Zombie lore has been around for ages. Throughout history, horror movies, video games, and novels have portrayed the undead in a terrifying light. What we don’t know however, is whether zombies are actually alive or dead.

For example, vodou zombies are known to have fictionally existed in Haiti. By using a host body, corpses can be used as spiritual entities or as a slave laborers. In 1982, Wade Davis traveled to the island to investigate. He concluded that people can be put into a trance like state when certain powders were released into the bloodstream. From there, the human would enter a hypnotic state.

As fictional characters, zombies have been used in many movies and in many forms including “Night of the Living Dead”, “Zombieland” and “Resident Evil.” Each of these movies reimagined interpretations of the Hollywood zombie.

In the first Resident Evil movie, the T-virus contaminated Raccoon City after it was let out of the Hive complex. To combat this, Alice, the film’s protagonist, must retrieve the anti-virus before the remaining survivors becomes infected.

Recently, “The Walking Dead” has become a popular show about zombies. After the zombie apocalypse, civilians near Atlanta come together to fight for their lives against the undead hordes. A walker bite is very infectious and leads to certain death and reanimation. A cure is yet to be discovered.

In video games, Nazi zombies were featured in “Call of Duty: World at War”, “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and “Dead Rising”. By killing zombies and by barricading openings, players accumulate points to unlock new areas, buy weapons and acquire power-ups. After each round is completed, stronger and faster zombies appear. Zombie survival maps focus on infected Nazis, Japanese and Russian soldiers, scientists and American military personnel.

Several zombie survival guides exist to inform people of what to do in the event of an outbreak. Whether the attack is health related or is connected with vodou curses, the American people should be prepared.