Why a Zombie Apocolaypse is actually possible?

Ever since the iconic Dawn of the Dead, Zombies have become an essential pop culture reference.

However tales of the undead have been an essential part of our cultural mythos since the ages past. Hell even the bible features a story where the Prophet Ezekiel commands an army of the freaking undead...(The Old Testament prophets were totally badass!)

Heres the passage:
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath [a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.' "

Pretty cool right?....so getting to the point, is it possible that a zombie apocalypse can actually happen?...yea totally!

Read on

1)BRain Parasites A.K.A :
Resident Evil IV/Cold Fear/Half Life etc

What are they?
Parasites that turn victims into mindless, zombie-like slaves are fairly common in nature. There's one called toxoplasmosa gondii that seems to devote its entire existence to being terrifying.

This bug infects rats, but can only breed inside the intestines of a cat. The parasite knows it needs to get the rat inside the cat so the parasite takes over the rat's freaking brain, and intentionally makes it scurry toward where the cats hang out. The rat is being programmed to get itself eaten, and it doesn't even know.

Of course, those are just rats, right?

How it can result in zombies:
Hey, did I mention that half the human population on Earth is infected with toxoplasmosa, and don't know it? Hey, maybe you're one of them. Flip a coin.

Oh, also, they've done studies and shown that the infected see a change in their personality and have a higher chance of going bat# insane.

Chances this could cause a zombie apocalypse:
Humans and rats aren't all that different; thats why they use them to test our drugs. All it takes is a more evolved version of toxoplasmosa, one that could to do us what it does to the rats. So, imagine if half the world suddenly had no instinct for self-preservation or rational thought. Even less than they do now, I mean.




[edit on 9-7-2010 by Leonardo01]

[edit on 9-7-2010 by Leonardo01]

2)An Actual Rage Virus

What is it?
In the movie, it was a virus that turned human beings into mindless killing machines. In real life, we have a series of brain disorders that do the same thing. They were never contagious, of course. Then, Mad Cow Disease came along. It attacks the cow's spinal cord and brain, turning it into a stumbling, mindless attack cow.

And, when humans eat the meat ...

How it can result in zombies:
When Mad Cow gets in humans, they call it Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Check out the symptoms:

* Changes in gait (walking)
* Hallucinations
* Lack of coordination (for example, stumbling and falling)
* Muscle twitching
* Myoclonic jerks or seizures
* Rapidly developing delirium or dementia

Sure, the disease is rare (though maybe not as rare as we think) and the afflicted aren't known to chase after people in murderous mobs. Yet.

But, it proves widespread brain infections of the Rage variety are just a matter of waiting for the right disease to come along.

Chances this could cause a zombie apocalypse:
If the whole sudden, mindless violence idea seems far-fetched, remember that you are just one brain chemical (serotonin) away from turning into a mindless killing machine (they've tested it by putting rats in Deathmatch-style cages and watching them turn on each other). All it would take is a disease that destroys the brain's ability to absorb that one chemical and suddenly it's a real-world 28 Days Later.

So, imagine such an evolved disease, which we'll call Super Mad Cow (or, Madder Cow) getting a foothold through the food supply. Say this disease spreads through blood-on-blood contact, or saliva-on-blood contact. Now you have a Rage-type virus that can be transmitted with a bite.

Just like the movie. With one bite, you're suddenly the worst kind of zombie:

3)Neurogenesis
As seen in ...
Laboratories around the world.

What is it?
You know all that conversy out there about stem cell research? Well, the whole thing with stem cells is that they can basically be used to re-generate dead cells. Particularly of interest to zombologists like ourselves is neurogenesis, the method by which they can re-grow dead brain tissue.

You can see where this is going.

How it can result in zombies:

Science can pretty much save you from anything but brain death; they can swap out organs but when the brain turns to mush, you're gone. Right?

Well, not for long. They're already able to re-grow the brains of comatose head trauma patients until they wake up and walk around again.

Couple that with the new ability to keep a dead body in a state of suspended animation so that it can be brought back to life later, and soon we'll be able to bring back the dead, as long as we get to them quickly enough.
That sounds great, right? Well, this lab dedicated to "reanimation research" (yes, that's what they call it) explains how the process of "reanimating" a person creates a problem. It causes the brain to die off from the outside in. The outside being the cortex, the nice part of you that makes humans human. That just leaves the part that controls basic motor function and primitive instincts behind.

You don't need the cortex to survive; all you need is the stem and you'll still be able to mindlessly walk and eat and enjoy Grey's Anatomy. This is how chickens can keep walking around after they've been beheaded (including one case where the chicken lived for 18 months without a head).

So, you take a brain dead patient, use these techniques to re-grow the brain stem, and you now have a mindless body shambling around, no thoughts and no personality, nothing but a cloud of base instincts and impulse....sort of like those things that haunt your nightmares from Lovecraft's Re-Animator


Your Thoughts.....

(Excerpts from cracked)


[edit on 9-7-2010 by Leonardo01]

I've got two words for you:

"Airborne rabies."

Originally posted by silent thunder
I've got two words for you:

"Airborne rabies."

As far as I know the idea of a human with rabies going crazy and attacking people just doesn't happen, what does happen is the person suffers horribly from seizures and hallucinations, then eventually dies if not treated.
This is in the late stage btw.

[edit on 9-7-2010 by hippomchippo]

reply to post by Leonardo01


Wow. I love a good sci-fi story. Although, The Bible reference you compared it to have no relation. That prophecy is the return of God's people Israel, which has already happened over fifty years ago, and, the return of Jesus at the Second Coming when the 'dead in Christ will rise.'

