Question: What is the definition of a zombie? Are they actually possible, or at least to the extent that they would walk around eating us and the only way to kill them is to destroy the brain. if not, where did the idea even come from, and why does the world seem so obsessed with them? There are that many films and programs out there its almost as if some people want a zombie apocalypse to actually happen!

Simone Sturniolo answered on 21 Jun 2013:

Ahhh, but there IS truth behind the legend! “Zombie” is an haitian word. It refers to a concept of Voodoo, a “reanimated corpse” who acts as a slave for a witch-doctor. Of course, there’s no such thing as revived dead and witch doctors, but zombies did really exist. They were poor blokes who, after ending in the hands of some “sorcerer” – who were actually just men who knew their way with local herbs and drugs – were poisoned and entered a state of apparent death which caused them permanent brain damage. When awakened from this state, they were only mindless puppets for the one who kept on drugging them. They were perfectly normal humans, but being basically insensitive to pain they could appear to be “more resistant” than normal people. This is where the idea comes from. The movies borrowed it and turned it into a not-so-veiled metaphor of the effect modern society has on people. As to why they are so fascinating to so much people… I wonder. Maybe there’s a lot of general fear for the future (with environmental problems, economic crisis, and so on), and people imagines a zombie apocalypse in order to drive the real fear away with a fictitious one? I wouldn’t know. I’ve always preferred vampires over zombies – they are way more refined.