Paranormal Life Sept 2014 | Page 6

It seems our undead friends have become rather popular over the last few years. Their rotting corpses plastered on t-shirts, wallets, and hats are a rather common sight of today. Some choose to watch movies and television shows of the undead while others spend their time playing video games. Zombie enthusiasts have even been planning for a so-called “zombie apocalypse” without any sign of one occurring in the near future or ever. Good news is your wait is oIt seems our undead friends have become rather popular over the last few years. Their rotting corpses plastered on t-shirts, wallets, and hats are a rather common sight of today. Some choose to watch movies and television shows of the undead while others spend their time playing video games. Zombie enthusiasts have even been planning for a so-called “zombie apocalypse” without any sign of one occurring in the near future or ever. Good news is your wait is over. There are zombies…but they’re not anything near what you would see in social media. And no, I’m not talking about teenagers so caught up with their cell phones that you could mistake them for zombies. I’m talking about people who died and came back to life thanks to the Caribbean religion of Voodoo (or Vodou).

That’s right. Zombies have actually been around for quite some time. There are very few though, and they don’t have an appetite for brains. They’re actually pretty harmless and in fact, are the victims of a simple combination: a Voodoo priest and the victim’s own personal beliefs. You see, around Haiti and the Caribbean, the belief in magic and Voodoo is very strong. When a priest punishes someone by giving them what some people now call “Zombie Powder,” it sends the victim’s body into a paralyzed coma-like state that fool local doctors into thinking that a person has passed when they’re actually still alive. The victim awakes later, sometimes with slower motor skills, under the impression that the voodoo priest now controls their actions. Many believe that priests use this concoction for slave labor. The only reason the victim may feel controlled is due to their strong belief in the religion. In actuality, the priest holds no real power over them.

The “Zombie Powder” is a mixture of a skin irritant, tetrodotoxin, and some other pretty nasty stuff including, but not limited to animals and human remains. The skin irritant makes the person itch and breaks the skin while the tetrodotoxin seeps into the blood stream and causes the person’s body to enter the aforementioned paralyzed, coma-like state. Why there are spiders and human remains - we aren’t sure…. possibly just to make it a little creepier?

So while you may be saddened by the fact that these zombies are harmless, don’t throw out the zombie apocalypse gear yet. You never know when a freak accident causing a zombie-virus outbreak might just occur ever. There are zombies…but they’re not anything near what you would see in social media. And no, I’m not talking about teenagers so caught up with their cell phones that you could mistake them for zombies. I’m talking about people who died and came back to life thanks to the Caribbean religion of Voodoo (or Vodou).

That’s right. Zombies have actually been around for quite some time. There are very few though, and they don’t have an appetite for brains. They’re actually pretty harmless and in fact, are the victims of a simple combination: a Voodoo priest and the victim’s own personal beliefs. You see, around Haiti and the Caribbean, the belief in magic and Voodoo is very strong. When a priest punishes someone by giving them what some people now call “Zombie Powder,” it sends the victim’s body into a paralyzed coma-like state that fool local doctors into thinking that a person has passed when they’re actually still alive.