Zombies have become a fixture of popular culture. We’re facing a veritable invasion. They’re everywhere in films, TV series and comics, in ever richer and more varied forms and contexts. But are there any real cases of zombies? What’s the probability of a human being becoming an undead? 🧟

Whether you’re a zombie fanatic or simply looking for a more “scientific” answer, welcome to our online store. Death, skulls, zombies and everything related to this sometimes dark and often offbeat universe are our specialty. Today, as you may have guessed, we’re going to answer that legitimate question: “Do zombies exist?”

After reading this article, you’ll be able to clearly distinguish between an undead, a zombie, a reanimated corpse, as well as other terms sometimes confused. You’ll also learn why zombies exist (in a way) and how to protect yourself from them!


Let’s get to the heart of the matter 😉

Origin of Zombies

The word “zombie” (originally spelt “zombi”) appeared in the English language in the 19th century when the poet Robert Southey mentioned it in his “History of Brazil”. According to the dictionary, the word comes from the Louisiana Creole or Haitian Creole “zonbi”, and is related to the term “nzúmbe”, meaning ghost. 👻
The word refers to creatures in Haitian folklore that were originally simply ghosts. Over time, however, the concept evolved to refer to a person rendered unconscious by a sorcerer, ending up in a state of death while still animated, thus becoming the sorcerer’s slave.

Today, people use the word “zombie” much more loosely and often metaphorically, to refer to any person or object considered “strange”, moving slowly and ignoring its surroundings.

But do zombies, or undead-like beings, really exist in nature? And if so, what are they and how do they arrive at this state of “neither dead nor alive”? And can humans become zombies too?

Are Zombies Real?

Definition of “Zombie”

Let’s start by taking a moment to think about what we’re talking about. The meaning of the term “zombie” has evolved over the years and has been associated with many concepts. These include slavery, voodoo, reincarnation, ghosts, plague, and sometimes even radiation and infection. 🩸
Zombies can be reanimated dead, completely unconscious human beings or even totally supernatural (and therefore invented) beings. In modern zombie fiction, they tend to be of the reanimated variety. The vast majority are slow, wandering and uncontrollable. Some may retain some memory, personality or even intelligence, while others exhibit none of this and simply appear to be utterly idiotic, with human flesh as their sole objective. 🔪

Not all zombies are motivated by the consumption of human brains, not all transmit their disease by bite (sometimes it’s spread by airborne viruses or disease-carrying insects) and not all are of human origin (zombie dogs are a good example).

Are Zombies Real?

Zombies Exist

Yes, zombies really do exist! But not in the way we know. We’re talking about “zombie ants” here. And that’s a start!
Because of their rudimentary brains and immune systems, the little creatures are more vulnerable to parasites that force them to lose control. But don’t be too quick to rejoice… more complex animals, including humans, are not immune to parasitic mind control. Indeed, the mechanism that leads to the transformation of the ants mentioned is also part of us. 🧐

How does it work?

As an ant, this animal can ingest parts of a parasitic fungus called “Ophiocordyceps unilateralis”. The ant soon begins to walk in a disoriented manner, and then, unlike uninfected ants, moves away from its fellow creatures by climbing a tree or twig, eventually falling over. The fungus acts inside the ant, modifying its behavior and actions, until it kills it. 🐜

How does this happen?

Through chemicals! Specifically, chemicals that interact with the ant’s nervous system (including its brain). We all have nervous systems with chemical receptors, which means that any parasite simply has to create the right chemical mix and introduce it into our bodies to control us. This is more difficult for larger, more complex creatures like humans, but this phenomenon may not be limited to zombie ants alone.

There’s a world of plants and animals that take control of other species, turning them into mindless slaves…
See our infographic on zombie ants.

Let’s move on to more complex examples. Let’s take a look at the worms that manipulate crickets. Gordian worms” live for months inside the cozy body of a cricket. Then, thanks to their influence, the crickets seek out water and jump in – a dangerous activity for the crickets, who thus abandon their habitat. The worms hide and lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch, the worms sometimes move on to an intermediate host – insects like mosquitoes that feed on the larvae – until they in turn are eaten by a cricket… and so on. Like ants, the mechanism used by the worm to control its host is the creation of chemicals that affect the cricket’s central nervous system.

