Zombies

achilledmartini

:cool: Their is an actual disease called Solanium which turns you into a zombie, i read it in a book by Max Brooks. did anyone else read it? it tells you what weapons to use for a stratigic kill and what places are best for a hide out. :cool:

Sarky

*Pavlovian response kicks in*

Zombies? Yay!

...

Erm, that book is a pisstake, you do know that, right?

achilledmartini

ye. how do you know! :mad: bitch :mad:

Dagon

But I think the idea came from a movie, rather a real disease? Check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum

Sapien

Various practitioners of folk magick in African cultures have developed methods of zombifying victims, after a fashion. As a mental exercise I shall scribble down what I remember without googling, so forgive me if I'm wrong on the details.

In the voodoo religion, or Servi Loa, as it is properly called, there are black magickians called "Bokor Men", who are feared and shunned, whereas the more anodyne witch doctors are respected and sought after. One practice for which they are famous is the raising of zombies, and the transforming of innocents into undead slaves. The method they use is to blow a special powder on the victim, who then becomes sick, and eventually dies. The Bokor man will then find the grave of his victim, disinter the corpse and revive it. The resurrected victims have no memory of who they had been, and are forced into servitude by the nefarious magickian.

The dust used to achieve this effect is primarily composed of the dried, ground remains of a "Sea Toad", which is the local name for the puffer fish. As you may know, the puffer fish is a delicacy in many places, but must only be prepared by experts because, if a fish is cut incorrectly, poisonous glands are perforated and the resulting meal can be lethal. The chemical responsible for this danger is tetrotodoxin (sp?), which causes paralasis in small doses, death in larger doses.

It appears that the Servi Loan Bokor men happed across a method to harvest tetrotodoxin from the puffer fish. Any who inhale this powdered Sea Toad prepared to contain an exact concentration of the active chemical, fall into cataleptic shock - a dramatic slowing of vital functions, i.e. respiration and heartbeat - which is indistinguishable from death to an untrained eye or medically primitive society. The seemingly deceased victim is buried in a shallow grave, as is the custom in these places, where he or she remains in cataleptic stasis until being retrieved by the Bokor man. The Lazarus will most likely have suffered brain damage from the chemical, if not short term memory loss resulting from trauma (it is probably not unusual for the "corpses" to awaken still interred).

Hey presto! A functioning zombie slave. I remember reading scientifically substantiated reports of this having happened.

stevenmu

A discovery channel documentary I was watching earlier mentioned the same thing. They were discussing means of placing humans into suspended animation for long space voyages. They showed how combinations of tetrodotoxin (not sure of sp either) and cold tempreatures had been used to completely stop the brain and body functions of mice for several hours before they would be 'restored to life' in perfect condition. Without the cold temperatures, tissues, in particular brain tissue, would have begun to degrade over that time.

edit: I forgot to mention that of course the inspiration for this came from the stories of voodoo zombies Sapien relates above.

Jaden

If anyone ever needs this service, I am happy to kill Zombies on a contract basis. I have several years experience, and supply good rates.

Sapien

Likewise, I would be happy to try my hand at creating some - for a reasonable fee.

Exeunt Mortui ad me Veniunt!

Zillah

Jaden wrote:

If anyone ever needs this service, I am happy to kill Zombies on a contract basis. I have several years experience, and supply good rates.

GET AWAY FROM MY ZOMBIES!!!

Tar.Aldarion

Paint My Chicken Coop!

Zillah

Make me