When I started researching the undead in grad school (yes, I wrote my dissertation about them), I never would have thought I'd be lucky enough to have a special like this. And it's only possible because of the experts and storytellers who were willing to lend me their knowledge. This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help and expertise of Divine Prince Ty Emmecca, who allowed me into his home and taught me more about Voodoo than I could ever have imagined. I am also grateful for the knowledge shared by Dr. Roberts and Dr. Means Coleman.-Dr. Z
@@ianfarr-wharton1000 dumb is an ableist word. There is no such thing as history, religion, culture without what you are calling politics. Nothing can be divorced from context and still be true. Asking for the history of Zombies without the history of the African Diaspora is an attempt to whitewash the history, the religion, everything in this video. If you don't like it don't watch it. But it's not the video that's the problem. It's your desire to ignore the impact colonialism on the world. Australia's got a hell of a lot of colonialist problems of its own.
@@Blakzino Zoe is short for "Zoe Pound" it was a group of Haitian teens that got together to protect eachother from the bullying of "African American" teens. The Zoe's grew in popularity within the young Haitian culture and the reputation of the Zoe's is wildly respected by any one who knows about them. So the young generation (some who are now in their late twenties -40 or so consider themselves part to be a Zoe because historically and culturally Haitians believe in unification when everyone is against u. I hope, I answered ur question.
Hearing the origins of zombies in the vodou religion instantly brought my mind to think of the movie get out. About the body was taken over to and ones free will is forcefully taken but they are not actually gone/dead.
@@TheDivinePrince It was so lovely to see them get a sliver- a mere sliver- of the real information from sources who actually understand the history and tradition of Vodou. If only more people put even this much time and effort into understanding. Thank you so much for contributing to this glimpse into a deep and rich spiritual world!
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
I love and love and love the fact that you guys always respect the true origin and never shy away from the racial and colonial background of all these stories and it is just the epitome of why I love literature and history so much and gosh as much as I cannot stand horror stories, I love this channel and this zombie series is just gonna be such a light in my October and thank you for being you guys and bringing in such high quality research and explanation on these beloved stories.
Imagine to think you are born being a slave until you die and that is the only time you set free from slavery when you die yet they capture your soul even your dead body still being a slave from them. such torture. I think even demons might think twice doing those horrible things
In haiti if The voodoo loa of Death baron ghede samedi catches u making a zombie or disrepecting him he would set the soul of the zombies free and turn the bokor into a zombie where he will serve the ghede family(family of the dead/death loas) for eternity in Guinea.(the voodoo after life)
Sooo..the closest thing we've seen to the original haitian zombi on film is actually Georgina the housekeeper and walter the groundskeeper from Get Out??
I would say it's the fear of death - period. I'm a cancer survivor. I made peace with my own mortality when I was in my late teens and early 20s and so I never really understood the fascination with zombies. As a writer, I've always thought they were a kind of boring and predictable antagonist because they had no active consciousness. they couldn't plan or act outside of a set of pre-programmed behaviours. But if you still view death as something mysterious and undefinable - in the way people who haven't faced their own mortality do - then zombies become mysterious and frightening instead of boring and predictable.
It's the fear of death through the uncertainty of plague and illness. I'm usually a fan of these horror concepts and ideas that zombies represent because it can be a total mindfuck and it doesn't have rely on cheap jump scares. At least, I was a fan. I just can't bring myself to watch Night if the Living Dead this year or the Walking Dead. Because, ykno...
I as a kid was a fraid of zombies because i so them as some thing that cant be kiled they just came back it thas not mater what you do and they will get you i played resident evil 2 for the first time when i was 5 years old i was a fraid of a dark for a wile because of them and strange sounds
Here in the Philippines, at least to my provice, we have also a "zombie" like creature called the Amaranhig. It is a tradition during a funeral for the family of the deceased to give out some snacks for a little gratitude for attending the day of the funeral to the people who went to the funeral and it is usually done in a reception area in the cemetary. A report have said that after the funeral, when the people were about to go back to the reception area, the deceased (Amaranhig) was the first one to get there. Kinda spooky
@@pauielicious4433 well it's pretty much known in Negros Island (this is not racist, it's really the name of the island where I live, search it up). I think KMJS has covered this story before
@@miaozebub it's a pretty much common story in the rural areas where some of my relatives live and sometimes we had a spooky storytelling at one of our gatherings. And yeah, definitely scary to witness such thing
@@pbsstoried "...and ever since the idea of the reanimated corpse facinated me"... FYI Emily if you decide to pull a Frankenstein and you are looking for an assitant (hunch not included) look me up i could use the job, and if not at least publish your findings, i need to take some notes for...research purposes...huh, seems a lot more honest in this context
I grew up in Haiti, I remember driving by fields with my grandparents and watching these people work in rice fields day and night, they would just say they are zombies, just don't look After every funeral, families would guard their dead at cemeteries to prevent bokor from trying to raise them, sometimes we would hear them screaming at night while the bokor was whipping them to make them walk back to the fields. Lived by a cemetery so the stuff of nightmares lol Never thought I would see my country on here thanks for making this episode, took me back home.
@@witchplease9695 no need to call me ignorant I’m from immokalee Florida a quarter of our population is Haitian I see and interact with and even have some Haitian family members NONE of them are light skinned they are all very dark skinned
Tbh I never liked the virus infected flesh-eating version of the zombie. It's so 08/15 for a monster. The original idea of a mindless slave and the horror of losing your free will is much scarier and unique imho
@@farkasmactavish It's the 8th out of 15, the middle. Means it's standard, boring, mondane. And of course things get reinvented. Doesn't mean I have to like the new interpretation. Or that it gets better.
I’m Afro American, a horror/zombie apocalypse fan, and really curious about vodoo. The intense fear of eternal slavery from my ancestors is heartbreaking, but the compassion in the story with salt was nice to hear. Thank you for this respectful and well researched video!
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
Back in the early 1990s, I told my mother I wanted to be a professor who studied the paranormal and whatnot. She put a "no" to that. You are living the life I wanted for myself! Congrats!
