Z for Zombie #A to Z Challenge

Yes, we have come to the end of the alphabet in our A to Z Blogging Challenge. There aren’t too many words that start with Z  anyway so I shall write about the first thing that comes to my mind, which is Z for Zombie. As a writer of thrillers I find the idea quite fascinating. In  day-to-day speech, we do use phrases like ” he looked alike a zombie” but what actually does the term mean?

It dates back to Haitian folklore where zombies were animated corpses raised by magical means such as witchcraft. They appear in fiction as writers of horror stories have often used the theme of zombies to create supernatural plots. It was believed that zombies were brought to life from the dead to continue to work as slaves.

In this article, Lakshmi Gandhi writes about the origins of the word, common myths about zombies and closes with  and includes mention of Wade Davis’s 1985 book , “The Serpent and The Rainbow” which became quite controversial.

It is interesting that every culture has stories which involve the dead. Bringing them back to “life” in forms particular to that culture has been written about for hundreds of years. There is something spooky about imagining someone’s soul being in another person’s body.  If this aspect fascinated people hundreds of years ago, do they still hold interest in our modern world? With the advancement of science in so many spheres especially medicine and mental health, is there space  for these old stories in our minds?

If you think there is, you are spot on. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal speaks of how the study of zombies has once again captivated some American campuses.

With this we come to the end of this year’s Blogging A to Z Challenge. As always, it was a delightful experience. I enjoyed visiting many blogs and I do hope at least some of you enjoyed reading my posts made in the course of this year’s event.