ZOMBIES IN THE WOLD NEWTON

UNIVERSE 101

By Christofer Nigro

[With some invaluable editing assistance and research additions from Prof. Zahir Blue, Prof. Steven Pertwillaby, and Prof. Brand—many thanks, gentlemen!]

            The purpose of this essay is to provide a basic overview of the various categories and sub-categories that encompass the well-known form of monster known and feared throughout the world as the zombie. This is all based upon the research and observations of present MONSTAAH Director Michael “Mike” Nero in accordance with not only personal experience, but also extensive analysis of the numerous reports recorded in our database.

The undead entities known as zombies have been called by various alternate monikers throughout the many sources and folk tales, including the zuvembie, but the designation of “zombie” appears to have “stuck” the most in modern English-speaking societies. The disparate versions of zombies that have appeared in the many source accounts throughout human history make it evident that not all zombies originate from the same genesis. As such, this author has taken the step of identifying four broad categories of zombie, all of which have likely existed since the early days of recorded human history. Two of these categories are clearly of a supernatural origin, and the other two of scientific origins which are distinct enough from each other that it’s my tentative conjecture that they merit two different categorical placements. As is the case with different strains of vampires, different breeds of werewolves, different categories of golems, different species and sub-species of demons—and likely different categorical designations of other well-known monsters, such as ghouls and ghosts—that run rampant and demonstrate often conflicting characteristics in each of their many source accounts, the same taxonomical divisions can be attributed to the general monster type known as the zombie.

             The general broad definition of zombie shared by all categories and sub-categories is, of course, that of a reanimated human (and occasionally animal) corpse that remains functionally ambulatory to varying degrees.  Typically (but not always) the zombie exhibits a nearly mindless state with a minimal to negligible capacity for reason and complex thought. Nevertheless, they can show extreme single-mindedness in motivation and purpose. Typically this consists of either total subservience to the will of a living, demonic, or even extraterrestrial master; and/or an insatiable hunger for living human flesh and organs. The latter serves the purpose of prolonging their grotesque undead existence for varying lengths of time… anywhere from nearly indefinitely to several weeks or months.

As is the case with the other monster categories and phenotypes noted above, there can be variations within the categories and sub-categories that I will mention in this treatise. Since this is the case, please keep in mind that the essay you’re reading is just a general overview, and is in no way intended to be rigidly comprehensive or to provide the “last word” on the subject of defining what zombies are in the overall context of research that many both within and outside of MONSTAAH routinely conduct. To the contrary, it’s the hope of this author that this article will inspire further research and extrapolation from others in the field of monster scholarship in the future.  

Also keep in mind that the varied sources of creating zombies of the various types—whether those sources are mystical, pathogenic, chemical, cybernetic, or a combination thereof—can be further tweaked and modified to create yet more sub-categories of zombies. This can occur either by chance due to the unexpected intrusion of extraneous phenomena; or direct intervention by humans and/or other sentient beings of sufficient mystical and/or scientific means and intent. The behavior and attributes of such new sub-categories can be quite unpredictable, and deviate in unexpected ways from the established, general categories. Needless to say, we must always expect to see such new sub-categories—or maybe even entirely new general categories—appear on the scene in the future.

Moreover, zombie categories created within various alternate universes may have some distinct characteristics not shared by those in the universe of which this article is mostly concerned. Our ‘home’ universe, of course, is often referred to by those of us who study at Wold Newton University as the “Wold Newton Universe” [WNU] for convenient brand label purposes (with our esteemed institution of learning taking its name from a major, game-changing event in our history that occurred circa 1795 in the small town of Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England).

                                            Category 1.A:  Vodoun Zombies

            The first of the two mystical categories of zombies that recur throughout many disparate WNU sources are those of human corpses that are deliberately reanimated by lower members of the Vodoun pantheon of deities, which are collectively referred to as the Loa. More commonly known by its often misunderstood English transliteration of voodoo, this is a religion with a magickal system connected to it that has its origins in the Western regions of the African continent. The scope of its practice eventually made its way deep into the culture of the island nation of Haiti, and from there made its way via transfer of chattel slaves to the Americas during the pre-Civil War era. Upon its arrival in America, the practice of Vodoun ultimately concentrated heavily in the  the city and surrounding environs (include the bayous) of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Vodoun—or voodoo—religion is often mistakenly portrayed as being the center point for a system of magick used for distinctly evil purposes, with the Loa erroneously described as demonic entities rather than disembodied non-human spiritual entities with a divine origin that are basically neutral in nature. These neutral lower deities simply do what the human houngans and mambos (i.e., voodoo priests and priestesses, respectively) summon and command them to do—which, as per the concerns of this research essay, is to possess and reanimate human corpses to perform various tasks in accordance with the will of the human priest/priestess, whatever that purpose may be. 

            These purposes take a variety of both practical and sinister forms. Some of these tasks include having the usually super-strong and mindless walking corpses perform acts of tireless manual labor; to serve as formidable body guards or even common servants; to propitiate ghastly necrophiliac functions; or to serve as personal assassins or “muscle.” Like all zombie categories, Vodoun Zombies are literally dead, and as such, these walking corpses cannot ordinarily experience pain or be “killed” by conventional means such as gunfire, stabbings, temperature extremes, electrocution, poisoning, asphyxiation, or force of impact; in fact, they tend to more or less ignore such phenomena when they encounter them. Since their outer shell is fully corporeal, however, they can be burned by fire or dissolved by particularly corrosive chemicals, and can be consumed so completely by either that they cannot recover. Moreover, they can be blasted to pieces by explosives of sufficient force to the point where they permanently lose their functionality. In such cases, the controlling Loa will leave the now destroyed-beyond-recovery corporeal human shells and return to their rightful otherdimensional realm of existence.

These supernatural zombies have demonstrated the capacity for their necrotic flesh and organs to rapidly heal from attacks such as gunfire, stabbings, and moderate burning. This ‘healing factor’ is a component of their mystical nature—likely guided by the animating Loa spirit—though they have not demonstrated the ability to actually re-grow severed limbs or other body parts in any of the recorded accounts in our database. Nevertheless, it has been conjectured by other researchers that if, for example, a severed arm of a zombie was pressed to the stump of the entity, it could be expected to reattach within moments. This animating Loa spirit is also likely to be the source of the superhuman strength, nearly rivaling that of a typical vampire of most known bloodlines, which Vodoun Zombies routinely display. Nevertheless, a comparable level of speed and agility are not in evidence for this zombie category. The latter limitation is probably more due to their mindless nature than anything else, since the small number of Vodoun Zombies who retained their full human spirit and intelligence could often move and display speed and agility that was at least as great as that which they possessed while a living human, and sometimes even greater (see below for a description of this particular sub-category of Vodoun Zombie).

            These zombies do not demonstrate the voracious lust for consuming human flesh characteristic of the scientifically created zombies (see below). However, they do need to periodically consume a proportion of flesh taken from any living or freshly killed animal—including humans, if available—in order to prevent their undead form from decaying to the point where it is no longer mobile and useful as a functioning vessel for the Loa spirit. In such cases, these zombies will feed upon any freshly killed or live subject that is within convenient reach when the intermittent hunger (generally about once per week) afflicts them. Their choice of meal will include any living human, animal, or even corporeal demonic opponent they may have contact with at the time.