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
Fun fact: many countries have weird laws. In Canada, witchcraft was illegal until the end of 2018 (so yes, now you can legaly do withcraft in canada). The USA is also an infinite supply for that kind of thing. For example, in Wisconsin there is a law saying that cheese have to be "highly pleasing".
Despite how American media has treated the Haitian zombi belief, I would still like to see more fictional representations of them. There's fertile ground there, they just need the right storyteller. Not me. I don't think I'm qualified.
This is really interesting - the concepts of the ti bon ange and gros bon ange map very closely to the Chinese concepts of Hun and Po - the Hun is the "will," or personality of the person, while the Po is the synchronization between that Hun to the body. When a person dies, the Hun flies out of the body and becomes a ghost, while the Po stays underground in the afterlife with the corpse.
That was the Goddess Inanna's threat to her father Anu. That if she wasn't given the Bull of Heaven to avenge herself on Gilgamesh for spurning her advances, that she would break open the gates to the underworld, resulting in the following: “there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living” That might have been the first threat of the zombie apocalypse. Except that she seems to be saying that her undead hordes would be coming for your actual lunch.
As they said, its a three-parter. A guess the other two will be the middle eastern and the slavic miths of undead, sinnce they all heavily influenced the modern zombie.
@Dee Dee Any tale of the gods & goddesses was changed by each nation that followed them. Who begat who is so often changed that I'd be surprised if one didn't end up being called their own grandparent.
More like put their own cultural constructs over it with time. Modern grave rising zombies are more akin to draugar, strigoi or other undead from Europe.
@@angela_merkeI Yep. She even did an episode on the Draugr. I always thought of _that_ as the "first zombie", since nordic myths predated Haitian Vodou.
@@CelestialDraconis At this point, one could argue that you can find similar kindof undead being in most culture through history. For example, the ghoul from the middle east can be see as an early "zombie" that probably predate the nordic draugr. Point is I think that looking for the "first zombie", zombie being defined as a raised corpse, is impossible because each culture had a similar kind of myth.
@@Torlik11 I'm more interested in finding the origins of the first zombie that eats flesh/brains, because when people think of zombies now a days, that comes to mind.
It's fascinating how much better the idea of the zombies have stuck in the American popular conscious than the undead of European folklore, like draugr or liches
Well, we do have Vampires and Frankenstein’s Monster. Both of those story’s also have an element of the powerful using the poor. Vampires can hypnotise you and Dracula is a Count who as control over peasants. And Frankenstein uses the body’s of people to his own ends, to further his scientific exploration rather then acknowledging their humanity.
Mostly it's a poor choice of which word became the most generically used one. Though "lich" comes from American fiction (and was mostly popularized by D&D), not European folklore.
@@NovaSaber The original works of fiction used the term "lich" simply as corpse (dead or undead). D&D coined the term for its modern interpretation, so the "undead mage" is not a thing of American fiction.
@@becky7603 I'd say it's mostly the spread of US pop culture after WWII among the NATO countries and hollywood's movie monopoly that spread the zombie movies throughout the world's cinemas and less that it's fresh and new and from far away. The vampire is an equally popular theme and that is ancient European folklore.
More like the *name* zombie. Today's zombies behave more like Draugr, Vampires, etc than Haitian Zombies. They aren't helpful, but harmful and aggressive.
I'm so excited for this series! I'm also fascinated by zombies and I had the opportunity to write a paper about them in college. They continue to be my favorite movie/TV monster. To me, they are the most human of monsters and, in many ways, embody our worst fears. I love zombies! P.S. I cited Dr. Coleman's book in my paper, so it was really cool to hear her talk about zombies.
Thank you for discerning the difference between voodoo and vodou. I did not know that! It's great to have people who have that expertise and someone who practices it as well. I really like this series and you are fun to watch. You're doing a great job!
As a foster parent of a severely abused child, I have seen the fear silence and shut down expression. I interpret the zombification of being dead inside, and just going through the motions because of abuse and isolation. People in America would refer to themselves as being a zombie. If they got into work, didn’t have coffee, didn’t feel like their brains were turned on, but their body was still going through the motions without any emotion. Drudgery because of your circumstance. I’m sure the trauma of enslavement would Break you emotionally.
My mom & dad let me watch horror movies, starting when I was 3 years old. I've always considered it smart parenting, on their part. They started me off early and I grew up loving horror movies and all things "spooky" and never had nightmares about the things I saw. I think, by watching them along with my parents, it didn't allow those things to install fear in me.
i literally watched a video of recue mission where they're trying to find a person who have been missing for days after they were bathin in the river I thik (didn't remember the details). There, they found a croc and killed it cause it was suspected to ate the man. They pretty much open up the stomach of the croc and they found the remains of the man still digested. this was all in the video that was hook up to the tv my caretacker was watching. I was around 8-10 that time lmao.
Thank you for this amazing video: I'm really looking forward to the next installments! It was incredibly interesting and mind opening... I especially loved the insights from the experts you interviewed. I will admit my ignorance and that as a European I had absolutely no idea that the origin of the zombi tradition came from Haiti and West African culture. I can't underestimate how humbling this revelation was. Thank you for your hard work and for your passion for what you do, which really shines through every topic you cover. You are a role model for women all around the world doctor ❤️
Great stuff! This seems so much richer and denser than most of the Monstum episodes, and I definitely don't mean to imply that it's boring. The subject matter alone makes that impossible, in my opinion! I'm loving the in-depth approach, and I look forward for the next ep.
Excellent episode, Dr. Z. And also nice to have Target as a sponsor. I've enjoyed shopping there and their community projects. I learned how to make home-made dill pickles, sweet pickles, corn relish and bottled home-made salsa from a starter kit I got from Target. I enjoyed the chance to learn how to can produce I got from farmers' markets and local groceries. Glad to see Target is supporting PBS.
