Zombies. Mindless, soulless, flesh hungry decaying corpses brought back to life by a dark spell. Only a few people it seems, know that zombies originated roughly 3,000 years ago in the ancient world’s best selling book the epic of Gilgamesh (alongside the other ancient bestsellers like How to get rid of B.O or Where to find the Best acne treatment). But a lot is known about the supposed creators of zombies; AKA the walking dead, the Nzambi in West African culture, or more recently, the inferi, as popularized by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series; these walking dead are brought to life or reanimated by a dark wizard, a voodoo master, or in recent times, by a mutated virus (Resident Evil, I am Legend, etc).

Although strangely, they look like that resuurected mummy from The Mummy Returns

Zombies, were brought to the New World by West African slaves who believe the Nzambi’s were walking corpses brought to life by the use of voodoo. Today, zombies have evolved to become corpses of people infected with a rare strain of virus that infects the nervous system and uses the host body to attack and infect more people. Sort of like a super rabies virus.

In a recent Time magazine article, zombies were reported to be eclipsing vampires in popular culture. The article further states that there still seems to be some doubt as to why zombies are becoming popular when it’s clear that they leave a lot to be desired. Unlike vampires who are clean and meticulously groomed, zombies are rotten corpses (probably smell like rotting corpses too), and are quite frankly, dumb. They just shamble around looking for more flesh to feed on. But I think I know why they appeal to a lot of people.

I for one, am fond of zombies- fond of blasting them to bits that is (Thanks to Call of Duty’s Nazi Zombies). Let’s face it, we all are afraid of death. And the zombie is death personified. It’s like a living nightmare where your worst fears come true. But unlike vampires or werewolves both of whom possess god-like powers, zombies are vulnerable. One well placed shot on the nuggin’ and it’s as good as dead- really dead. When faced with our worst fears, we’d want to see ourselves as conquering it. Vanquishing it. And with the zombie, you could do just that. Blasting my way through waves upon waves of the undead gives me just the right amount of confidence I’d need to conquer my real life fears.

Ready, aim, BANG!

Related posts:

1. Peeves
2. Enchanted Kingdom- a reprise
3. Sabriel
4. Much ado over Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender
5. Albums
6. Seoul Speed Nation
7. Ask Me
8. Immortal pets
9. Nazi Zombies Update- FG42 still rocks!
10. Much ado over Fishville, Farmville, or whatever-ville