            As is typically the case, these zombies are effectively mindless, with no will of their own, blindly following the verbal (and occasionally telepathic) directives of their master, which is often the houngan or mambo that created them. In some cases, specially prepared amulets are created by skilled practitioners of the voodoo style of sympathetic magick so that anyone who wields such talismans can verbally control the zombie who is mystically linked to it via an identical second amulet worn by the undead creature. 

            Due to their connection to magick, there are various mystical means of both obstructing the activities of, and permanently destroying, Vodoun Zombies. One of them is the use of various rituals by magicians of sufficient skill that are designed to banish the animating Loa spirit from the cadaverous host. There are other forms of sympathetic magick that are effective against these zombies too, including the slaying of any practitioner of voodoo magick who are directly using necromantic energies to animate groups of such zombies at once. Other methods of effectively and reliably dispatching individual Vodoun Zombies include the placing of a certain amount of salt in their mouths while they are in a sombulatory state and sewing their lips closed. As salt is well known as a powerful suppressor of negative magickal forces, such a procedure will prevent that zombie from rising again, leaving it easy to be more permanently disposed of via incineration, acidic dissolving, or radical dismemberment.

            The preparatory rituals for creating such zombies so they will not have to be fed a constant amount of necromantic energies by the houngan are rather complex, and have been described in a diversity of ways depending upon the source material. This suggests that they’re may be reliable variants on what substances and methods are used. This, in turn, may depend upon the personal knowledge, experience, and preferences of the individual creator of zombies.

            It should be briefly noted here that it’s this author’s theory, according to a detailed analysis of the many accounts, that many evil practitioners of voodoo magick who live in areas of the world where Judeo-Christianity is a prominent cultural presence have adopted a highly bastardized form of voodoo magick to call upon Satan and other overtly demonic beings in place of the Loa to reanimate these human corpses. This evidence is derived from specific examples in some of the recorded sources of priests and priestesses blatantly invoking the name of this supreme lord of evil as described in Judeo-Christian theology when directing necromantic energies to reanimate human corpses. These particular demonic entities and other evil spirits may be related to the discarnate demonic spirits that have been used by the powerful demon lord known as the Dark Spirit, and wielders of the cursed tome known as the Necronomicon Ex Mortis to create Deadites (more on them below). [i]

            It’s possible that the only reason such rank amateurs were able to summon those zombies using demonic magick (but unable to dis-possess them with a hastily spoken reverse spell) in the first place was the presence of a Hellmouth in the vicinity.                                                                                                            

            Prominent examples of these zombies in the various sources have included the walking corpses created to serve as laborers and henchmen by the notorious houngan Murder Legendre.[ii] Legendre’s method was later used by the soul-clone Dracula-Lejos to create his own legion of Vodoun Zombie henchmen and bodyguards while dwelling on a small island off the coast of Florida in the late 1990s (the corrupt professor transformed into this soul-clone, Anton Lejos, is believed to be a relative of Legendre).[iii] A horde of such mystical zombies created by Legendre’s methods also played prominently in the infamous assault on New Orleans following the early ‘00s destruction of that city by Hurricane Katrina.[iv]    

My fellow researcher and MONSTAAH agent Zahir Blue has suggested that the beings known as the inferi described in J.K. Rowling’s various Harry Potter files may also constitute a sub-category of Vodoun Zombie, since they are also mystically reanimated corpses that serve a dark master. This author is inclined to agree, as is our colleague and MONSTAAH’s Master Theorist, Prof. Gordon Long.

            On a few rare occasions, for reasons not yet fully understood and likely due to certain unique factors, the soul of the human whose corpse was used to create a Vodoun Zombie doesn’t fully leave the reanimated body, but remains tethered to it in some manner. The result has been such exceedingly rare zombies who are either able to gain temporary and/or limited control of their unliving form to resist the will of their living master in certain unusual circumstances. Such circumstances are generally instances where the zombie encountered a situation of powerful emotional connection to its human life. In some cases, such Vodoun Zombies apparently managed to maintain full control of their now physically dead and supernaturally enhanced body, to the point where their full human memories, personality, and will remain fully intact.

Prominent examples of these rare Vodoun Zombies, which can be placed in a sub-category of Vodoun Zombie called Sentient Zombies, include former unscrupulous businessman Simon Garth;[v] the pre-Civil War anti-hero who battled the worst excesses of the white human slavers in the bayous of New Orleans known as Johnny Mathew Tobias, a.k.a., the Spook;[vi] former police detective Steve Soto;[vii] the hapless ex-biker Luther, who was transformed into a Vodoun Zombie by the powerful mambo Marinette;[viii] and Hugo Van Helsing’s lawyer and frequent ally Zigor.[ix] Other examples doubtlessly exist, but have not yet come to the awareness of this author, and the above five examples serve as a sufficient sample group for the purposes of this article.

Category 1.B: Pharmacoid Zombies

Other sub-categories of Vodoun Zombie also exist. One notable example that should be mentioned here are Pharmacoid Zombies, i.e., Vodoun Zombies created not by Loa (or demonic pretenders) possessing a true human corpse, but living humans rendered into a zombie-like state by a combination of pharmacological, toxicological, and hypnotic/psychic ritual means. Certain rural areas in the Haitian countryside contain communities boasting houngans (and mambos) that specialize in the creation and administration of an enigmatic white substance in powder form. These small villages seem to be run by a de facto thaumacratic government that pays but the smallest degree of allegiance to the official federal government of the nation and the localized governments in the nearby big cities, such as the capitol of Port-au-Prince. These specialized medicine priests or priestesses are often referred to as bokors. The bokors have a high degree of power and influence in these small, nearly independently governed communities. The high cost of conventional medical care in Haiti often force the residents of these poor communities to turn to local medicine priests and priestesses for nearly all their required health treatments, both physical and psychological.

The composition of this mysterious white “zombie powder” is said to vary somewhat between different regions and the preferences of different bokors (as does the ingredients used to create mainline supernatural Vodoun Zombies), but typically contains certain amounts of the following substances:

Dried and crushed human bones and organs; the dried and crushed remains of certain small animals, such as tarantulas and bouga toads (both of whose respective venom and poisonous secretions are said to play a role in the process); tetrodotoxin, a form of poison found in the flesh of porcupine puffer fish that causes full body paralysis (puffer fish flesh is actually used to make a delicacy cuisine in Japan called fugu that is served in many restaurants, but only after being thoroughly cleaned by chefs who specialize in preparing fugu); and the main ingredient of Jimson Weed—also known as the Zombie Cucumber—an extract from plants of the Datura stramonium species, which causes a combination of effects ranging from delirium, amnesia, an extremely suggestive state, and an elevated state of aggression. Such individuals chosen for transformation into zombies of the Pharmacoid sub-category are most often malcontents or those of poor character who have severely or repeatedly harmed others in the community. At other times, however, bokors have been known to be paid by those of sufficient financial means to transform hated rivals of theirs into such zombies for vindictive reasons.