Peninsula isn’t utter trash tho for me...it’s a beautiful movie but it’s a stand alone sequel, and it doesn’t continue from the characters in the 1st movie, rather just from its consequences. I cried during the last part tho huhu but of course we all have different opinions
I remember teaching my students about this in Jamaica. I got numerous calls from their parents about them not being able to sleep. My Principal wasn’t too happy either as we were a Christian school. My saving grace was that it was apart of the syllabus which my Principal didn’t take the time out to review or my lesson plans for that matter. It was an interesting class. Just like this video. Thank you for your knowledgeable and informative video. Job well done.
I really appreciate how your not only explore the stories about the monsters, but the cultural context and significance of them as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series!
Considering I have 3 straight A students who have been raised as the real life Adams family.... I think the choices you parents made were great! Thank you some much for starting the zombie story all the way back in Africa. Rarely do “zombie history” go to it’s true beginning.
i was only researching the origin of zombies within the past week and came to this channel to see that there hadnt been a video made yet :,) perfect timing
I found out Monstrum a couple of months ago and I was amazed by the knowledge of Dr. Z but now, being an obssessed zombie fan since the late 90's, I am beyond grateful for this documentary. I really look up to your work, Dr. Z, it is a privilege to have the opportunity to get to know these topics from deep inside. By the way, I'm ROT, I'm from Mexico and I have a musical project all about zombies (haha, told you I'm a zombie fan). The genre is Horror Punk but, because of the obvious, I like to label my music as Punk Zombie or Punxombie. If anyone here is interested, my demo is available on my UA-cam channel. 🧟🎸
I am so excited about this series! Will there be a way for people outside of the USA to access the 1hr PBS documentary? Also, will you be able to provide resources for further reading? I read Philippe Charlier's "Zombies; An Anthropological Investigation of the Living Dead" a few years ago, but I've been outside academia for so long I wouldn't know where to start in terms research. Edit: I also love seeing you guys getting insights from experts, and contemporary practitioners/members, of a religious tradition. You have always emphasised the fact that beliefs and traditions are always in flux, but by talking about the historical, and talking TO the contemporaneous, I think you knocked this one out of the park. As I said before I am excited about this series, and I'm so excited to see Dr. Z and the team really giving life in to the topic (pun, totally intended).
I LOVE that you actually do a ton of research on each subject!! And I love the dramatic change of music once you started with the origin story. This channel is just getting better and better!!!
This was such a great episode. Thank you for the scholarship of this field of study. This was fascinating. Thank you. I look forward to see the next episode.
I actually took a class in the history of zombies in my first semester of college, it was such a fun and interesting time! Super cool to see some of the stuff I learned way back then again here!
Monstrum. The highlight of my day. I truly hope the full documentary will appear here as well. I can also tell you, as a proud pagan, the amount of assumptions about who you are and what you do are huge. "Oh, you're a (insert term), you must know about (insert broad assumption)". So I get when a Mambo fears their humanity will be questioned.
One of my favorite channels with one of my favorite topics, presented by one of my favorite doctors... I've died and being exhumed to feel nothing but pleasure... Thanx, Dr. Zarka!!!
The thought of an undead that looks alive but is both mute and lifeless is by far more terrifying than zombies we think of today. Instead of those seeking human flesh to satisfy their hunger which we view today they are more of a human puppet that is used for personal needs under the dark of night... But still, that is pretty cool that it was managed to be conjured by fiction or even made real.
woah, i was waiting for this.... Thank you #Storied for noticing my suggestion 😅👍 @Storied i hope you'll do a episode about Samhain the origin of Halloween as Holloween special.
Remembering the cat witches and zombies from the Moonscar island!! thanks to u Dr. Z and all the team members for presenting this beautiful UA-cam channel to all of us. Happy Halloween !
I've recently heard about a Caribbean folklore monster called the Soucouyant. Can't find a video by you on it, so I thought I'd suggest it as a weird thing to explore in a future video!
Ok, but Scooby Doo on Zombie Island was the only Scooby Doo story to actually frighten me. When I first watched it as a young kid I couldn't even finish it, and had to come back to it years later
Such marvelous content. I love that you've interviewed experts and this isn't just a scholar reading their script infront of a green screen. Subscribed
This is very interesting! I especially appreciate the interviews with poc experts and practitioners to put the undead into an appropriate context. Thank you! Looking forward to part 2. All the best from Germany!
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
Media in general like Disney should not be taken to be fact only inspired by fact. They add things for the sake of plot or digestibility for their audience. Coco had this same issue
Done in an imitation of the voice of the great Boris Karloff! Check out his Isle of the Dead if you haven't seen it. Atmospheric, intelligent, subtle --- superb! One of the Master's best! 🧟♂️🧟♀️
Wrote your dissertation about the undead? Way to flex! That's super rad, like, dang, didn't even know what was a thing makes me rethink my college choices type of rad. You rock.
When I did some research for an English oral, one thing that I found is that the zombie is heavily linked to Louisianan style voodoo, with zeds often associated with the bayou
My wife remembered the Babylon 5 episode "Soul Hunter" from season 1 in which a renegade priest comes to the station collecting the souls of important people before they could be lost. He collects them in a glass globe that seemed very reminiscent of spirit bottles. Interesting connection?
Great Job on this. I conducted two independent studies in college on this subject, so I'm happy to see a realistic take on this. it's a subject we don't discuss enough. I do lean towards Wade Davis TTX theory, with a touch of Bufo Marinus and quite possibly Datura Stramonium as he suggested for the after drug and possibly a maintenance drug. I think he makes a logical case for it. But, I agree, we need much more proof, and samples for that to be the final word on this.
A nod to one of my favorite Zombies, played by (the great (I think) actor) Noble Johnson in 1940's "The Ghost Breakers" starring Bob Hope. I guess that was what you'd call a "Haitian Zombie." As always thank you so very much for your videos.
Hats off to Noble Johnson & all the other character actors of film history. Movies wouldn't be as rich without them. They didn't get the plaudits given to the big stars, but I honour them & am grateful for their fine work. Glad to see this shout-out. Thank you. 👏
Loved it, neat trick btw showing the distance you have by having it zoomed out then zoom in on the guys so we know there's precautions during the pandemic as well. I like small details like that Edit also stay safe we want more of these amazing videos:)
I was just there 2 weeks ago with 2 coworkers from other countries. The one from France said something to that effect. They're open for business, just mask up
It is quite interesting that the zombie genre is so popular. And most people probably wouldn't know it had roots in West Africa.
