The Evolving ZombieAnd 21st Century Developments

The Unsuspecting Masses

Are Generally Unaware of the…

Recorded Zombie Attacks Through History

Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

What Would a Zombie Attack Look Like?

No one can say for certain what an apocalypse of zombies or a zombie attack would look like.

Nonetheless, the accounts in Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide leave one reaching for more:

1073 A.D. JERUSALEM

“An unknown source caused an outbreak of fifteen zombies in Jaffa, a city on the coast of Palestine.”

A man named Dr. Ibrahim Obeidallah restrained a victim, watched her die and reportedly reanimate (Obeidallah reportedly proved death occurred scientifically , yet ‘function’ persisted)

In 1099, Christian knights beheaded Obeidallah as a Satan worshipper.

Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max BrooksImage Source: Halfeatenzombies

Zombie Attacks ContinuePlease Don’t Tap the Glass!

Brooks Writes:

1281 A.D. CHINA

The Venetian explorer Marco Polo wrote in his journal that during one visit to the emperor’s summer palace of Xandu, Kublai Khan displayed a severed zombie head preserved in a jar of clear alcoholic fluid… The head, the Khan stated, had been taken by his grandfather, Genghis, when he returned from his conquests in the West. Polo wrote that the head was aware of their presence. It even watched them with nearly decomposed eyes. When he reached out to touch it, the head snapped at his fingers.

Marco!

Polo!

Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks”

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Zombie Attacks Continue…

The now legendary zombie that washed ashore on the northeast coast of the island, skinless and waterlogged, pursued onlookers until police arrived.

“Although curiosity kept them close,” writes Brooks, “the crowd continued to retreat from the approaching ghoul.”

Two rounds to the chest had no effect. After attacking a boy who came too close, the zombie was eventually killed by a civilian who shot the creature in the head.

Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max BrooksImage Source: welovethedark

A Contemporary Example:

2002 A.D., ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

Then What’s a Zombie?Well clearly it depends on who you ask and when:

At a time, they were voodoo.

Then at another, a fun zombie Halloween Costume or a solid horror flick.

According to the foremost Zombie research authority in the world,

Matt Mogk of the

Zombie Research Society, the modern zombie enters the room when knowledge is highest in virology, epidemiology and bacteriology. That’s now…And highest even among the average citizen.

It is the externalization and stark reality of the possibility of pandemic..

Image Source: “Zombie Crowd Control” by Josh Jensen

More From Matt Mogk

Simply put, science compels one to consider the possibilities and at once, admit the answer cannot be pinpointed.

In an age of endless biological advancement, the theory and questions linger.

What could cause such a pandemic?

”

“Anybody who tells you they know exactly what the coming zombie plague is going to look like is destined to be wrong. We don’t have a zombie we can put on a table and dissect… Anybody who says zombies are going to be dumb and slow or alive and fast; inevitably they’re going to be wrong.

Image Source: “Run ! zombies are on their way...” by Frédéric DUPONT from Yerres, France

Would it be…Bacterial?

Viral?

Or the Dreaded Variant

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD)?

(That’s Mad Cow in People – One bad protein)

Ask the ExpertsMatt Mogk talks prions:

We want to know as much as we can theoretically before it actually hap-pens…Virologists and epidemiologists [say] Mad Cow Disease is caused by…a prion…a mutated protein. So it’s not a virus… The symptoms of Mad Cow in people have been evolving over the past few years. And we don’t really know why the protein itself is evolving. ”

“

The Medical Community Knows Prions, Too

According to NewsMedical.net:

The mis-folded form of the prion protein has been implicated in a number of diseases in a variety of mammals, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as "mad cow disease") in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.

All known prion diseases affect the structure of the brain or other neural tissue, and all are currently untreatable and are always fatal. In general usage, prion refers to the theoretical unit of infection. ”

“

“

The End GameThere are new indications that [vCJD] can be transferred from blood to blood,” says Matt. “So this notion that if I have vCJD and go violently insane and attack…and bite you or scratch you…you will for sure get it, and you will attack people.

Whether proteomic, parasitic or viral, there are many shapes of behavior changing ‘biological glitches’ – take these poor critters at their word (next slide)

”

“

Parasites Lost

• Zombie snails – parasite creates pulsating tentacles to draw in a bird host.

• Zombie rats – parasite draws rats to cat smell, to draw in a cat host.

• Zombie ants – another behavioral control parasite

Check

these

Example

s

So, are Bath Salts our ‘Parasite’?

We’ve all heard about the terrible bath salts “zombie” incident:

• Though chilling and disturbing, cannibalism and chemically-induced insanity are not zombieism

WH

Y?

Simply Put…The modern Zombie is contagion…

Fortunately, insanity is not!

Image Source: Halfeatenzombies

To each his or her own…

But never forget the Zombie Research Society tagline:

Just Remember…

“What you don’t know can eat you”

Works Cited

Brooks, Max. The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the

Living Dead. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.Dupont, Frédéric. “Run ! zombies are on their way...“HalfeatenzombiesJensen, Josh. “Zombie Crowd Control” Mogk, Matt. Interview Aug. 24, 2012.NewsMedical.net, “What is a Prion?”welovethedark