Zombies Then and Now

If you’re reading this right now, you probably know what a zombie is. In the event that you’re not sure, a bit of background:

Zombies, in general terms, are the living dead; that is, they are people who have died, yet their corpses are animated – and sometimes even still sentient. How the bodies re-animate is different in all forms of popular media, ranging the gamut from magic to viruses or nuclear radiation, to alien and demonic possession.

The origination of zombies comes from Haitian voodoo, where witch doctors would rise a body from the grave to do the doctor’s bidding. Loved ones of the deceased would be horrified to find their relatives shambling about doing the witchdoctor’s bidding. In actual fact the person wasn’t even dead, but had been drugged to appear dead and then hypnotized (or at least persuasively convinced) that they were in fact a zombie, and must obey their new master.

Nowadays there is a popular resurgence of zombies in modern media and culture. George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is credited for this new-found popularity, though the movie was made in 1968. Since then there have been countless movies, books, comics, TV shows, video games, board games, toys, and paraphernalia all surrounding zombies. There’s even an annual “zombie walk” in many cities, where people dress up as zombies and shamble around town.

Even Christians have jumped onto the zombie bandwagon, although they put their own spin on it, of course, in books and sermons and songs. But I’ve called my blog “Stumbling Zombie” to share the things I learn as I stumble from death to life, and from darkness to light.