There were undead in classical greek and other places too
@@factanonverba7547 there were undead myths and stories in most cultures but as stated above, the zombie concept originated directly from West Africa.
@@necrosim scary nonetheless
Ngl read about it on Pottermore in the Inferi article.
@@factanonverba7547 as if greeks were one of the oldest civilizations 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
When I started researching the undead in grad school (yes, I wrote my dissertation about them), I never would have thought I'd be lucky enough to have a special like this. And it's only possible because of the experts and storytellers who were willing to lend me their knowledge. This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help and expertise of Divine Prince Ty Emmecca, who allowed me into his home and taught me more about Voodoo than I could ever have imagined. I am also grateful for the knowledge shared by Dr. Roberts and Dr. Means Coleman.-Dr. Z
Looking forward to the future episodes and congratulations on achieving the special. I hope this brings more people to the channel!
Loved this episode. Challenging and informative. Would it be possible for y'all to be transparent with how these experts were/are being compensated?
I hope they don't take over my body •́ ‿ ,•̀
@@ianfarr-wharton1000 dumb is an ableist word. There is no such thing as history, religion, culture without what you are calling politics. Nothing can be divorced from context and still be true. Asking for the history of Zombies without the history of the African Diaspora is an attempt to whitewash the history, the religion, everything in this video. If you don't like it don't watch it. But it's not the video that's the problem. It's your desire to ignore the impact colonialism on the world. Australia's got a hell of a lot of colonialist problems of its own.
Aren't Draugr older? (I think they are considered zombies)
As a Haitian, I'm glad to hear you actually studied the history. And then you interview Prince Ty, 🤩
Why do Haitians call themselves “Zoe’s”?
@@Blakzino Zoe is short for "Zoe Pound" it was a group of Haitian teens that got together to protect eachother from the bullying of "African American" teens. The Zoe's grew in popularity within the young Haitian culture and the reputation of the Zoe's is wildly respected by any one who knows about them. So the young generation (some who are now in their late twenties -40 or so consider themselves part to be a Zoe because historically and culturally Haitians believe in unification when everyone is against u. I hope, I answered ur question.
@@jordyntaylor877 Zoe pound is actually a street gang from Miami that uses Haitian pride
Divine Prince ™ 😂
i always thought Zoe meant Zombies on Earth
Hearing the origins of zombies in the vodou religion instantly brought my mind to think of the movie get out. About the body was taken over to and ones free will is forcefully taken but they are not actually gone/dead.
Jordan Peele is such a brilliant man.
Wow, I haven’t even though of that! Amazing insight
Never thought of it that way.
I wonder if that was one of the inspirations for the movie. Wouldn't be surprised if it was.
i'm sure peterson was referencing that in his film
"people acknowledge the voodoo before they acknowledge my humanity"
That was a powerful statement.
Thank you kindly! Humbled and Honored in Service. All is a Blessing #RespectTheVoodoo
Yeah. I noticed that too!
@@TheDivinePrince It was so lovely to see them get a sliver- a mere sliver- of the real information from sources who actually understand the history and tradition of Vodou. If only more people put even this much time and effort into understanding.
Thank you so much for contributing to this glimpse into a deep and rich spiritual world!
As a Haitian, this makes a lot of sense. Many times in our culture people and those who make certain actions are referred to as zombies
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
@@matiasdelgado7011 you off topics
It’s funny how much the western world muses on zombie history without considering the real life significance of their lore 😂
I love and love and love the fact that you guys always respect the true origin and never shy away from the racial and colonial background of all these stories and it is just the epitome of why I love literature and history so much and gosh as much as I cannot stand horror stories, I love this channel and this zombie series is just gonna be such a light in my October and thank you for being you guys and bringing in such high quality research and explanation on these beloved stories.
Imagine to think you are born being a slave until you die and that is the only time you set free from slavery when you die yet they capture your soul even your dead body still being a slave from them.
such torture. I think even demons might think twice doing those horrible things
In haiti if The voodoo loa of Death baron ghede samedi catches u making a zombie or disrepecting him he would set the soul of the zombies free and turn the bokor into a zombie where he will serve the ghede family(family of the dead/death loas) for eternity in Guinea.(the voodoo after life)
Assuming demons exist...
@@ogundimu400 if there is 1 thing I've learned about voodoo, it's dont mess with the baron. Case and point
Demons in mythology are a lot more malicious than that.
Yeah of demons are real that's the least of the horrors they'd love to unleash haha
Sooo..the closest thing we've seen to the original haitian zombi on film is actually Georgina the housekeeper and walter the groundskeeper from Get Out??
Or on tv, the first boyfriend of Macy in the Charmed reboot.
There was one in the Ghost Whisperer
Um no. The serpent and the rainbow is the closest thing we've seen to the original Haitian zombies
@@blackreazor 💯
@@blackreazor gosh ive been looking for the tittle of the movie. i watched it once when im a kid and it scares me to death. might rewatch it now
The Zombie represents people's fear of death gone wrong and I think that is why it is so scary.
I would say it's the fear of death - period. I'm a cancer survivor. I made peace with my own mortality when I was in my late teens and early 20s and so I never really understood the fascination with zombies. As a writer, I've always thought they were a kind of boring and predictable antagonist because they had no active consciousness. they couldn't plan or act outside of a set of pre-programmed behaviours. But if you still view death as something mysterious and undefinable - in the way people who haven't faced their own mortality do - then zombies become mysterious and frightening instead of boring and predictable.
@@gailcbull I've always found zombies frightening because it involves using someone's corpse against their will and not letting them pass on.
It's the fear of death through the uncertainty of plague and illness. I'm usually a fan of these horror concepts and ideas that zombies represent because it can be a total mindfuck and it doesn't have rely on cheap jump scares.