Are Zombies Real?

Zombies and Toxoplasma

If you’ve ever had a cat or been in contact with undercooked meat, you could be carrying a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. About a third of the population are carriers. This parasite can cause an infection known as toxoplasmosis, which is generally considered benign in most people. However, it can lead to complications in pregnant women.
There is also some evidence to suggest that adults infected with the parasite may exhibit personality changes such as greater recklessness, which can lead to a greater propensity to take reckless risks and thus death. The extent of human personality changes caused by toxoplasmosis is still being studied, but we do know that it can be devastating for mice. Infected mice and rats lose their fear of cats, making them more likely to be eaten. 🐁

The fact that toxoplasma, a single-celled organism, can alter the minds of mammals suggests that we’re more likely than we think to be affected by parasite-induced personality changes. So it’s not impossible to imagine parasites capable of making us aggressive, diminishing our repulsion to cannibalism, or even giving us a slow gait and a blank stare… 🧟‍♂️

Are Zombies Real?

Human Zombies and Diseases

Let’s turn now to diseases whose symptoms in humans are more visible. What about coordination problems, tremors and jerky limb movements? The symptoms of kuru, an incurable disease found in the tribal regions of Papua New Guinea, may resemble those of zombies. But it’s actually an inverted form of zombie disease, since it’s human cannibalism that causes it, rather than a disease leading to cannibalism. (So, in the event of an apocalypse, think twice before considering cannibalism as a solution… it could turn you into a zombie)…
Kuru is worth mentioning in the context of zombies, not only because of its links with cannibalism and its zombie-like symptoms, but also because it is the first prion disease (diseases that attack the nervous system) known in humans. Other prion diseases include the best-known variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which causes rapid degeneration of the brain. 🧠 Symptoms such as dementia, memory loss, personality changes, psychosis, jerky movements, difficulty walking and involuntary movements are frightening and zombie-like!

Prion diseases work by affecting the nervous system, and prions themselves are small, deformed proteins that transform other proteins to spread throughout the body. It can sometimes take decades for the symptoms of these diseases to appear, but they eventually manifest themselves catastrophically and are still incurable to this day. What’s more, you don’t have to eat another human being to contract a prion disease. It can be transmitted through the consumption of contaminated meat, blood transfusions or the use of unsterilized medical equipment. 💉

Are Zombies Real?

Zombies and the Rage Virus

Looking for potential aggressive zombies in the real world, we come to the “rabies virus”, which some claim to be the virus that inspired the modern zombie genre. Rabies affects mammals such as cats, dogs, cows and… humans. 😵

Rabies works by also infecting the nervous system. Symptoms such as violence, inability to move parts of the body, confusion and loss of consciousness closely mirror modern zombie manifestations. What’s more, like kuru and VMCJ, rabies leads to death. However, this strategy of global zombie domination is not sustainable. Even so, it’s possible that rabies could one day turn into something else. If it spreads more rapidly or results in slower death, or no death at all, then we could be facing a disease very similar to zombies!

Are Zombies Real?

Are Human Zombies Possible?

The examples mentioned above answer the question of whether a sufficiently severe loss of self-control can lead to an undead-like state. Most of the time, this is a “contagion” that can make sufferers aggressive. However, it can be argued that none of these examples really resembles the undead state as depicted in zombie movies.
The zombie ant may continue to walk until it dies, but without any goal of killing or harming others. Mice modified by toxoplasma may have lost part of their former identity, but they remain alive (until eaten by felines). And when humans with kuru or rabies succumb to the virus, they don’t come back from the dead…

Medical advances have prolonged our lives and changed our definition of death: resuscitation, defibrillation, surgery, coma revival… However, these medical interventions have nothing to do with returning from the dead. Although near-death trauma can change us, no resuscitated person has become a zombie.

That’s why, having provided all this information, we can state unequivocally that (human) zombies don’t exist!

Are Zombies Real?

Become the Zombie of your Dreams

Now you know all the secrets about being a zombie or not. You know that the undead exist, but not among humans. You’ve also just learned how a simple virus could turn the entire population into an army of people eager to devour each other… 😈


Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *