Comments on: A medical study of the Haitian zombie

By: juniorfilm

juniorfilm — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 03:19:58 +0000

I think 99.9% of haitian like myself will tell you that the #1 motivation in creating a zombie is justice or revenge. Davis Wade was on to something when he posit that zombification is a form of punishment. Zombifying a person is a very costly enterprise, a process which is beyond the means of the majority of haitians. It’s an elaborate process which demands the resources and the skilled involvement of varied members of the society; not least the most secret organization in afro-carribean culture, the feared Sanpwel or Bizango; secret societies who actually control the process, and carry out the trial. Believe it or not, the target or the accused is judged albeit by a secret court b4 condemnation is warranted. Why would people sometimes ruin themselves to pass someone through the ground, as we say in Haiti. It’s not only to commit a crime but to get away with it. That is the genius and the true purpose of zombification. If you believe someone has wronged you in a way that warrants death, there’s only two way to do it. Killing the person yourself or hire someone to do it. Both ways, you run a high risk of being dealt severely with the law. Late in the 19th century, article 246 of the Haitian penal code stipulated “It shall also be qualified as attempted murder the employment which may be made against any person of substances which, without causing actual death, produce a lethargic coma more or less prolonged. If, after the person had been buried, the act shall be considered murder no matter what result follows.” These were enlightened lawmen, not superstitious negroes. They know it was a drug, understand the effect and grasp the motive of this phenomena. Are there zombies today in haiti, I highly doubt it. The conditions that existed in 18th and 19th century haiti that made this process possible are non existant today. Today, the myth survives.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:44:35 +0000

That’s true, but both groups only know what their peers tell them. Most scientific people don’t know about the Loa, most Haitian kids don’t know about potassium channels. Wouldn’t it be cool if they could take each other seriously?

By: CryptoVille

CryptoVille — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:24:21 +0000

Very interesting! Some of my readers are freaked by what just happened in Miami – with one man eating another man’s face. I read about how the bad drug he was on caused the horrible results, but I was interested to learn more about zombies. Your article was helpful!

By: AnarchyDragon7

AnarchyDragon7 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:33:59 +0000

Interesting article, but it felt cut short. 2 of the 3 were mistaken identity. Which 2? And then most importantly, what of the third? How had he or she come back from the dead? Or been mistaken for dead? What was the reason? Or were there inconclusive results? Was it the tetrodotoxin or was that the one with schizophrenia (who had perhaps just wandered off?) I was really left wondering…

By: Stephen T Casper

Stephen T Casper — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:09:51 +0000

There is a really interesting historical work by Otneil Dror on voodoo death that explains more of the backstory to this post. Dror shows how such studies led to theories about the action of adrenalin and also to the formulation of “sudden unexpected death syndrome.” Well worth checking it out.

By: Grim Crew Presents: Dead Future - Zombie Current Events

Grim Crew Presents: Dead Future - Zombie Current Events — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:11:32 +0000

[...] out more, let me know! Sources for this article are Alex Knapp for Forbes, and vaughanbell from Mind Hacks. The Mind Hacks article in particular has links to the case studies so please check it out. Image [...]

By: The Island of Zombies | PEI Curmudgeon's Blog

The Island of Zombies | PEI Curmudgeon's Blog — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:42:47 +0000

[...] than being entirely mythical, zombies do roam the countryside of Haiti. But on the cultural level, zombies are identified by specific characteristics – they cannot lift [...]

By: Fuyez Vampires! Les Zombies sont dans la place! | Γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Fuyez Vampires! Les Zombies sont dans la place! | Γνῶθι σεαυτόν — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:54:29 +0000

[...] (oui oui c’est possible!): The ethnobiology of voodoo zombification par Mo Costandi et A medical study of the Haitian zombie par Vaughan [...]

By: Two Kinds of Haitian Zombies | Patos Papa

Two Kinds of Haitian Zombies | Patos Papa — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:30:56 +0000

[...] A medical study of the Haitian zombie « Mind Hacks. Despite, but sometimes thanks to, the absence of a functioning government, rich Haitians have [...]

By: Scientifically Studying Real Life Zombies - Forbes

Scientifically Studying Real Life Zombies - Forbes — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:58:04 +0000

[...] two doctors pursued an alternate theory of zombification. This research, brilliantly written up over at Mind Hacks, involved research into three separate case histories. FI was a 30-year-old woman who had died [...]