At least, I was a fan. I just can't bring myself to watch Night if the Living Dead this year or the Walking Dead. Because, ykno...
@@emilyplunkett6034 Why can't you watch it this year?
I as a kid was a fraid of zombies because i so them as some thing that cant be kiled they just came back it thas not mater what you do and they will get you i played resident evil 2 for the first time when i was 5 years old i was a fraid of a dark for a wile because of them and strange sounds
In French Creole, these mean :
"ti ange" = Little Angel
"gros bon ange" = Big Good Angel
Haitian creole.French would be petit ange=little angel, grand bon ange=big good angel.
@@rouskeycarpel1436 we know
@@johnsonhua9734 not all of us know Haitian Creole and the video didn't go into linguistics
When literally translated, yes. But “bon ange” is another word for “soul” in French/Haitian Creole. Little soul and big soul.
@@mattuwu9978 Thank you. I also thought the same but wasn't sure.
Here in the Philippines, at least to my provice, we have also a "zombie" like creature called the Amaranhig. It is a tradition during a funeral for the family of the deceased to give out some snacks for a little gratitude for attending the day of the funeral to the people who went to the funeral and it is usually done in a reception area in the cemetary. A report have said that after the funeral, when the people were about to go back to the reception area, the deceased (Amaranhig) was the first one to get there. Kinda spooky
I'm a Filipino and I don't have an idea about this, I hope Monstrum can cover this too.
@@pauielicious4433 well it's pretty much known in Negros Island (this is not racist, it's really the name of the island where I live, search it up). I think KMJS has covered this story before
I dont attend funerals much so I cant really say much about this, but dang that is creepy. Never knew we had this!
@@miaozebub it's a pretty much common story in the rural areas where some of my relatives live and sometimes we had a spooky storytelling at one of our gatherings. And yeah, definitely scary to witness such thing
hindi ko alam yan.
Happy halloween Dr. Z!!!!
🧟♀️
Sound Field bought is why I'm here. 😁
@@pbsstoried Hello 👋
@@pbsstoried hi can u make a video are zombies are real
@@pbsstoried "...and ever since the idea of the reanimated corpse facinated me"... FYI Emily if you decide to pull a Frankenstein and you are looking for an assitant (hunch not included) look me up i could use the job, and if not at least publish your findings, i need to take some notes for...research purposes...huh, seems a lot more honest in this context
I grew up in Haiti, I remember driving by fields with my grandparents and watching these people work in rice fields day and night, they would just say they are zombies, just don't look
After every funeral, families would guard their dead at cemeteries to prevent bokor from trying to raise them, sometimes we would hear them screaming at night while the bokor was whipping them to make them walk back to the fields.
Lived by a cemetery so the stuff of nightmares lol
Never thought I would see my country on here
thanks for making this episode, took me back home.
You think someone actually pulled this off?
@@MrCmon113 ask him buddy cause I lived there for 11 years and I never saw that
@@MrCmon113 yes they did
Me: *wondering when zombies will be covered*
Storied: Yes yes yes.
Is this a jojo reference
@@lilweeniehutjunior4294 *YES YES YES YES YES*
My parents are Haiten and they used to tell me they'd see zombies working in peoples yards in the middle of the night
That sounds so eerie when I think about it
But you look like a white guy
@@239_baby6 He looks like a light skinned Black man. We come in all shades , ignorant
Yes that’s true
@@witchplease9695 no need to call me ignorant I’m from immokalee Florida a quarter of our population is Haitian I see and interact with and even have some Haitian family members NONE of them are light skinned they are all very dark skinned
Tbh I never liked the virus infected flesh-eating version of the zombie. It's so 08/15 for a monster. The original idea of a mindless slave and the horror of losing your free will is much scarier and unique imho
and it’s a reminder of a real and sickening human history which just makes it more terrifying
What does "08/15" mean? And it's not like myths and fiction haven't been reimagined before, if you're saying that it shouldn't be done.
@@farkasmactavish It's the 8th out of 15, the middle. Means it's standard, boring, mondane.
And of course things get reinvented. Doesn't mean I have to like the new interpretation. Or that it gets better.
what about Russians in 1915,there were zombies there
@@444Basketball Why not say mediocre? Or hell, even 5/10? Nobody uses a 15 scale...
I’m Afro American, a horror/zombie apocalypse fan, and really curious about vodoo. The intense fear of eternal slavery from my ancestors is heartbreaking, but the compassion in the story with salt was nice to hear. Thank you for this respectful and well researched video!
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
So does that mean people's idea of the zombi is inaccurate? Do you know? Or know someone who does know. (I am so sorry for asking in a rude way.)
I was just thinking today "man I could really use a new Monstrum episode!"
and then this was uploaded! Lovely. . .
Back in the early 1990s, I told my mother I wanted to be a professor who studied the paranormal and whatnot. She put a "no" to that. You are living the life I wanted for myself! Congrats!
I'm haitian and, this is so well written. You got a new subscriber. Thank you for the good research.
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
Fun fact: nowadays it is actually against the Law in Haiti to create zombis.
Lol
That crazy
Nice
@@MARCIE12ification
The Problem is that people were poisend.
Fun fact: many countries have weird laws. In Canada, witchcraft was illegal until the end of 2018 (so yes, now you can legaly do withcraft in canada). The USA is also an infinite supply for that kind of thing. For example, in Wisconsin there is a law saying that cheese have to be "highly pleasing".
I see you're a necromancer of culture as well.
But seriously, I'm really looking forward to this series.
@Thessalin Best type of magic.
SCOOBY DOO on zombie island is one of the best ever scary kids movies!
that scared me so much when i was younger
Yup, a very good movie.
Still not as bad as courage the cowardly dog some of thoses eps freak me out still to this day
I had nightmares for a week after watching it
@@Josh-tu3pg courage the cowardly dog to this day still scares me. I have no clue what it is about that show. It’s just creepy
Despite how American media has treated the Haitian zombi belief, I would still like to see more fictional representations of them. There's fertile ground there, they just need the right storyteller.
Not me. I don't think I'm qualified.