These individuals targeted for the process are first secretly administered a measured amount of tetrodotoxin (also called fou-fou poison) that will place them in a fully paralyzed state, enough to slow but not fully stop their heart and lungs, and which will effectively simulate clinical death even to skilled medical professionals. Once declared dead by a physician, they will be given a funeral as per their cultural customs and placed in a grave. In a planned, timely manner, the bokor will have the still-living but paralyzed victims exhumed from their graves before they can asphyxiate (and people in this state can survive with very low amounts of oxygen for surprising periods of time). They will then be subjected to injections of the will-sapping and delirium-producing Datura extract, formulated by a trio of substances known as scopolamine, hyoscyamine, and atropine. This will be done in tandem with various magickal rituals that will mystically “charge” and enhance the effects of these plant extracts. These individuals will now be considered zombies, and will be used for much the same purposes as mainline supernatural Vodoun Zombies. This often means being sold into a combination of slave labor and security purposes on plantations, or at other times into sexual servitude or scientific experimentation.

Their heightened adrenal state will enable them to work almost tirelessly from dawn to dusk, and they will only need to be fed once a day to every two days. They will often move slowly but rapidly, in a largely robotic fashion, with their pupils dilated, and exhibiting strange behavior. They will typically follow the orders of their masters/owners, and will often be subjected to abusive treatment to further their obedience, much like traditional chattel slaves. However, this has been known to backfire at times, since their elevated adrenalin will cause them to exhibit often highly aggressive and violent behavior if sufficiently provoked. Though they will not be immune to phenomena such as gunfire or stabbings like their mainline Vodoun brethren—who are true walking corpses—their confused mental state and highly aggressive nature will make them prone to tolerating severe degrees of injury and pain before being taken down. Moreover, their high adrenal levels often enable them to exhibit physical strength, in addition to stamina, that is well above that of the average human athlete. Hence, they are potentially quite dangerous in their own fashion, and all but trained monster hunters, mystics, law enforcement officers, or paramilitary personnel are advised to avoid contact with them unless absolutely necessary.

These individuals can fully recover from this state if they somehow manage to escape from captivity on their own (a relatively rare occurrence), or are liberated. This sub-category of Vodoun Zombie was first officially documented in the early 1980s by the risky work of ethnobotanist and anthropologist Wade Davis.[x] However, the process needs specialized hands in order to work properly. Hence, the creation and administration of this “zombie powder” remains controversial and unrecognized to date by mainstream science, though certain black ops government divisions in the U.S. and elsewhere may have learned how to make use of it.

                                              Category 2: Deadite Zombies

            This second supernatural category may possibly cover a broader base than the main prominent sample I will be using to illustrate the nature of this zombie categorization. Some researchers may argue that the beings commonly referred to as Deadites are not actually a legit zombie category at all, but instead rank as a form of demon. Other researchers are free, of course, to develop alternative conclusions and systems of categorization, but I would counter the above argument with the compromise suggestion that the Deadites may straddle the separate monster categories of zombie and demon. This author has long been a proponent of the idea that not all entities must be slavishly placed in just a single category; some can straddle between two or even more categories, and thus deserve recognition in more than one.

            Specifically stated, Deadite Zombies are reanimated human corpses (and sometimes severed human body parts) that are possessed and animated by evil, destructive demonic spirits, and commit acts of  horrific violence, murder, degradation, and evil against living human beings simply for the sake of doing harm. As described above, there may be a sub-category of Deadite Zombie that is often confused or even intermixed with standard Vodoun Zombies, but which are created by houngans or mambos who utilize a truly dark, bastardized form of voodoo magick to summon demonic spirits rather than the Loa to serve as the animating source for their zombies. Thus, this sub-category of Deadite Zombie will often act much as standard Vodoun Zombies will, with the notable distinction that the former are always created and controlled by evil practitioners of magick, or sometimes inadvertently summoned by individuals who ignorantly handle and read aloud certain spells recorded in the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, and likely other dark arcane tomes as well.[xi]

            These corrupted, “black” voodoo masters and mistresses are the Vodoun equivalent of the Gothic witches and warlocks seen in many WNU sources who use a twisted form of “black” Witchcraft—i.e., black magick—to call upon Satan and other explicitly demonic forces to serve their magickal requirements. The connection between this sub-category of Deadite Zombie and the standard category of Deadite may be that despite calling upon “Satan” for the dark necromantic forces they utilize, these practitioners are instead calling upon a Christianized aspect of the powerful demonic entity known as the Dark Spirit, who is known to control legions of lesser, possessing discarnate demonic entities.[xii] The power of the Dark Spirit and his evil demonically derived necromantic energies can be called upon by the dark tome of magick known as the Necronomicon Ex Mortis.[xiii]

            Much like the demonic spirits that usurp the human souls of most individuals transformed into vampires of the Bestial category of vampires (which includes the Turokian sub-category who were the main targets and foes of the legendary contemporary Slayer, Buffy Summers), the demonic spirits that possess the corpses of humans will acquire the sum total of that person’s memories, as well as display signs of a twisted version of that person’s personality and mannerisms. However, the Deadites act much more unstable and single-minded in the cause of spreading evil and chaos than even the Turokian vampires tend to do, and are most often directed by a prevailing intelligence rather than acting autonomously.[xiv]

Another sub-category of Deadite, often referred to collectively as an “Army of Darkness,” are literal armies of such Deadites summoned simultaneously by anyone who wields the Necronomicon Ex Mortis for the specific practical purpose of creating a platoon of relentlessly single-minded foot soldiers.[xv]

            Due to their distinct demonic nature Deadites retain corpse-like features of the husk they inhabit, but they tend to distort its appearance in grotesque ways, possibly in a manner comparable to the “game face” taken on by Turokian vampires when angry or in the throes of bloodlust, but to an even more extreme degree (this seems to vary between individual Deadites). Since they are essentially corpses, the Deadites also cannot be killed or caused pain by conventional means, but they can be destroyed in ways similar to the Vodoun Zombies, including the use of certain forms of magickal spells and items to dispossess the corpse of the possessing demonic spirit, or by someone with the proper knowledge who wields the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. They can likewise also be destroyed by having their unliving but still corporeal husks burned, dissolved, cut up, or blown to bits to the point where they lose effective functionality. If they aren’t destroyed completely, however, the possessing demonic entity can continue to animate the remaining body parts with surprising speed and agility, and direct them to continue attacking their targets. If the body is completely destroyed to the point where nothing substantive remains, it can be presumed that the demonic entity either dies with it or is displaced back to the nether-realm from which it hails.

                                   Category 3.A:  Romeroesque Zombies

            This very prominent form of zombie—particularly in sources recorded from the late 20^th century to the present (it’s early in the second decade of the 21^st century, specifically March 2014, as I type these words)—is the first of two categories that are created by specifically scientific means. They resemble the Vodoun Zombies in the very general manner of being reanimated corpses. However, this category of zombie is created by a specific scientific source that comes in two different mediums. Moreover, this particular type of zombie, which most often operates under the control of no will save their own mindless urges to consume living human flesh and organs to prolong their fetid existence--a few nominal to very unsuccessful attempts by various black ops government orgs to gain control and utilize them as “necro-soldiers” notwithstanding (which has since been legally banned by most nations)--are arguably by far the most dangerous threat to human beings and their present dominance of the Earth of all the four general categories.

