Do you have some time to spare and wish to delve into the mysteries of Hatian zombies? Mind you, these zombies are not the flesh eating monsters that pre-occupy our attention here, but rather half-dead / half-alive people who are enslaved in a emotionless life of servitude (sounds like my job). Popular blogging site Boing Boing is linking to a pretty powerful story of a mother who desperately tries to recover her daughter after she has been zombified. Here’s a synopsis from Boing Boing:

It is incredible. Even if you are familiar with Wade Davis, or have read The Serpent and the Rainbow, or seen the mediocre movie, Berlinski’s story is still incredible. In addition to the background on how zombies may or may not be created, it’s like a mystery that plays out in the byzantine world of zombie administration, which sounds like an episode of Trueblood, with regional hierarchies of Chief Sorcerers and Departmental Chiefs and Presidents and Emperors and Queens and their sorcerer secretaries. Not to mention the zombie passports — documents that allow one to create, hold, or move your zombie from region to region. (Yes, such things exist; there are pictures.)

and here’s a snip from the article:

The Haitian zombie, Davis argues, is the product of a series of terrifying experiences, all specific to the cultural context of rural Haiti. First comes the overwhelming trauma of having been buried alive. Clairvius Narcisse reported total lucidity through the entire ordeal. Upon removal from the coffin, the would-be zombie is fed a hallucinogenic drug from the plant Datura stramonium, locally known by the suggestive name concombre zombi. At the same time, the victim is given a ferocious beating by his captors. The final touch is the total rejection of the zombie by his own community. The cumulative effect is the destruction of the zombie’s will — what the Haitians call the “ti bon ange,” or the good little angel, the unseen thing that gives personality and resolve to each individual soul. The victim is now a zombie, and he knows he is now a zombie: He has fallen into a well-known trap from which no man or woman escapes.

The zombie is now like a living corpse.

Powerful stuff.

The Best Zombie Story of the Year (boingboing.com <- new window)