Haitian Zombies, Research Paper Example

Zombies have been featured in multiple films as a source of fictionalized horror, but most people are unaware of the genuine significance of zombies in the country of Haiti. The true existence of zombies is a subject of much documentation and research. True cases of possible zombies exist and have been recorded and investigated. The following essay will be an expository piece documenting the accounts and preliminary investigative materials regarding the existence of zombies in Haiti.

One of the most prominent investigators of zombification is Wade Davis, who has examined the credibility of Clairvius Narcisse, a well-known case used to lend credibility to the  claim that zombies exist. Narcisse was a young man who ‘died’ in a hospital in Deschapelles, Haiti in 1962 (Webster.edu, 2001). Eighteen years later, Narcisse reappeared with the claim that he was a zombie who had escaped (Ibid). The creation of zombies is said to be the combinative  effects of culture and drugs, the so-called ‘controlling’ mechanism of Bizango societies used to maintain order (Ibid).

In the account given by the researcher, Davis, his findings affirmed the existence of very few zombies. The creation of zombies was accomplished with poison powder used on a person who has entered a state that is near-death; the person is then placed in a drug-induced stupor, controlled by the houngan. After a time, the houngan revive the person and Voodoo priests have control over the creation of the ‘zombie’ as members of the Bizango secret society. The creation of a zombie is a punishment upon that person because of wrongs committed against the Bizangos.

For many years, the subject of zombies has been the focus of many popular horror movies and books.   These works of fiction have created many misleading ideas about zombies; most people, in fact, believe that the idea of zombies is completely unreal and merely the vehicle of directors and producers who wish to make ‘scary stories’.   It is interesting, therefore, to delve deeper into this very real phenomenon and to realize that Davis was actually able to defend his beliefs in credible ways.   He was careful to respond to the criticism of Kao and Yasumoto and to counter their two primary objections to his work.

These criticism were mainly two:  that Davis reported as evidence a “personal communication” from a researcher named Rivier, and this was later proved not to be intended as an official opinion. Even more significantly, however, was the second objection that Davis’s sample did not contain enough tetrodoxin to impact human beings. While it is undoubtedly true that Davis might have been slightly premature in his excitement over findings, this cannot take away from the significance of what he actually proved.

Davis argued that studying tetrodoxin alone is a mistake because of three basic reasons.  The first is that the powders are not made according to any preset or exact formula.  In a largely new field of exploration, every aspect of the work had a trial and error basis.  He also argues that the psychobiological hypothesis is only one ingredient of zombification.  In addition, he responds to Kao and Yasumoto’s criticism of the “sample D” as only one of the eight powders which contained tetrodoxin and that the amount was insignificant by arguing that an absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence.   He believes that people should be more open to ideas instead of leaping to find fault, especially in an area of knowledge for which so few people are even the most basic kind of expert.

The study conducted by Davis certainly isn’t the only one that has been completed regarding zombification. Tourists and soldiers visiting Haiti for even a short time will hear many accounts of the practices involving potions and black magic voodoo. Another famous case of a person supposedly coming back from the dead is that of Felicia Felix-Mentor who had ‘died’ in 1907 and returned to the living twenty years later. Once again, this case was investigated and drugs were found to have induced the death-like state.

The practice of zombification has been fictionalized often by horror movies and pop culture to the point at which most people are not aware of the reality of the practice. As further study goes on, more about the reasons for the process as well as the specifics behind the cultish practices will be learned.

References

Davis, Wade. Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie. The University of North Carolina Press, 1988