Hence, MONSTAAH is ever vigilant about identifying the slightest sign of an outbreak of such zombies in any given area within our means of travel, and immediately dispatching agents to the contaminated locale to (hopefully) contain and neutralize the threat before it spreads too far. The same is the case with other monster-hunting organizations across the globe (Monster Hunter International; the Monster Aces; the Ghostbusters; the Monster Squad; the Order of Secret Defenders; the Fearsome Four), and various government agencies in the world that perform a similar function (e.g., the Ordinance; the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense [BPRD]; the Initiative; the Shadow Company; the Shop; S.H.A.D.E). Thus far, MONSTAAH and these other orgs (both within and outside government control) have managed to contain such threats and prevent a global apocalypse scenario, which is our greatest fear regarding this type of zombie.

However, the preponderance of alternate timelines and future time tracks where such zombie apocalypses have occurred—which the espers amongst our number frequently detect and warn us about—reminds us of how easily such an infestation can get out completely out of control and overwhelm the planet if our vigilance should ever waver.

Now, onto the description of the type of zombie I am referring to here.

            This category of zombie has been coined “Romeroesque” zombies by this author due to their first being chronicled in a report of a major infestation of several small remote towns in Pennsylvania by documentarian auteur George Romero.[xvi] Since then, this type of zombie became progressively well known over the succeeding decades, and outbreak incidents were recorded in numerous different mediums until they reached an extremely high star status amongst monsters by the present time of this article, having become the subject of numerous books, film documentaries, and web sites. Since the distribution of Romero’s initial 1968 report (which most of the general public believes to be entirely fictional, of course), other writers, directors, producers, documentarians, and computer programmers stepped into Romero’s proverbial shoes and correlated the many reports of these scientifically created zombies into multiple franchises spanning the mediums of prose, film, TV, video games, and cyberspace, which collectively depict events based on real accounts, exaggerated versions of real events, and many that are outright (and sometimes outrageously) fictional. 

            There are two major sub-categories of Romeroesque (or simply “Romero”) zombies that hail from essentially the same scientific source, but are spread via two distinct mediums that deserve to be explained in some degree of detail. The sub-category I will mention after this section have been coined “Bannonesque Zombies” by this author for reasons that will be explained when I reach that part of this essay.

            The first of these (which I will simply coin “Romeroesque Zombies”) are infestations that result from a bizarre form of highly communicable pathogen known as the solanum virus. The ultimate source of this mutant virogen has yet to be fully pinned down by scientific and medical researchers, and there may be alternate strains of this virogen that that derive from different but inter-connected sources. It was strongly implied in Romero’s initial report that the virus was extraterrestrial in origin (much as the theriomorph-creating mbwun virogen is known to be), but also possibly due to experiments by the United States government in the 1960s. These alleged experiments consisted of certain microorganisms being sent into Earth orbit for scientific research purposes that exposed them to highly mutagenic cosmic radiation, which metamorphosed them into an extreme form of pathogen that would infect both living tissue and the necrotic tissue of human corpses, rapidly converting the former into the latter. These infections resulted in animated cadavers that mindlessly sought out living humans to consume their flesh and internal organs for the purpose of prolonging their existence, and thus the life span of the parasitic controlling microorganism.

 The satellite containing these mutated virogens somehow malfunctioned and crashed to Earth in a wide rural area of Pennsylvania, thus releasing and enabling the pathogen to spread to many groups of people living in this area.[xvii] Though such an experiment may indeed have created one alternate strain of the virogen, this cannot be the ultimate source of the original solanum pathogen, because subsequent research has revealed the existence of periodic outbreaks of solanum-created Romeroesque Zombie infestations throughout recorded human history, dating back at least as far as the heyday of the Roman Empire, many centuries before technology capable of sending objects into space was invented on Earth.

            My colleague Prof. Zahir Blue has given me the following thought regarding the Romeroesque Zombies: “I cannot help but wonder if any connection exists between the pathogen behind such creatures and the events chronicled by Michael Crichton in [his report] The Andromeda Strain?”  Further research needs to be conducted on this matter before a definitive conclusion can be made or suggested.

            It is known, however, that at least some strains of the extremely rare but incredibly dangerous solanum virus are contained in a perhaps normally inactive protein form found within the bodily fluids and flesh of certain extremely rare primate species native to Earth, and likely certain rare breeds of theriomorphs (i.e., human shape-shifters into other mammalian forms). The Romeroesque Zombie infestation recorded in Peter Jackson and Stephen Sinclair’s report Dead Alive (a.k.a., Braindead) resulted from a human being bit by the extremely rare Sumatran rat-monkey, a small but vicious creature that is not actually native to Sumatra, but indigenous to some of the chain of uncharted islands that make up the cluster of atolls to which Skull Island is (or was) a part of.  These atolls are also prominently inhabited by species of megafauna such as mega-dinosaurs, Kongoid apes, mega-serpents, giant pseudo-insects & arachnids, and pseudo-prehistorical mammals who are the relict descendants of creatures artificially created many millennia ago by the advanced genetic engineering techniques of Lemurian and Atlantean scientists for use as bio-weapons, beasts of burden, and experimental purposes.[xviii]

It’s quite likely that the Sumatran rat-monkey species, and possible offshoot species of green-furred virogen-carrying monkey (i.e., the “African” green monkey), were not products of natural evolution but examples of smaller species of animal artificially created by Lemurian geneticists in the ancient pre-Cataclysm age. One hint of this is the fact that a complete lack of fur or hair (in the case of the “Sumatran” rat-monkey) and green fur or hair (in the case of the “African” green monkey) are not normal attributes in any species of primate (or typical in any species of mammal) that is known to have evolved via natural selection on Earth (though some mammals mutated by a strange frequency of gamma radiation have curiously displayed the trait of green skin and hair/fur).

Hence, it’s possible (though unsubstantiated at this point) that the initial strain of the solanum virus was a bio-engineered creation of Atlantean or Lemurian geneticists used for the purpose of bio-warfare when the two antediluvian super-civilizations were warring on each other during the era of their mutual decline that led to The Great Cataclysm.[xix] These pathogen-spreading primate species may have been designed to act as living carriers of the virogen, immune to its effects themselves (at least under normal circumstances; see below), but quite capable of using their small size, arboreal-derived stealth, and highly aggressive natures to spread the virus to the human opponents of one of these great empires by way of their salivary glands.[xx] 

            Another good example of the transference of a solanum strain through the bodily fluids and flesh of a rare primate species occurred during the rapidly escalating attacks of the mutant sub-species of sasquatch (also possibly related to the work of ancient Lemurian and/or Atlantean geneticists) that gradually progressed from the early 1990s into the early 21^st century as this mutant strain of the hidden, large, and physically powerful forest dwelling North American primate began rapidly reproducing a formerly recessive genetic trait for extremely violent and territorial behavior towards human beings into rampant genetic dominance. By the late ‘00s decade, it was discovered during the increasing attacks on rural human towns across the United States by this mutant strain of sasquatch that for unknown reasons a variant of the solanum virogen that previously existed in the bodily fluids and flesh of this hominid primate species in an inert state became active. As a result, many of the human beings killed but left mostly or largely intact by the sasquatch attacks began becoming animate as Romeroesque Zombies that proceeded to ravage these rural hamlets, greatly adding to the destruction and terror wreaked in these same areas by the sasquatch attacks. However, since the sasquatch were similar enough in phenotype to human beings, the growing zombie infestation targeted them as well as human beings for sources of food, resulting in frequent bloody conflicts between the two deadly monster types.

