zombie survival guide

No idea. I didn't buy the book (but I expect it for a Birthday present!)

Check it out at Barnes & Nobles.
 
More on zombie lore- because you can never be too prepared when dealing with the living dead-
Origin: Haïtian beliefs and supersitions

The word 'voodoo' (vodou, vaudou, vodoun or vodun) derives from the word 'vodu' in the Fon language of Dahomey meaning 'spirit' or 'god’ and describes the complex religious and belief system that exist in Haïti, an island of the West Indies. The foundations of voodoo were established in the seventeenth century by slaves captured primarily from the kingdom of Dahomey, which occupied parts of today's Togo, Benin, and Nigeria in West Africa, it combines features of African religion with the Roman Catholicism of the European settlers. Today over 60 million people practice voodoo worldwide. Religious similar to voodoo can be found in South America where they are called Umbanda, Quimbanda or Candomble. It is widely practiced in Benin, Haiti and within many black communities of the large cities in North America.

Unfortunately, in popular literature and films voodoo has been reduced to sorcery, black witchcraft, and in some cases cannibalistic practices, generating many foreigners' prejudices not only about voodoo but about Haitian culture in general.

The voodoo religion involves belief in a supreme god (bon dieu) and a host of spirits called loa which are often identified with Catholic saints. These spirits are closely related to African gods and may represent natural phenomena — such as fire, water, or wind — or dead persons, including eminent ancestors. They consist of two main groups: the rada, often mild and helping, and the petro, which may be dangerous and harmful. There are two sorts of priests in the traditional voodoo folklore: the houngan or mambo who confine his activities to "white" magic i.e bring good fortune and healing and the bokor or caplata who performs evil spells and black magic, sometimes called "left-handed Vodun". Rarely, a houngan will engage in such sorcery; a few alternate between white and dark magic.

One belief unique to voodoo is the zombie. The creole word “zombi” is apparently derived from Nzambi, a West African deity but it only came into general use in 1929, after the publication of William B. Seabrook's The Magic Island. In this book, Seabrook recounts his experiences on Haiti, including the walking dead. He describes the first 'zombie' he came across in this way:

"The eyes were the worst. It was not my imagination. They were in truth like the eyes of a dead man, not blind, but staring, unfocused, unseeing. The whole face, for that matter, was bad enough. It was vacant, as if there was nothing behind it. It seemed not only expressionless, but incapable of expression."

Haitian zombies were once normal people, but underwent zombification by a "bokor" or voodoo sorcerer, through spell or potion. The victim then dies and becomes a mindless automaton, incapable of remembering the past, unable to recognise loved ones and doomed to a life of miserable toil under the will of the zombie master.

There have been some rare occasions of juju zombies temporarily regaining part of their mental faculties. This rare occurrence has only been observed when a zombie encounters situations that have heavy emotional connections to their mortal lives.

There are many examples of zombies in modern day Haiti. Papa Doc Duvallier the dictator of Haiti from 1957 to 1971 had a private army of thugs called tonton macoutes. These people were said to be in trances and they followed every command that Duvallier gave them. Duvallier had also his own voodoo church with many followers and he promised to return after his death to rule again. He did not come back but a guard was placed at his tomb, to insure that he would not try to escape, or that nobody steal the body. There are also many stories of people that die, then many years later return to the shock and surprise of relatives. A man named Caesar returned 18 years after he died to marry, have three children and die again, 30 years after he was originally buried. Another case involved a student from a village Port-au-Prince who had been shot in a robbery attempt. Six months later, the student returned to his parent’s house as a zombie. At first it was possible to talk with the man, and he related the story of his murder, a voodoo witch doctor stealing his body from the ambulance before he reached hospital and his transformation into a zombie. As time went on, he became unable to communicate, he grew more and more lethargic and died.

A case reported a writer named Stephen Bonsal described a zombie he witnessed in 1912 in this way: a man had at intervals a high fever, he joined a foreign mission church and the head of the mission saw the him die. He assisted at the funeral and saw the dead man buried. Some days later the supposedly dead man was found dressed in grave clothes, tied to a tree, moaning. The poor wretch soon recovered his voice but not his mind. He was indentifed by his wife, by the physician who had pronounced him dead, and by the clergyman. The victim did not recognized anybody, and spent his days moaning inarticulate words.
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http://zombies.monstrous.com/voodoo_zombies.htm

also note-
Haitian Penal Code:

Article 249. 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.
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How would all this zombie survivalism change if they were controlled by someone? As in voodoo, a necromancer of some sort. Then you have the problem of intelligence, which is not generally encountered in zombie infestations.
For killing 'em, I'm all about the rifles...
 
Good question- what if the zombies are under the control of one dude. I think it would be impossible for one guy to control that many zombies.

So what we are really talking about are the tradition Romero, Night of the Living Dead ilk.

Note that the difference is important.

YOu should kill voodoo zombies one way, Romero type zombies another.

It would be embarrassing to get them confused.

Hollywood Zombie

Zombies are highly susceptible to fire, burning these creatures is the most effective way of destroying them. Extreme amounts of electrical current will burn a zombie's flesh, thus consuming it in flames. Zombies can also be dispatched by causing extreme trauma to their brain. This can be accomplished by driving a bullet, a drill, a long knife, a hammer, or some other blunt object into the creature's skull.

If the traditional zombie was easily destroyed by exploding the head but stronger chemical formula makes them more difficult to obliterate. In Braindead, Peter Jackson pushes the concept to its extreme limit. All the bits of flesh remain alive: the top half of a head which has been sliced off by a spade spends the rest of the movie getting kicked around the polished and increasingly bloody floor, blinking wistfully at the goings-on; one character's torso is eaten away, but the rest of the body, connected to the head by its spinal column, still waddles around the room; another zombie, cut in half, spills its guts onto the floor, and those guts then proceed to take on a homicidal life of their own.



Voodoo Zombie

The proper incantation and treatment of a the zombie artefacts such as the voodoo doll can harm the zombie and even destroy it. He can also be put to final rest through the appropriate voodoo ceremony, which forces the loa from its body. When a zombie tastes either salt or meat, he recovers his past personality and becomes aware of his state, immediately returning to the grave.
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Note the complications that might arise if you have one of those zombies where decapitation is just not enough.
 
Damnit just go for the hands, the feet, or the mouth. Without feet they can't walk, no hands they can't grab you, and no teeth....., well they gum you.

One thing I do see missing is how the damage of bullets is always minimized in Hollywood. I mean anything 5.56 or bigger is going to make big holes. Enough holes then flesh starts to cave in on itself. Enough flesh cave-ins equals one fucked up zombie with its lethality severly limited.
 
DarkCorp said:
Damnit just go for the hands, the feet, or the mouth. Without feet they can't walk, no hands they can't grab you, and no teeth....., well they gum you.

One thing I do see missing is how the damage of bullets is always minimized in Hollywood. I mean anything 5.56 or bigger is going to make big holes. Enough holes then flesh starts to cave in on itself. Enough flesh cave-ins equals one fucked up zombie with its lethality severly limited.
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I definately have to agree with you here. Games and movies where you have to shoot them in the head annoys me... Yeah, kill the brain and it stops working, right... But if you shoot something enough, it will not get up again. This always makes me wonder what people are thinking when they say a .50 sniper rifle is so cool... You ever see someone hit by one of those? Imagine it, this round was made to take out tanks in WWI! The human body simply has no chance. Might be good against zombies though, if you line them up. :D - Colt
 
Yeah I have seen the effects of a 50cal round to walls and light armored vehicles. Needless to say if it made a huge hole in brick and concrete it would probably tear huge chunks out of a fleshy torso.

