
I love reading this book. It’s so fascinating to hear about the rich Haitian culture and the various amazing things in nature that can cause the whole zombification process to happen.
So what would I do if this happened to me? I’m pretty darn sure that I’d panic and freak the heck out. Plain and simple. I certainly would try to escape, so I’m sure digging my way out would be a part of my whole rush of horror smacking me in the face.
Now I pose the question to you: “What would you do if you woke up as one of the undead that walks the Earth?”
Until next time, happy digging!
Joe