            Oddly, though the sasquatch were initially immune to the type of solanum virogen they were spreading, as was the case in the normal course of events, for some reason this strain of the virus began further mutating so that dead or bitten sasquatches began rising again as Romeroesque sasquatch zombies, thus possibly forming another sub-category of this zombie type, as well as another of the rare but strange forms of monster hybridization that have been recorded. This may have occurred due to the unusually great resemblance of sasquatch physiology to human physiology compared to other primates, which enabled this strain of the solanum virus to eventually mutate to the point where it “turned” upon its own host species once it became fully active. However, this may have occurred only in tandem with other environmental factors not yet uncovered, including but not limited to this virus’ ability to rapidly mutate much as other retro-viruses do.

There is further evidence that this, like many of the above incidents of mutant sasquatch attacks—particularly those occurring in tandem with Romeroesque Zombie infestations—and chronicled in the research of Mark S. Brown--that this may be caused by a mystically mutated/altered version of the Lemurian-derived solanum virus that was first created by a powerful Biblical demonic agency on another timeline. Those divergent events occurred towards the end of World War II, and reached this timeline by means of temporal transport back to the 19^th century where the mystically-altered virogen was unleashed in this continuum by another Biblical demonic being, Legion—in the entity’s guise of the Man In White--as recorded in Brown’s reports World War of the Dead and Bigfoot War 4: Legion, and since continued elsewhere. [xxi]

This version of the Romeroesque Zombies differ from the Vodoun Zombies in that they do not typically possess greater than normal human strength due to their lack of the defining supernatural component present with Vodoun Zombies. This limitation has generally been retained even by the version of the virogen mutated by mystical forces (as described above).

            They also differ in that they do not only need to consume flesh only on  a periodic basis, but require doing so continuously and ravenously, and will only target the flesh of living humans (never animals under normal circumstances) or those who were freshly killed. This prolongs their undead existence by slowing the natural deterioration of their necrotic bodies, but they still continue to gradually rot over a long but undetermined (and almost certainly variable) course of time, eventually decaying to the point that they reach a state of decomposition where they can no longer function as mobile entities. These zombies possess but the barest degrees of reminiscence of their former human existence, and may gravitate to certain places and even briefly mime certain activities they often did as humans. However, since they are fully dead and thus possess no souls (again, under normal circumstances), they no longer express any of the emotions or sentiments of their previous living incarnation, and will even ruthlessly devour people whom they greatly loved and cherished when they were alive. These vague reminiscences are likely due to synaptic remnants of their previous memories and life experiences that remain extant to a highly fragmentary degree as a side effect of the viral concentration in the brain matter.

            This version of the solanum virus is highly communicable, and following the initial introduction in active form to a human organism, the virus is spread through the vital fluids—including the still functioning salivary glands—of these zombies. As a result, any human who is bitten, or killed and not greatly devoured, by one of these zombies will be infected. The result will be that those who were bitten but not initially killed will rapidly become extremely ill and die, after which they too will rise as a zombie; those whom they killed but didn’t’ devour to the point where their bodies were no longer reasonably intact will rise after a short incubation period as another zombie. Though these zombies lack the superhuman strength of their supernatural category counterparts, and move with extreme slowness and awkwardness, they more than make up for these deficiencies as deadly threats to human beings due to their sheer force of numbers, which results from the rapid spread of the contagion through even small human populations. There also tend to be a very small number of these zombies who have been nicknamed ‘runners,’ in that they somehow retain their ability to move at their prey at a running speed comparable to that of a living human being; these runners, of course, tend to prove a particularly great hazard to humans attempting to flee or defend against groups of these zombies.

Further, they rarely travel in search of living humans prey as individuals, but tend to instinctively pack together in groups, often of very large size, thus making themselves a great obstacle to human escape from, and survival within, the infected zones. Like their supernatural counterparts, their undead nature means that they do not feel pain, nor can they be “killed” (i.e., fully disabled) by conventional forms of weaponry leveled against them, except for attacks directed at their brains. This “Mainline Romeroesque” subcategory of Romeroesque Zombie appear to require their neural matter to remain intact in order for them to continue functioning, which is likely the result of this strain of the solanum virogen concentrating its infection there; if the brain is destroyed or significantly damaged by attacks such as a well-aimed bullet or bludgeoning, the corpse once again becomes fully inanimate.  They do not heal from injuries (i.e., damage) inflicted upon their cadaverous forms as their supernatural counterparts do, and they obviously can be rendered ineffective by significant amounts of explosives, corrosive agents, or flame used against them.

            Another hint that this strain of the virogen concentrates in their brain is evidenced by the fact that if the head is severed with the brain left intact inside the skull, the head will continue to be animate, and will even continue to try to bite human beings who get near it despite no longer being connected to its digestive system.

Note: A report of an alternate reality incident by Gabriel Hernandez called "Zuvembies vs. Robots," which occurs on a time track where a burgeoning zombie apocalypse is occurring, provides us a very rare opportunity to see Vodoun Zombies created to fight the Romeroesque Zombies, thus providing an interesting contrast. This multi-part report was published in Zombies vs. Robots: Aventure #1-4 by IDW Comics.

Category 2.B: Bannonesque Zombies

            A notable subcategory of Romeroesque Zombie are those who are created as a result of a genetically altered version of the solanum virogen that is concentrated in a gaseous form, which was developed by a project of the United States Armed Forces, likely for them by a black ops agency involved in bio-warfare experiments (possibly connected to the Shop). This new, gas-delivered version of concentrated solanum virus created a version of Romeroesque Zombie that may be sub-categorically termed “Bannonesque Zombies” (for a reason I will get to in a minute). These zombies resemble the standard Romeroesque Zombie in many ways, but they do not seek to consume any available type of human flesh or organs, but specifically the brains. The voracious appetite for human neural matter often result in these zombies shouting “Braaaiinnnsss!” with an extreme tone of excitement and delight whenever they spot a human victim. This variant of the solanum virus is equally concentrated throughout the entire body of the corpse, and not disproportionately in the brain. Hence, though they do not possess superhuman strength any more than their standard Romanesque counterparts do, the concentration of the virogen in every part of their body means that not only can they move with the same degree of speed and coordination as a normal human being (depending upon how intact the individual corpse happens to be, of course), but their maniacally insatiable lust for human brains easily gives them the manic strength needed to use their fully human teeth to bite clear through a human skull to gain access to the neural matter within.

