Prepare to delve into the uncanny realm of the undead. We're about to explore some of the most intriguing instances of 'zombies' in the real world. Brace yourself for a journey that blurs the line between fiction and reality.
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a species of fungus that infects, controls, and kills carpenter ants (Camponotus castaneus), native to North America
The parasitic fungus takes control of the insect’s mind, altering its behavior to make the propagation of fungal spores more likely.
- Researchers have found that a high percentage of the cells in a host were fungal cells.
Case Studies
A 53-year-old woman who “was complaining that she was dead, smelled like rotting flesh, and wanted to be taken to a morgue so that she could be with dead people.”
- An elderly man who believed that his organs, including his brain, had stopped working and the house in which he lived was slowly but steadily falling apart.
The Reanimated Virus
In 2014, researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at Aix-Marseille Université in France dug a fascinating organism out of the Siberian permafrost: a so-called giant virus, about 30,000 years old, named Pithovirus sibericum.
- The size of giant viruses, as well as the fact that they contain such a large amount of DNA, can make them particularly dangerous.
Human Zombies?
Two researchers have published a study paper in which they analyzed the cases of three individuals from Haiti whose communities had identified as zombies.
- Dr. Roland Littlewood and Dr. Chavannes Douyon examined the three “zombies,” and found that they had not been the victims of an evil spell.
- Medical reasons could explain their zombification.
