1) The document discusses the history of reported zombie attacks from ancient times through modern day and explores what biological factors like viruses or prions could cause a real zombie pandemic. 2) Experts note that a mutated prion like that which causes mad cow disease could theoretically cause humans to become violent if transmitted between people. 3) While fictional zombie stories are popular entertainment, the modern concept of a zombie outbreak is grounded in real scientific knowledge about how diseases and pandemics spread.

1. The Evolving Zombie
And 21st Century Developments

2. The Unsuspecting Masses
Are Generally Unaware of the…

3. Recorded Zombie Attacks Through History
Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

4. What Would a Zombie Attack Look Like?
No one can say for certain what an apocalypse of
zombies or a zombie attack would look like.
Nonetheless, the accounts in Max Brooks‟ The Zombie
Survival Guide leave one reaching for more:
1073 A.D. JERUSALEM
“An unknown source caused an outbreak of fifteen
zombies in Jaffa, a city on the coast of Palestine.”
A man named Dr. Ibrahim Obeidallah restrained a
victim, watched her die and reportedly reanimate
(Obeidallah reportedly proved death occurred
scientifically , yet „function‟ persisted)
In 1099, Christian knights beheaded Obeidallah as a
Satan worshipper.
Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Image Source: Halfeatenzombies

5. Zombie Attacks Continue
Please Don‟t Tap the Glass!
Brooks Writes:
Marco!
1281 A.D. CHINA
“
The Venetian explorer Marco Polo wrote in
his journal that during one visit to the
emperor‟s summer palace of Xandu, Kublai
Khan displayed a severed zombie head
preserved in a jar of clear alcoholic fluid…
Polo!
The head, the Khan stated, had been taken
by his grandfather, Genghis, when he
returned from his conquests in the West.
Polo wrote that the head was aware of their
presence. It even watched them with nearly
decomposed eyes. When he reached out to
touch it, the head snapped at his fingers.
” Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

6. Zombie Attacks Continue…
A Contemporary Example:
2002 A.D., ST. THOMAS,
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
The now legendary zombie that washed ashore
on the northeast coast of the island, skinless and
waterlogged, pursued onlookers until police
arrived.
“Although curiosity kept them close,” writes
Brooks, “the crowd continued to retreat from
the approaching ghoul.”
Two rounds to the chest had no effect. After
attacking a boy who came too close, the zombie
was eventually killed by a civilian who shot the
creature in the head.
Source: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Image Source: welovethedark

7. Then What’s a Zombie?
Well clearly it depends on
who you ask and when:
At a time, they were voodoo.
Then at another, a fun zombie
Halloween Costume or a solid horror
flick.
According to the foremost Zombie
research authority in the world,
Matt Mogk of the
Zombie Research Society,
the modern zombie enters the room
when knowledge is highest in virology,
epidemiology and bacteriology. That‟s
now…And highest even among the
average citizen.
It is the externalization and stark reality
of the possibility of pandemic..
Image Source: “Zombie Crowd Control” by Josh Jensen

8. More From Matt Mogk
“
Anybody who tells you they
know exactly what the coming
zombie plague is going to look
like is destined to be wrong. We
don‟t have a zombie we can put
on a table and dissect…
Anybody who says zombies are
going to be dumb and slow or
alive and fast; inevitably they‟re
Simply put, science compels one to consider the
going to be wrong.
”
possibilities and at once, admit the answer
cannot be pinpointed.
In an age of endless biological advancement, the
theory and questions linger.
Image Source: “Run ! zombies are
on their way...” by Frédéric DUPONT
from Yerres, France What could cause such a pandemic?

9. Would it be…
Bacterial?
Viral?

10. Or the Dreaded Variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD)?
(That’s Mad Cow in People – One bad protein)

11. Ask the Experts
Matt Mogk talks prions:
“We want to know as much as we can
theoretically before it actually hap-
pens…Virologists and epidemiologists
[say] Mad Cow Disease is caused by…a
prion…a mutated protein. So it‟s not a
virus… The symptoms of Mad Cow in
people have been evolving over the past
few years. And we don‟t really know
why the protein itself is evolving.
”

12. The Medical Community Knows Prions, Too
According to NewsMedical.net:
“ The mis-folded form of the prion protein has
been implicated in a number of diseases
variety of mammals, including bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also
in a
known as "mad cow disease") in cattle and
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.
“ All known prion diseases affect
structure of the brain or other neural
the
tissue, and all are currently untreatable and
are always fatal. In general usage, prion
refers to the theoretical unit of infection.
”

13. The End Game
“
There are new indications that
[vCJD] can be transferred
from blood to blood,” says
Matt. “So this notion that if I
have vCJD and go violently
insane and attack…and bite
you or scratch you…you will
for sure get it, and you will
attack people.
”
Whether proteomic, parasitic
or viral, there are many shapes
of behavior changing
„biological glitches‟ – take
these poor critters at their
word (next slide)

14. Parasites Lost
• Zombie snails – parasite creates
pulsating tentacles to draw in a
bird host.
• Zombie rats – parasite draws rats
to cat smell, to draw in a cat
host.
• Zombie ants – another
behavioral control parasite

15. So, are Bath Salts our ‘Parasite’?
We‟ve all heard about the terrible bath
salts “zombie” incident:
• Though chilling and disturbing,
cannibalism and chemically-induced
insanity are not zombieism

16. Simply Put…
The modern Zombie is contagion…
Fortunately, insanity is not!
Image Source: Halfeatenzombies

17. Just Remember…
To each his or her own…
But never forget the Zombie Research Society
tagline:
“What you don‟t
know can eat you”

18. Works Cited
Brooks, Max. The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the
Living Dead. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
Dupont, Frédéric. “Run ! zombies are on their way...“
Halfeatenzombies
Jensen, Josh. “Zombie Crowd Control”
Mogk, Matt. Interview Aug. 24, 2012.
NewsMedical.net, “What is a Prion?”
welovethedark