            It’s important to note that evidence exists that this gas-borne variant of the solanum virogen may have been the result of accidental Nazi experimentation towards the purpose of creating a deadlier form of human-killing gas for its concentration camp execution “shower houses” during World War II. The first such incident of this nature is believed to have occurred circa 1943. This gaseous compound was referred to simply as “Chemical 13,” and it was described in its respective file.[xxii] The inmates who were subjected to this deadly Chemical 13 were all transformed into mindless zombies resembling the Bannonesque subcategory of the Romeroesque variety, and these zombies ravaged the camp and killed the Nazi personnel stationed there. It’s quite probable that a connection exists between that early 20^th century Nazi experiment and the later development of a similar gaseous-based version of the solanum virus by the United States Armed Forces, and this author encourages his colleagues to conduct further research into the matter.

            The Bannonesque Zombies seem able to fully subsist on human brain matter alone, and the relict remnants of the original human psyche in these animated corpses appear to bizarrely “rationalize” their appetite for brains as being required to relieve the “pain” of being dead. Clearly, however, the “pain” is derived from hunger pangs required to keep the corpse form nourished so as to sustain the viral colony within that motivates their hunger and enables their animation to acquire sustenance. Hence, the perceived “pain” is a post-mortem nerve reaction that is triggered by the virogen to cajole their necrotic host forms to constantly seek out more nourishment. It’s unknown how long the Bannonesque sub-category of zombie can stifle the natural process of decay in comparison to the standard version of the Romeroesque Zombies.

            One major difference of this sub-category of zombie from the standard version is that since the virogen is concentrated throughout their form, destruction delivered to the brain will not cause the animated corpses to become fully immobile any more than damaging or destroying any of its other organs. Moreover, if any of their limbs are severed, these body parts will continue to move and even attack humans who come near them by some sort of autonomic reflex action, and will remain functioning for an unknown span of time. The only way to effectively dispatch this type of zombie is the complete and utter destruction of the entire specimen, such as full incineration or an explosion of the type of magnitude that can only be caused by a nuclear artillery shell or comparable display of destructive force. The Bannonesque Zombies also tend to display more human signs of intelligence and thought than the standard Romeroesque category they are related to, including exhibiting speech and good retention of the previous human’s memories, but all is subservient to their mindless, overwhelming pursuit of sustenance in the form of human brains. These zombies, once the metamorphosis is complete, display no more sentiment or consideration towards humans they once greatly loved and cared for than do those of the standard Romeroesque variant.

            Though these zombies also display an instinctual preference for working together in large numbers for its obvious advantage, they do not seem capable of producing the type of widespread, potentially global apocalypse scenario that the standard Romeroesque Zombies can. This is because their contagion is spread almost solely as the result of a mass of this solanum variant concentrated in gas form having its quickly-spreading fumes come into contact with any type of corpse, human or animal. These corpses will become animate within seconds of the exposure no matter what the condition of the cadavers. Also, if introduced and concentrated in large amounts into a fully liquid medium (including rainfall) the virogen protein particles can rapidly spread the contagion if such infected water is brought into contact with corpses, including those who may be buried underground in large numbers in a cemetery. Since these zombies feed solely on brains, the people they kill do not typically rise again after their brain matter is devoured. On rare exceptions where a human victim of these Bannonesque Zombies does indeed rise as a zombie after being killed, it’s because their body, while alive, had come into contact with large amounts of this solanum variant; e.g., if they were thoroughly drenched, especially while nude, by precipitation in which the virogen was concentrated in large numbers-- which would cause extreme burning irritation to the still-living person’s skin--as actually seen in one prominent sources.

            If living humans happen to breathe in a high concentration of the gaseous mist where this variant of the virogen is concentrated, they will become progressively ill in a manner similar to people bitten by a specimen of the category of Romeroesque Zombies. They will strangely continue to exhibit their previous human personalities and sense of awareness that they did while alive during the “incubation period” of this variant of the pathogen. As a result, though they had begun to die, and even for a time after death had commenced, they would appear strangely unaware that this was occurring or had occurred, instead only thinking that they are seriously ill. Their still remaining nerve endings will cause them to react as if in extreme pain to the effects of rigor mortis on their bodies, and they will still react with great discomfort to remaining sensations of extreme nausea and malaise. When the process is fully complete, the perceived post-mortem sensations of pain and inability to move caused by the rigor mortis will completely subside, and will be replaced by this zombie types’ overwhelming appetite for human brains, and the degree of quick animation enabling them to acquire it from human victims.

            One interesting vulnerability of the Bannonesque subcategory of zombie appears to be exposure of the entire corpses’ body to an extreme level of electrical voltage. This seems to disrupt and, if prolonged for several minutes, to destroy the nerve clusters artificially maintained by the virogen colony in the cadavers’ bodies to enable them to become animate.

            The first recording of this type of zombie was in a 1985 file compiled by Dan O’Bannon, hence the name given to this sub-category of Romeroesque Zombie.[xxiii] Many alternate timelines where humanity was besieged by a global zombie apocalypse have been chronicled via the work of psychic researchers.[xxiv]

Another variant strain of the solanum virus created by clandestine experimentation—in this case, by the private sector--was responsible for the infamous and horrific incident which ensued in the large, isolated country town of Raccoon City by the scandalous Umbrella Corporation.[xxv]

There are also scattered reports which allege that exposure of corpses to various forms of eldritch energies or strange radiations can trigger the ghastly process that causes cadavers to rise as ravenous flesh-eating creatures that resemble Bannonesque zombies. One such unsubstantiated report, "F-17," was recorded by O'Bannon himself, where he claimed that one of the titular American World War II bomber planes called the Pacific Pearl--reported lost during a grueling bombing raid--had its crew members who survived the raid besieged by its casualties, who rose again as voracious zombies following exposure to the strange emanations of a mysterious luminous green meteor that penetrated the atmosphere close to the aircraft. O'Bannon seems to believe this meteor was actually the fabled spherical sentient object of "evil" energies reported in various sources as the Loc-Nar, but this object's reality has yet to be verified (some reports of the Loc-Nar's alleged activities through time and space, including "F-17," were put together in a single animated film file Heavy Metal in 1981).    

Category 2-3 Postscript I

It should be noted that mystical versions of Romeroesque Zombies have appeared from time to time, the last recorded instance at this writing being as recently as the fall of 2011. According to a file recently acquired by MONSTAAH following an investigation of a series of panic-stricken messages delivered on Twitter and a live report by NYC news anchor Taylor Manning, a major but short-lived mystically-induced zombie rampage may have occurred in New York City during the above time. In that report by Tony Salvador Daniel and James Bonny, it was alleged that a lowly occult bookstore owner named Darius Digby managed by sheer luck to find and purchase a copy of the dreaded Necronomicon Ex Mortis, that he evidently found being sold on the cheap at a local yard sale. In that book as a coded inscription detailing where to find a mystical power object connected to the tome and its creator called the Mortis Orb (possibly similar to other powerful mystical crystalline spheres found in various sources, such as the Orb of the Vishanti, but created to serve a greatly differing purpose).

The Orb of Mortis enables its wielder—be they a living human or a ghost with their full conscious faculties—to summon and control the dead, both hordes of violent ghosts who are trapped in the lower astral realms for penance and near-mindless zombies from their graves. These zombies resemble both Romeroesque and Deadite Zombies (see individual sections), though they appear to move relatively slowly but relentlessly in pursuit of the energies emitted by the Org of Mortis when it’s active, as they use the vast necromantic energies it generates as their source of animation. They will kill any human whom they come across in the process, though whether they would devour them fully or simply take consume their brains, and whether those bitten but not fatally injured would rise again as one of them, wasn’t determined. The energies charging these zombies gave them greater than human strength, with one of them allegedly reported tearing a car door off the vehicle (this display of enhanced strength may have been an exaggeration in the published account for dramatic purposes, however).  They were never observed to speak, and they could be dispatched by sheer physical force that smashed or severed their heads, or reduced them to so many pieces that they could no longer function. Like the Deadites, their severed body parts would continue to attack their targets, but would become inanimate if they weren’t in very close range of the Orb of Mortis. They were also dependent on the necromantic energies of the Orb to remain animate in general, and would revert to immobile corpses if they were separated from the Orb by more than a few miles.

Like the scientifically created Bannonesque Zombies, these mystical versions became inanimate if they were struck by sufficiently large amounts of electricity (assuming they were grounded at the time they were struck, which was usually the case). For some reason, their necrotic but still functioning nerve impulses would be overloaded by large amounts of electricity, causing them to revert to being corpses again.

This zombie assault on New York City in the fall of 2011 was opposed and stopped by the current incarnation of the flying vigilante known as Hawkman, and the current version of the heroic desumokinetic known as Static.[xxvi]

Category 2-3 Postscript II

Just as my colleague Prof. Zahir Blue has conducted research uncovering the existence of a Vampire Dimension, where at least some strains of vampires may have originated, so too has research conducted by other scholars with the aid of seers uncovered evidence for an alien dimension where the Romeroesque solanum virogen may have originated: A realm simply designated “Dimension Z,” a reality whose true nature has never been fully explored, but has been described to harbor “zero” physical laws, i.e., those that favor Death over Life.

Though no definitive answer has yet to be settled as to the origin of the solanum virogen, the fact that it’s so inimical to all life, and has appeared suddenly and unexpectedly on Earth and on various alternate time tracks throughout human history, may strongly imply an extradimensional origin.  It’s quite possible that scientific tweaking of the solanum virogen by Nazi, and later U.S. and U.K., covert government bio-medical and bio-warfare research agencies may have resulted in variant versions such as the chemically-introduced Bannonesque virogen, and its own sub-variants; and mystical tweaking by various demonic and corrupt human forces over the millennia may also have resulted in disparate variants of this virogen—including a version existing inertly in the blood of certain species of therionthropes and exotic primates.

Since variants of this virogen have been known to travel throughout many alternate time tracks, including between different multiverses, an ample amount of sub-varieties of the solanum pathogen likely exist throughout the multiple space/time continuums, with the differing physical laws of these other realities also likely causing it to function somewhat differently from sources indigenous to this reality.[xxvii]

                                              Category 4: Alien Zombies

            The final category of zombie that this article will discuss is one that is relatively well-known by researchers and zombie aficionados alike, but often overlooked in terms of representing a distinct type of zombie. This category was immortalized by one specific source, thanks to its wondrously inept film dramatization by a much beloved anti-auteur of no talent who first came upon information of the incident by way of his late friend, famous thespian Bela Lugosi, who had recently become conscripted as a horror host as an “honor” bestowed to him by a certain segment of the Powers That Be.[xxviii]  Nevertheless, there is other, albeit much less well known sources that indicate further broad versions of this specific category of zombie. Specifically, this category consists of zombies who are created via human corpses that are deliberately reanimated and controlled by aliens. Though unequivocally considered extraterrestrial in the various reports, it’s this author’s conjecture that they were more likely extradimensional in nature.

            The main report detailing this type of zombie was recorded by the notorious hack producer/director/screenwriter Ed Wood Jr.[xxix] The aliens recorded in this report were not true extraterrestrials, but were actually visitors from one of the myriad humanoid-inhabited dimensional versions of the Sol system’s planets that exist in various pocket universes. These strange alternate universe iterations of the space/time continuum where we reside are known for having physical laws that allow for alternate versions of the planets in our solar system that possess strangely habitable environments for life that we are familiar with, and even more strangely, they are frequently populated by advanced, often humanoid or semi-humanoid civilizations who may be those realities’ answer to the intra-solar colonies created by Lemurian and Atlantean colonists who evacuated those Earths following their version of The Great Cataclysm.[xxx]

            Not only did these pocket universe “alien” races regularly travel to the Earths of their respective native pocket realities by the time the mid-20^th century rolled around (as did their counterparts in the Showa Tohoverse – see Endnote xxvii), but some of them managed to breach the dimensional barriers—sometimes accidentally—that constitute the quantum membranes separating their reality from the one outside our window as a result of the recurring but mysterious Gordo Anomaly. This stellar phenomenon is a hazardous and still not fully understood disruption in the space/time continuum that periodically causes many forms of costly technological mishaps for both humans and aliens who have the misfortune of encountering it when approaching or leaving the near-vicinity of the Earth.[xxxi]

            Returning to the main topic at hand, in the 1950s, the advanced humanoid alien race inhabiting a dimensional variant of Venus that exists in one of these pocket universes somehow learned that the Earth of the dimension that is home to us researchers of Wold Newton University would soon develop a dangerous substance known as “solarbonite.” This material (it’s unknown whether it would constitute a new element or not) would be able to harness the rays of the Sun in some unknown fashion which would cause an extremely drastic manifestation of the Gordo Anomaly. This manifestation would result in a severe breach of the dimensional membranes separating different realities. Such an occurrence could have potentially caused the destruction of not only that Earth and its nearby intra-solar planets, but also their equivalents across many pocket universes (not quite the entire universe, as Wood alleged in the report).

This race of aliens (not specifically described as Venusians in the Wood’s filmed dramatization of the events) sent one of these pocket universes’ often classically designed saucer-shaped shiftships controlled by two of  their world’s scientists named Eros and Tanna (obviously names patterned after lesser deities of Earth pantheons) to prevent the impending invention of the solarbonite. They accomplished this by initiating what they called “Plan 9,” their policy designation (possibly invented by Wood for his poorly constructed film depiction of the events) for a rather ghastly technique they discovered for reanimating dead human bodies by using a focused beam of radiation from an unknown portion of their native reality’s electromagnetic spectrum to cause a strange chemical reaction in the dead tissue of the cadavers’ pituitary and pineal glands.

            The cause of this exotic glandular stimulation may be surmised by the fact that the pineal gland is the source of many unusual and scarcely understood chemicals that affects human consciousness, including psychic abilities of various sorts; and the pituitary being responsible for a large array of enzymes that stimulate numerous bodily functions and processes. The combination somehow had the reaction of reanimating human cadavers while at the same time placing them securely under the control of their alien creators. These Alien Zombies (the “Alien” designation alluding to the source of their reanimation, not the xenomorphs of the Alien reports) displayed many characteristics similar to the Romeroesque Zombies, who were also of scientific creation.

