The Full Zombie

A comprehensive exploration of the cultural history, science, and ethics of the Haitian zombie

December 01, 2009

What Davis Actually Said About the Haitian Zombie Creation.

The following bracketed annotation paraphrases what Wikipedia stages as an introduction to the Haitian zombie.

{In 1937, Wikipedia writes, while researching folklore in Haiti, Zora Neale Hurston was introduced to a middle age woman, Felicia Felix-Mentor, who was believed to be a real zombie on accounts that she had died when she was 29 years old, been buried, then came back from the dead under mysterious conditions. At the time of her death, it was rumored that "powerful people" (meaning voodooists) using "powerful drugs," i.e, zombie powder or potion, did her in. Unfortunately, Hurston claimed, no one would come forward to corroborate these rumors or to provide further information concerning the circumstances of her death. Nevertheless, she confidently asserted that the woman she saw was without doubt a real zombie, and, on account of her observation, she prophesized that,

 "... If science ever gets to the bottom of Voodoo in Haiti and Africa, it will be found that some important medical secrets, rather than its gestures of ceremony, give it its power."

Then, in an apparent attempt to put Hurston's musing in context, Wikipedia writes, "Several decades later, Wade Davis presented a pharmacological case for zombies in two books, The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie" (1988) and claims that Davis's investigation showed that a living person can indeed be made to become a zombie with the help of two special powders...."The first powder, which contains Tetradotoxin (TTX) enters the bloodstream usually via a wound. The second powder is composed of dried plants of the Datura family which have dissociative, neurological properties. Together, these two powders ... induce a death-like trance at which point the victim loses all his power and falls under the complete control of the bokor."}

The Full Zombie counterargument:

The Hurston's quotation followed by a narrative that totally misrepresents Davis's claims regarding the Haitian zombie leaves the reader wih the false impression that zombification, as demonstrated by Davis, is the by-product of a medical or pharmacological intervention. In fact, the pharmacological theory of zombification has been discredited as soon as it became public knowledge. Furthermore, if Voodoo is truly a religion as it is claimed to be, how can it be said that "medical secrets" held in the making of zombies, a heinous crime under Haitian  law, will ultimately prove to be the source of its power? How can we speak of religion and criminology in the same breath? Seriously, what is the rationale behind that quotation?

Wikipedia totally misrepresents what Davis claims to be the true nature and pathogenesis of the zombification process. Indeed, stung by the worldwide criticism (2) of his Tetradotoxin-theory of zombification, Davis effectively jettisoned that theory and suggested that zombification should instead be regarded as a psychologically-, rather than a pharmacologically-induced phenomenon. According to this so-called "psychogenic theory," the process leading to the creation of a full-fledged zombie evolves in four distinct phases (Davis, pp 197-212.) The first phase, the most important, he said, begins with placing the targeted individual under a magic spell which initiates a state of fear that becomes increasingly overwhelming. Once this is instituted by the houngan, the individual begins a gradual withdrawal from society along with a psychological transformation of his inner-self whereby he becomes more and more alienated not only from his family and circle of friends, but also from himself. He ends up in a state of total inter- and intra-personal alienation, walking around literally like a "zombie," estranged from the entire surrounding community. It is this process of self-alienation that Davis calls zombification (Phase 2).  It is at the end of that phase that the Tetradotoxin-laced powder (Zombie-powder) is supposedly administered (phase 3) to give the zombified individual the appearance of a corpse, thereby tricking his family into burying him. Then, under the cover of darkness, the individual is disinterred and, supposedly, he is given a herbal concoction containing mind-altering drugs of the Datura family which helps to keep him in a state of controlled stupor, characteristic of the zombie. Finally, he is taken away amidst a voodoo ritual (phase 4.)

It should be pointed out that the above scheme is highly speculative and does not advance in any way  our understanding of the zombification phenomenon if such a thing ever existed at all. It is based on the "Voodoo death" concept propounded by Professor Cannon in 1942, which The Full Zombie has already commented on and found wanting in medical logic.  

It should also be reminded that despite the extensive documentation provided by Davis in support of the "real zombie" argument, the true identity of the person whom he claimed to be a real zombie named Clairvius Narcisse, was never positively established. His identification as a potential zombie was based on the hear-say testimonials of fellow villagers, his medical record along with the fact that two physicians pronounced him dead at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital, his death and burial certificates, and the testimony of family members who, upon his alleged return from the dead, identified him as one of their own, previously dead kin or relatives. While the identification of an individual as an actual zombie was readily taken for granted on the basis of such evidence, we now know, thanks to Professor Littlewood's subsequent investigation (3) that in the absence of a forensic examination, which must necessarily include a comparative DNA examination of the declared zombie and of his assumed family, the true identity of anyone claiming to be returning from the dead cannot be confirmed with any degree of certainty.

Professor Littlewood has indeed convincingly demonstrated the critical role of DNA fingerprinting in the identification of alleged zombies and their presumpptive families. Failing such foolproof identification, nobody, including Narcisse, should be allowed to pass for a real zombie in a scientific paper. This point is made clear in both, the book, "The Haitian Zombie Secret" and in the article, "Connaissez-vous Narcisse?"

One day, it is hoped, people like Felicia Felix-Mentor (Hurston p.179) and others not quite like her, will be recognized for what they really represent, namely, a subset of the Haitian population with a variety of mental illnesses, people with organic brain syndrome, epileptics, deaf-mutes, faux-zombies, i.e., normal or sick people who are portrayed and used as zombies in a deliberate scheme of deception for financial gain. What it would take to get to expose this so-called "mystery" is a large scale, country-wide study conducted with the same scientific rigidity shown by Professor Littlewood. Unfortunately, "powerful forces" in the country may never let that happen. They would rather believe in zombies as a powerful social and political weapon. 

 

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