Mail Call on the history channel often depicts what happens when a bullet hits a watermelon (density comparable to human body parts).
 
i have found a solution to the flamethrower... oh how i love PVC...
PVC flame-thrower

anywho, while i only own paintball guns (marbles make excellent ammo), I basicly live in the biggest cache of legal weapons in a 5 mile radius... a hunting nut's house. I have a double barrel in my closet, a m1 garand and 3 more guns in cases(not sure whats in them) in the next room, and a basement and garage full of various shooting supplies. fun stuff...

COME AND GET ME YOU ZOMBIE FUCKS!

EDIT: forgot to mention, we are currenly in the process of building a .50-cal rifle... someone's going to get blowed up
 
Well, so i guess we should all learn some voodoo rituals and carry some salt around, just incase....

I heard people talking about immediate survival, killing the zombies and fleeing, but few people are paying attention to the long run. Where would you flee to? I think small islands could be a good idea, there would be at most a handful of zombies... unless of course, zombies can walk underwater...
 
how fucking hard can it be to use:
Code: 
[url=toodarnlong.urlsR.us]my wonderfull link[/url]

thank you
 
I would get some armour too. I'd like to see a zombie bite through chainmail. What's with the tight clothes? Bad idea.
 
well, unlike my combat armor, it will tale a very long time to make... and im not the machinest of the family... so its really up to him... and we are going to use this book
 
Meh, I'd destroy zombies like I destroy all my enemies: steal their girlfriends and discredit them at their place of work.
 
WarMonger said:
well, unlike my combat armor, it will tale a very long time to make... and im not the machinest of the family... so its really up to him... and we are going to use this book
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Hah. I have you beat. I have this book sitting next to me. Got it just to see if it was total crap or not... And it's not. Unfortunately, it can be homemade... If you have a pretty well-equipped garage. And you guys wonder where these new weapons in the Wastes come from? :roll:

Seriously though, you'd need a small machine shop to make on of these. I'd rather just find a Thompson. :P - Colt
 
Jebus, you are saying you would like to have a zombie girlfriend? Eww...

Don't suppose anyone has heard of the Zombie Role-Playing game Pass the Brain?
 
If I were actually in the Wastes... I would feel bad every time I used something like ammo from before the War. Think about it, whatever you just used is gone forever. Yes, you can make more ammo and more guns, maybe... But it won't be the same. Who will make the Nuka-Cola, the stuff in plastic wrappers that have a shelf life to infinity? - Colt
 
Finally a topic deserving of my zombie hatred.

I got that book for my b-day and it is disappointing and good at the same time. Disappointing because it has the cause of zombies linked to a virus and not supernatural in any way. Good because it gives many tips on zombie survival.

Ok, lets assume that the zombies are George Romero type zombies. This means that they can't climb fences, swim or move fast.

- Shooting them should only ever happen when there are too many of them to handle with melee weapons. Eventually you'll run out of bullets. An axe never gets low on ammo.

- Tight clothing is for your protection. I would also add that you should wear a LOT of clothing and do it in layers. This prevents any bites getting through and breaking the skin.

- Always have a "Zombie Buddy"TM. What is a "Zombie Buddy"TM? A "Zombie Buddy"TM is a person that is fatter and slower than you. You don't have to outrun the zombie menace, just your "Zombie Buddy"TM.

- Since you do't know how long the zombie menace will last make sure you live in a temperate area. No sense in avoin the zombies by travelling to the arctic if you can't live the rest of your days there easily.

- If you live in a big city and the zombie menace is made public you should stay where you are for a few days. the highways will be full of people stuck in traffic snarls and they will, in all likelyhood, not have a "Zombie Buddy"TM. If you give it a few days, you can pick your way out of the city and avoid becoming a zombie while waiting for the jackass in front of you to merge into traffic.

- Zombies never sleep. Until you are away from the population centers you should only sleep a little, and never on the ground/groud floor.

- Zombies only know one tactic: "Brains..." Know the layout of the place you are and come up with plans of attack and, more importantly, means of escape.


That's all of my zombie tactics for now. Remember: zombies aren't your friends, but they may have been.
 
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