Just don’t use massive cliches and you’re already more qualified than most Hollywood directors.
There is a Marvel character named Jericho Drum aka Brother Voodoo/Dr Voodoo. His brother was mentioned in the Doctor Strange movie.
There’s so much potential and already exists so much mythology especially in Nigeria
@@the_jujuman5269 im looking for a starting point into learning about this, do you have any good books or videos or characters to start me off?
@gerard bain last I checked he was a teacher at Dr. Strange's magic school
This is really interesting - the concepts of the ti bon ange and gros bon ange map very closely to the Chinese concepts of Hun and Po - the Hun is the "will," or personality of the person, while the Po is the synchronization between that Hun to the body. When a person dies, the Hun flies out of the body and becomes a ghost, while the Po stays underground in the afterlife with the corpse.
YEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! Watching Dr. Zarka share her passion is exactly what I need right now. Can't wait to see more!
There’s a reference to something like zombies in the Babylonian myth of Ishtar. A warning that the dead shall rise and devour the living.
It is all the same spirit. Difft names. Same spirit.
That was the Goddess Inanna's threat to her father Anu. That if she wasn't given the Bull of Heaven to avenge herself on Gilgamesh for spurning her advances, that she would break open the gates to the underworld, resulting in the following: “there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living”
That might have been the first threat of the zombie apocalypse. Except that she seems to be saying that her undead hordes would be coming for your actual lunch.
Ghouls?
As they said, its a three-parter. A guess the other two will be the middle eastern and the slavic miths of undead, sinnce they all heavily influenced the modern zombie.
@Dee Dee Any tale of the gods & goddesses was changed by each nation that followed them. Who begat who is so often changed that I'd be surprised if one didn't end up being called their own grandparent.
Absolutely outstanding content here. This is probably your best episode yet.
Waiiiitaminutenow.
Zombie... 'Dr. Z'....
Doctor Zombie?
* narrows eyes and reached for something sharp *
Lol
Reach for something heavy, man. Sharp's just gonna get ya bloody ,😳
Before the vid starts im from Haiti and people from the West misinterpreted what a zombie is
When you finish the vid I hope you’ll share your thoughts on it.
More like put their own cultural constructs over it with time. Modern grave rising zombies are more akin to draugar, strigoi or other undead from Europe.
@@angela_merkeI Yep. She even did an episode on the Draugr. I always thought of _that_ as the "first zombie", since nordic myths predated Haitian Vodou.
@@CelestialDraconis At this point, one could argue that you can find similar kindof undead being in most culture through history. For example, the ghoul from the middle east can be see as an early "zombie" that probably predate the nordic draugr. Point is I think that looking for the "first zombie", zombie being defined as a raised corpse, is impossible because each culture had a similar kind of myth.
@@Torlik11 I'm more interested in finding the origins of the first zombie that eats flesh/brains, because when people think of zombies now a days, that comes to mind.
It's fascinating how much better the idea of the zombies have stuck in the American popular conscious than the undead of European folklore, like draugr or liches
Well, we do have Vampires and Frankenstein’s Monster. Both of those story’s also have an element of the powerful using the poor. Vampires can hypnotise you and Dracula is a Count who as control over peasants. And Frankenstein uses the body’s of people to his own ends, to further his scientific exploration rather then acknowledging their humanity.
Mostly it's a poor choice of which word became the most generically used one.
Though "lich" comes from American fiction (and was mostly popularized by D&D), not European folklore.
@@NovaSaber The original works of fiction used the term "lich" simply as corpse (dead or undead). D&D coined the term for its modern interpretation, so the "undead mage" is not a thing of American fiction.
@@becky7603 I'd say it's mostly the spread of US pop culture after WWII among the NATO countries and hollywood's movie monopoly that spread the zombie movies throughout the world's cinemas and less that it's fresh and new and from far away. The vampire is an equally popular theme and that is ancient European folklore.
More like the *name* zombie. Today's zombies behave more like Draugr, Vampires, etc than Haitian Zombies. They aren't helpful, but harmful and aggressive.
I'm so excited for this series! I'm also fascinated by zombies and I had the opportunity to write a paper about them in college. They continue to be my favorite movie/TV monster. To me, they are the most human of monsters and, in many ways, embody our worst fears. I love zombies!
P.S. I cited Dr. Coleman's book in my paper, so it was really cool to hear her talk about zombies.
Thank you for discerning the difference between voodoo and vodou. I did not know that! It's great to have people who have that expertise and someone who practices it as well. I really like this series and you are fun to watch. You're doing a great job!
Please do more episodes on myths and “monsters” from the Middle East. I would love to see one on creatures like the Roc or the Anqaa and so on.
As a foster parent of a severely abused child, I have seen the fear silence and shut down expression. I interpret the zombification of being dead inside, and just going through the motions because of abuse and isolation. People in America would refer to themselves as being a zombie. If they got into work, didn’t have coffee, didn’t feel like their brains were turned on, but their body was still going through the motions without any emotion. Drudgery because of your circumstance. I’m sure the trauma of enslavement would Break you emotionally.
My mom & dad let me watch horror movies, starting when I was 3 years old. I've always considered it smart parenting, on their part. They started me off early and I grew up loving horror movies and all things "spooky" and never had nightmares about the things I saw. I think, by watching them along with my parents, it didn't allow those things to install fear in me.
well I didn't watch them with my parents and I went on to have nightmares. But still I love them.
i literally watched a video of recue mission where they're trying to find a person who have been missing for days after they were bathin in the river I thik (didn't remember the details). There, they found a croc and killed it cause it was suspected to ate the man. They pretty much open up the stomach of the croc and they found the remains of the man still digested.
this was all in the video that was hook up to the tv my caretacker was watching. I was around 8-10 that time lmao.
Thank you for this amazing video: I'm really looking forward to the next installments! It was incredibly interesting and mind opening... I especially loved the insights from the experts you interviewed. I will admit my ignorance and that as a European I had absolutely no idea that the origin of the zombi tradition came from Haiti and West African culture. I can't underestimate how humbling this revelation was. Thank you for your hard work and for your passion for what you do, which really shines through every topic you cover. You are a role model for women all around the world doctor ❤️
I like how deep this is going! Excited to see the whole series, even if I am, personally, very bored with zombies in media.
Great stuff! This seems so much richer and denser than most of the Monstum episodes, and I definitely don't mean to imply that it's boring. The subject matter alone makes that impossible, in my opinion! I'm loving the in-depth approach, and I look forward for the next ep.
Maybe you can do the jotnar I'm really interested about them just a thought
Excellent episode, Dr. Z. And also nice to have Target as a sponsor. I've enjoyed shopping there and their community projects. I learned how to make home-made dill pickles, sweet pickles, corn relish and bottled home-made salsa from a starter kit I got from Target. I enjoyed the chance to learn how to can produce I got from farmers' markets and local groceries. Glad to see Target is supporting PBS.
Did Target pay you for this comment?
I'm not really big into zombie movies but I did like that Korean zombie movie Train to Busan and I look forward to watching its sequel The Peninsula.
Is available in yify, I wacthed it lastnght and is UTTER TRASH. Nothing like the first one.
@@Jennifahh Okay thank you. That's a shame.
The movie #ALIVE is faaaaaaar better. It is on Netflix if you have it.
There's also Kingdom on Netflix, about a zombies in 17th century Korea.
Peninsula isn’t utter trash tho for me...it’s a beautiful movie but it’s a stand alone sequel, and it doesn’t continue from the characters in the 1st movie, rather just from its consequences. I cried during the last part tho huhu but of course we all have different opinions
you would think the original zombie would be a scarier premise to people considering the modern relationship to labor.
What I find ironic is that the connection to laboring strangely makes Hotel Transylvania more accurate than most American Zombie films.
An amazing video as always Dr. Zarka. Doing interviews is a great addition.
I remember teaching my students about this in Jamaica. I got numerous calls from their parents about them not being able to sleep. My Principal wasn’t too happy either as we were a Christian school. My saving grace was that it was apart of the syllabus which my Principal didn’t take the time out to review or my lesson plans for that matter. It was an interesting class.
Just like this video. Thank you for your knowledgeable and informative video. Job well done.
Great video. It gets confusing when Vodun, Vodou and Voodoo are separated from each other by thousands of miles and centuries of cultural evolution.
I can't wait for the next part of this series. I've never been more fascinated by zombies until you delved into it
You guys knocked out outta the park on this one! What a fantastic short form documentary!
I really appreciate how your not only explore the stories about the monsters, but the cultural context and significance of them as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of this series!
Didn't know such a sad history was behind voudo / zombi.
Looking forward to the rest of the series, but the discussion of zombies deserved voices within the Haitian Voudou community.
This series is just INCREDIBLE!!!
Considering I have 3 straight A students who have been raised as the real life Adams family.... I think the choices you parents made were great!
Thank you some much for starting the zombie story all the way back in Africa. Rarely do “zombie history” go to it’s true beginning.
i was only researching the origin of zombies within the past week and came to this channel to see that there hadnt been a video made yet :,) perfect timing
I found out Monstrum a couple of months ago and I was amazed by the knowledge of Dr. Z but now, being an obssessed zombie fan since the late 90's, I am beyond grateful for this documentary. I really look up to your work, Dr. Z, it is a privilege to have the opportunity to get to know these topics from deep inside.
By the way, I'm ROT, I'm from Mexico and I have a musical project all about zombies (haha, told you I'm a zombie fan). The genre is Horror Punk but, because of the obvious, I like to label my music as Punk Zombie or Punxombie. If anyone here is interested, my demo is available on my UA-cam channel.
🧟🎸
Any chance we could get a video on the pishtaco or kharisiri? Colonial influence on monsters is fascinating.
I am so excited about this series! Will there be a way for people outside of the USA to access the 1hr PBS documentary?
Also, will you be able to provide resources for further reading? I read Philippe Charlier's "Zombies; An Anthropological Investigation of the Living Dead" a few years ago, but I've been outside academia for so long I wouldn't know where to start in terms research.
Edit: I also love seeing you guys getting insights from experts, and contemporary practitioners/members, of a religious tradition. You have always emphasised the fact that beliefs and traditions are always in flux, but by talking about the historical, and talking TO the contemporaneous, I think you knocked this one out of the park.
As I said before I am excited about this series, and I'm so excited to see Dr. Z and the team really giving life in to the topic (pun, totally intended).
Thank God. Another Monstrum episode.
I LOVE that you actually do a ton of research on each subject!! And I love the dramatic change of music once you started with the origin story. This channel is just getting better and better!!!
Wow, I love this channel. Crash Course sent me here!
Same!
This was such a great episode. Thank you for the scholarship of this field of study. This was fascinating. Thank you. I look forward to see the next episode.
The movie, _The Serpent and The Rainbow_ went through this type of zombie quite in depth.
Watched it as a teen and it's stuck with me ever since...
The Believers is pretty good, too
@@LindaC616 Thanks Linda 🙂👍🏼
I'll go check for it...
@@YusufGinnah yw. Hope you like it
I actually took a class in the history of zombies in my first semester of college, it was such a fun and interesting time! Super cool to see some of the stuff I learned way back then again here!
My dog passed this morning. Kind of ironic this episode came out today.
I'm really sorry for your loss 😢
Damn, sorry for you mate
I'm really sorry for you! I lost my old and faithful beagle a couple of weeks ago. I really feel your loss.
The second I saw this comment I thought pet cemetery
By far one of the best episodes yet! I can’t wait for the next episode.
"zombies are simply shells- mindless workers with no emotions, no ability to feel pain, completely subservient to the whims of their master"
Monstrum. The highlight of my day. I truly hope the full documentary will appear here as well.
I can also tell you, as a proud pagan, the amount of assumptions about who you are and what you do are huge. "Oh, you're a (insert term), you must know about (insert broad assumption)". So I get when a Mambo fears their humanity will be questioned.
Is it just me or is this a bit less tongue in cheek due to Dr Z's love of the topic. Either way, great video again!
