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Vodoun (also Voodoo; Vodun) 275
living people who behave like unconscious
automatons are sometimes referred to as
“zombies.” Other than in the movies, the bestknown
zombies are the dead people who appear
to have been brought back to life by a
Vodoun/voodoo magician. The term “zombie”
seems to be derived from the African word
nzambi, meaning “spirit of the dead.” Seemingly
supernatural, this form of “zombification” has a
natural explanation.
Wade Davis, an ethnobiologist, studied Haitian
zombies and found that they were actually individuals
who were given drugs that made them
appear dead, and then buried alive. The victim is
given a strong poison, either through an open
wound or in food. The potion, usually a powder,
contains various toxic animal and plant products—including
such natural poisons as bufotoxin
and tetrodotoxin—that induce a state that appears
like death. The sorcerer later utilizes other
substances that revitalize the victim.
The victim who has received the potion experiences
malaise, dizziness, and a tingling that soon
becomes a total numbness. He or she then experiences
excessive salivating, sweating, headaches,
and general weakness. Both the blood pressure
and the temperature of the body drops, and the
pulse is quick and weak. This is followed by diarrhea
and regurgitation. One experiences respiratory
distress, until the entire body turns blue.
Sometimes the body goes into wild twitches, after
which it is totally paralyzed, and the person falls
into a coma in which he or she appears to be dead.
The sorcerer retrieves the victim from the
grave, and revives her or him with a potion
referred to as “zombi’s cucumber.” Disoriented,
afraid, and psychologically or physically abused,
the revived victim is given a new name, and
becomes the de facto slave of the sorcerer.
Zombies are traditionally put to work in the fields,
although some are said to do other kinds of work.
They need minimal nourishment. It is said,
however, that they cannot be fed salt, which activates
their speaking ability as well as an instinct
that takes them back to their tombs.
It should finally be mentioned that
Vodoun/voodoo indirectly received some negative
media attention in the wake of the Matamoros
murders in the late 1980s, after the bodies of a
University of Texas student and the rivals of a
drug-running gang were found buried on a
Mexican ranch. News media analysis of the incident
ran the full gamut of speculative pseudoexplanations,
referring to the Matamoros “cult”
members as Satanists, or as practitioners of everything
from Santeria to Vodoun. One sensationalist
potboiler on the incident bore the subtitle, The
Nightmare Tale of Voodoo, Drugs and Death in
Matamoros. And even a story in Time magazine,
normally cautious about casually tossing around
negative stereotypes, referred to the group as a
“voodoo-practicing cult of drug smugglers”
whose rituals were intended to “win Satanic
protection.” Perhaps needless to say, the
Matamoros drug smugglers had no actual connection
with Vodoun, much less anything resembling
authentic Satanism.
See also Matamoros Murders; Palo; Possession and
Exorcism; Wheatley, Dennis
For Further Reading:
Cohen, Daniel. Voodoo, Devils and the New Invisible
World. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1972.
Davis, Wade. The Serpent and the Rainbow. New
York: Simon & Schuster/Warner Books, 1985.
Denning, Melita, and Osborne Phillips. Voudou
Fire: The Living Reality of Mystical Religion. St.
Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publishing, 1979.
Devillers, Carole. “Of Spirits and Saints: Haiti’s
Voodoo Pilgrimages.” National Geographic
(March) 1985.
Eliade, Mircea, ed. Encyclopedia of Religion. New
York: Macmillan, 1987.
Gibson, Walter B. Witchcraft. New York: Grosset and
Dunlap, 1973.
Rigaud, Milo. Secrets of Voodoo. San Francisco: City
Lights Books, 1969.
Wheatley, Dennis. The Devil Rides Out. 1935.
London: Hutchinson & Co., 1963.