But, if you want to look into the scientific question as to how the dead would rise? Get me funding and I will research...lol.

reply to post by Leonardo01


Sources and links to research, relevant articles etc? I'd like to read up on some of the diseases.

I think linking CJD to a rage virus scenario is tenuous, dementia sufferers aren't fast.

What are your thoughts on The Matrix?

My thoughts? Bring it. I can dig posting up on the top of a building with an SKS and nearly a thousand rounds of ammo. Then There's always my trusty 22. Got lots of ammo for it too

reply to post by jokei


That is assuming early onset of the symptoms with a more evolved virus. I will post links if you really need them but then again Google can always help you out.

ive seen an article saying these exact same things plus more i think, but this wouldn't result in a zombie apocalypse technically rather an infected apocalypse e.g. 28 days/weeks later

reply to post by hippomchippo


They also no longer enjoy a nice glass of water.

Rense did a piece on the worldwide growth of rabies rates the other day here it is;

www.rense.com...

I read in FHM years ago about a parasite that comes from cats gets into a human host and burrows into the centre of your brain gradually altering your personality. That's where the old crazy cat lady comes in. Clearly now that I'm a bit older it was obviously one of those horrible parasites you mention in the OP. Man I really hate parasites they totally freak me out.

Originally posted by bowdyyz69
ive seen an article saying these exact same things plus more i think, but this wouldn't result in a zombie apocalypse technically rather an infected apocalypse e.g. 28 days/weeks later

The "infected" in 28 days/weeks later may not be zombies per se but they essentially serve the same purpose...they are the closest things that you can realistically have to a zombie


[edit on 9-7-2010 by Leonardo01]

reply to post by Leonardo01


If you could somehow weaponise the parasites then you have trouble. Sort of like 6 weeks before operations you drop in a little present then by the time you attack you've got them all going nuts at each other.

Sort of like Jacobs Ladder only use it on the enemy.

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


Yea I am well aware of those. I believe its been scientifically documented or something...all you have to do to contract the damn parasite is pat the cat and say "Nice kitty.here you go muffins"

reply to post by Leonardo01


I'd like the links please - it's good practice on here to use them whenever you're using external sources. Some people will think plaigarism, I just link to be able to do further reading if I find something interesting.

reply to post by jokei

There's a good one, sums up the suicide rats nicely;

www.sciencedaily.com...

Originally posted by Leonardo01
Ever since the iconic Dawn of the Dead, Zombies have become an essential pop culture reference. Blah blah yada yada yada.
Even less than they do now, we mean.

Ok first you quote scripture and then you end this story with we….we?
Are you with the jehovas witnesses?
No I jest.
But neat story, I had also read somewhere that we are virtual aircraft carriers for viruses and bugs and all that would need to happen is for one genome or dna strand to mutate and we could wipe out the world, neatly terrifying thought eh?
The chances of any of this happening is 3centillion x 911 to the nth power to happen.
but, hey we happened too.
Now my question, do you think all of those single cells used to float around in their swill pits and theorize, hey did you know if something happened we could evolve into hairy arm and legged abominations?!

reply to post by jokei


Heres the link:

en.wikipedia.org...

Contrary to belief cats aren't the actual source of the infection.



[edit on 9-7-2010 by Leonardo01]

Drugs... not a virus. Ever seen someone on PCP?? They can take a bunch of bullets and keep coming unless you get a head shot or other instantly fatal shot. They dont feel pain and they are extraordinarily strong and dangerous. ( I worked in an inner city ER for years.. we already have zombies folks... due to drugs ) Then again.. theyre mindless and stupid. Their core temp rises and they usually disrobe ( same with meth and some narcotics) .. easy to spot a naked raving loony running about frothing at the mouth and wanting to rip you apart with their bare hands.. or fly like a birdie out of windows.... or chase cars on the freeway. Most of the time they just self destruct .. like many folks do with certain diseases and exposure to toxins that effect the brain. Even folks with marburg and ebola ( and other hemorrhagic fevers) have a little time frame that produces a real "zombie" before they start to bleed out and crash. Again, no response to pain or physical discomfort.. and bizarre violent behavior.

Thats the beauty of the zombie apocalypse... no organization in the brain.. its an easily winnable fish in a barrel "war" LOL!

If there were ever a "zombie virus" I really do believe it would be so "hot" that it would burn itself out aka kill its host too quick for a large scale outbreak.

Don`t think for a minute that the good ole Deparment of the Army is not working on some things at Fort Detrick like airborne weaponized rabies, ebola, Spanish Flu and the sorts. That is one scary place and I am sure there are many more like them out there where they do nothing but experiment with these things.

True, but why weaponize anything.. we have many very natural weapons that we have no need to manipulate. Several in fact. One is Smallpox. ....Bubonic Plague. CHolera or dysentary, etc. Plenty of low tech nasties out there that can do the job. Smallpox unnerves me. Hell, the white plague.. TB, could do a nice job. This is why I do not believe that any enemy nation is working like Dix works to use it on us now. If they wanted to... a few folks with a few different strains of common and deadly diseases on planes in several cities, events, schools, etc would do nicely. No need for MacGruber-esque nonsense.

The best bet really is a lower resperatory disease or type of pneumonia. If you COULD weaponize something along the line of h1n1 but more virulent.. youd hit paydirt. You can bet we have it. If you can make it move fast , spread readily and at LEAST have a 60% kill rate.. no need for anything else. Heck, even a 40% kill rate would do the job. Some say the h1n1 scare was an attempt or dry run. I dont believe in attempts... if it comes we will know it.