One of my favorite channels with one of my favorite topics, presented by one of my favorite doctors... I've died and being exhumed to feel nothing but pleasure... Thanx, Dr. Zarka!!!
The thought of an undead that looks alive but is both mute and lifeless is by far more terrifying than zombies we think of today. Instead of those seeking human flesh to satisfy their hunger which we view today they are more of a human puppet that is used for personal needs under the dark of night... But still, that is pretty cool that it was managed to be conjured by fiction or even made real.
Excited about this series. Off to an excellent start with FACTS!
woah, i was waiting for this.... Thank you #Storied for noticing my suggestion 😅👍
@Storied i hope you'll do a episode about Samhain the origin of Halloween as Holloween special.
I adore everything about this series! Thanks to you and everyone who works so hard on this!
Remembering the cat witches and zombies from the Moonscar island!! thanks to u Dr. Z and all the team members for presenting this beautiful UA-cam channel to all of us. Happy Halloween !
I've recently heard about a Caribbean folklore monster called the Soucouyant. Can't find a video by you on it, so I thought I'd suggest it as a weird thing to explore in a future video!
Ok, but Scooby Doo on Zombie Island was the only Scooby Doo story to actually frighten me. When I first watched it as a young kid I couldn't even finish it, and had to come back to it years later
Ikr especially when the gang figured out that they're real zombies
Furry cats eat souls and make people zombies. Ah!
Congratulations on getting a feature documentary on television! Ya did it.
Brilliant! Great video. As expected.
Such marvelous content. I love that you've interviewed experts and this isn't just a scholar reading their script infront of a green screen. Subscribed
This is very interesting! I especially appreciate the interviews with poc experts and practitioners to put the undead into an appropriate context. Thank you! Looking forward to part 2.
All the best from Germany!
Thank you kindly! Humbled and Honored in Service. All is a Blessing #RespectTheVoodoo
My grandmother is a voodoo priestess and I got a lot of things word to mouth.. I must say I’m impressed with your research.
It´s incredible how the people started to call these creatures as zombies. Romero never thinked in them as ones. For him the zombie was the voodoo monster. He saw his creatures as Ghouls. But for me revenats, draugars, nachzerers, gashadokuros, and other kinds of corporeal walking dead are zombies.
So does this mean that The Princess and The Frog also wrongly depicts Voodou and Voodoo?
absolutely.
I mean Disney doesn't really have the best track record of representation... Pocahontas, Mulan, etc.
Media in general like Disney should not be taken to be fact only inspired by fact. They add things for the sake of plot or digestibility for their audience. Coco had this same issue
Yes
@@psychopathetic5341 that's why they have the remakes, they fixes the problems the former animators made
WHOOOO!!!!! I love this channel - a real UA-cam gem 💎
The line is, "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
Lampooned brilliantly in Shaun Of The Dead, that phone conversation with Shaun's mum (Barbara).
the Winchester?
Done in an imitation of the voice of the great Boris Karloff! Check out his Isle of the Dead if you haven't seen it. Atmospheric, intelligent, subtle --- superb! One of the Master's best! 🧟♂️🧟♀️
Johnny stop it, you're ignorant.
That is the bloody spookiest scene in any film I’ve ever seen.
Wrote your dissertation about the undead? Way to flex! That's super rad, like, dang, didn't even know what was a thing makes me rethink my college choices type of rad. You rock.
OH MY GOD IM SO EXCITEEEEEDDD!! THANKS PBS AND DR. Z!! 💕💕💕
just found this channel and love the topics! also- rip target we will always remember your struggle
-love from canada
When I did some research for an English oral, one thing that I found is that the zombie is heavily linked to Louisianan style voodoo, with zeds often associated with the bayou
🙀 I'm impressed this is going on PBS . Congratulations!
My wife remembered the Babylon 5 episode "Soul Hunter" from season 1 in which a renegade priest comes to the station collecting the souls of important people before they could be lost. He collects them in a glass globe that seemed very reminiscent of spirit bottles. Interesting connection?
Great Job on this. I conducted two independent studies in college on this subject, so I'm happy to see a realistic take on this. it's a subject we don't discuss enough. I do lean towards Wade Davis TTX theory, with a touch of Bufo Marinus and quite possibly Datura Stramonium as he suggested for the after drug and possibly a maintenance drug. I think he makes a logical case for it. But, I agree, we need much more proof, and samples for that to be the final word on this.
A nod to one of my favorite Zombies, played by (the great (I think) actor) Noble Johnson in 1940's "The Ghost Breakers" starring Bob Hope. I guess that was what you'd call a "Haitian Zombie."
As always thank you so very much for your videos.
Hats off to Noble Johnson & all the other character actors of film history. Movies wouldn't be as rich without them. They didn't get the plaudits given to the big stars, but I honour them & am grateful for their fine work. Glad to see this shout-out. Thank you. 👏
Wow, i knew about zombies originating from Haiti but had absolutely no idea it goes further to West Africa. Thanks.
They were originally called Ghouls in "Night of the Living Dead". Which is the more appropriate term for the modern-day Zombie. Just look it up.
They're --- all messed up. 😊
@ It's to clear up the misconception about what is actually a zombie. They explained it in the next video which is already out.
The word "ghoul" doesn't originally describe an undead monster, but a shapeshifter that sometimes feeds on human corpses.
Have you seen 'Get Out'?
@@MrCmon113 Hve you ever saw the original Night of the Living Dead?
Loved it, neat trick btw showing the distance you have by having it zoomed out then zoom in on the guys so we know there's precautions during the pandemic as well. I like small details like that
Edit also stay safe we want more of these amazing videos:)
I love this show its awesome. Could you do an episode on succubus and incubus.
Will the final 1 hour episode also be posted here? I don't have TV just internet and I am hooked on this channel!
You should come visit Salem MA and see how the town has embraced its history with witches! (Probably after the pandemic though!)
I was just there 2 weeks ago with 2 coworkers from other countries. The one from France said something to that effect. They're open for business, just mask up
Love your videos! Been watching the whole collection the last couple days. Very informative.