This category of zombies, being essentially dead, also could not be dispatched or caused pain by conventional attacks on their bodies by forces such as gunfire or stabbing. However, since they were animated fully by the unusual radiation frequency that more or less transformed them into cadaverous puppets to be used by the aliens, they had no need to devour live or freshly killed organic flesh and/or organs. They were also not likely to be rendered inert by destroying their brains, but they could be stopped by manipulating the radiation frequency used to animate them. If they were cut off from their power source, they would immediately become inert corpses again, and even fully decompose within moments as a side effect of the process that severed their link to the mysterious energy. These zombies would be reported again in other files.[xxxii]

Further intermittent examples of this often overlooked but still pivotal zombie category can be found scattered across various sources, including another report coming from Australia in 2003.[xxxiii] This particular report is said to have occurred in a small rustic fishing town in the Land Down Under called Berkeley, which was struck by a shower of meteorites that appeared to unleash a form of energy that transformed several of its citizens into one of the disparate sub-categories of Alien Zombie. This subcategory resembled the Romeroesque Zombies in that they sought out human flesh to survive, could rapidly spread the contagion by biting living human beings, and could be rendered permanently inert if their brain was destroyed or severely damaged. This would seem to imply a variant of the solanum virus at first glance, but the major difference in this reported infestation was the alleged presence of humanoid aliens who are also believed to hail from one of the strange pocket universes filled with habitable and inhabited variants of our own solar system’s planetary bodies.

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Another important example of Alien Zombies include those created as a result of human corpses being used as vessels for small, non-sentient parasitic creatures of alien origin who have taken over their system in order to provide a means for both their reproduction and spreading to other unwilling hosts.

These alien parasites of extraterrestrial or extradimensional origin have originated from different sources according to the various accounts we have collected, though despite their various differences they all seem to have one major characteristic in common: The proclivity for invading the bodies of living humans (and sometimes animals) through the mouth, quickly causing the target to die, and then reanimating their gradually rotting corpse for the purposes mentioned above. Such zombies of the broad Alien category will often display degrees of resistance or immunity to certain phenomena ordinarily debilitating or lethal to living humans—such as gunfire or stabbings—similar to that demonstrated by walking corpses created by other means or parasites. The level of physical strength and speed relative to that of a normal human of the same age, gender, build, etc., displayed by such zombies will, of course, vary.

One example of this sub-category of Alien Zombie on file—a sub-category which will here be designated Parasite Zombies—were created as a result of small but fast-moving organisms resembling large slugs, and created via a scientific experiment in biological warfare by an as yet unidentified diminutive semi-humanoid alien species (apparently of an extraterrestrial nature). This occurred in some point concurrent with Earth’s early 20^th century, and an object containing a small number of these creatures was jettisoned from the alien craft during a conflagration between its crew members, eventually crash landing intact in a small suburban town on Earth circa 1959. Both a fraternity member parked in a lover’s lane area and a psychopathic axe-wielding killer found themselves invaded by one of these parasites. These two men remained insensate by different means until rising again to terrorize the town in full fashion circa 1985.

These slug-like creatures (nicknamed “creeps” by the recorder of the events) would systematically use their great speed and agility to unexpectedly leap into a person’s mouth, take nest in their brain, and reproduce themselves asexually within the neural organ. After the person had fully died from the parasitic invasion—which took an average of about two hours, but sometimes within mere moments—the rapidly spawning creature would take control of the corpse’s remaining autonomic functions and cause it to walk about, awkwardly but stridently, in search of other humans. Once its several spawn reached full maturity—a process ordinarily taking a few hours—the head of the corpse would burst, releasing a group of the creatures to seek and invade other hosts sans their zombie vessel.

These zombies could be taken down with a shot to the skull, but this would cause the head to burst and prematurely release the alien “creeps” spawning within it. If it occurred no more than an hour into the infection, enough of the creatures would have reached a state close to maturity that they would be able to flee and finish their accelerated growth outside the zombie head. These alien creatures and their zombie vessels proved particularly vulnerable to extremes of heat, especially fire, which was the only reliable means of destroying both the corpse and all the aliens gestating within its skull.

This town, and other areas beyond it, were said to be spared an overwhelming infestation of these Parasite Zombies thanks to a group of college students gathered to arms by students Chris Hilton, Cynthia Leighton, and the heroic efforts of law enforcement officer Ray Cameron. According to the report we have in our database, the bulk of these slug-like alien “creeps” were lured into the basement of the college by Cameron, who destroyed them all in a huge explosion, albeit at the cost of his own life.[xxxiv] The small number of remaining creatures (said to have been nesting in the brain of a small domestic dog) were later recovered by a contingent of Ordinance soldiers. 

            As one can see from this article, the category of Alien Zombies encompasses a doubtlessly broad range of sub-categories for these undead beings that have appeared in various reported accounts throughout the decades, most of them too varied to assign official sub-categorical designations to at this point. The only thing the zombies of this general category all have in common with each other is the direct involvement of aliens from one of the many otherdimensional pocket dimensions using unusual but scientifically derived forms of energy and/or chemicals to reanimate human corpses, whether the creation is deliberate or accidental.

                                           Category 5: Psychoid Zombies

            There have also been periodic reports of living zombies which may constitute a category of their own, and perhaps encompass certain sub-categories. This category can be broadly defined as living human beings (and occasionally animals) who are mesmerized into temporarily displaying zombie-like physical characteristics by psychic means, either deliberately by invasive psionic control or inadvertently by way of an ability called enhanced charisma. At other times, the use of variant forms of mind-altering technology that incites an extremely suggestive and delirious state in people can have this effect; sometimes, a combination of hypnotic skill and mechanical innovation are used to achieve this effect. These zombies—hereby designated under the categorical heading of Psychoid Zombies—resemble Pharmacoid Zombies in many ways, but generally lack the presence of a foreign toxic substance in their genesis. Expert hypnotists of exceptional ability, scientists who have mastered mind manipulation via sophisticated technology, and posthuman mutants with well developed psi abilities have been credited with transforming people into this type of living zombie for a variety of purposes in the past.

Examples of this category of zombie have turned up in many files but can be hard to specifically pinpoint. Nevertheless, such examples that have been collected relate to the hypnotic expertise and technical innovation of the Tiboldt family of circus owners; the criminal mutant mesmerists Jason Wyngarde and Vincent Cartis; the mind-altering technological inventions of the demented scientist/engineer Prof. Boris Balkinoff; and the enhanced charisma inadvertently emanated by much beloved Irish TV show host Eoin McLove.[xxxv]

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            It’s the hope of this author that this essay makes clear how the sources behind the creation of zombies can span a much broader range than those differentiating other categories of monsters from each other, with equally prominent examples comprising both mystical and scientific sources. Due to the great variance in the accounts, none of these categories and other definitions should be considered as graven in stone by this article. Further research and theorizing will always be both necessary and very welcome.

Endnotes