Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
We've been enjoying listening to Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey unpack the origins of various words, people, concepts over 4 seasons of the Origin Story podcast. We have always thought about visualising them. The Ayn Rand one was brilliant - as was the Churchill episode.
We thought we'd finally shake off the procrastination and give this one a go. It’s about Zombies. A surprising topic that has various political interpretations.
The origins of zombie folklore are diverse and rich. The Ancient Greeks might have been among the first to be terrified by the undead, as evidenced by graves containing skeletons pinned down by heavy objects to presumably prevent reanimation. In Haitian culture, zombie folklore likely emerged in the 17th century, tied to the experiences of West African slaves on sugar cane plantations. The concept of zombies in this context symbolized the horrific conditions of slavery.
In Voodoo, a religion practiced in Haiti and other regions, zombies are sometimes believed to be people revived by a practitioner known as a bokor. Bokors are said to use various materials, including a “zombie powder” containing tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin found in pufferfish, to create these zombies.
Zombies entered mainstream media with the 1932 film “White Zombie.” However, their popularity surged with George Romero’s 1968 film “Night of the Living Dead,” which spawned a cult following and subsequent films like “Dawn of the Dead” and “Day of the Dead.” The evolution of special effects technology over the years has led to increasingly realistic and gruesome depictions of zombies in media.
We've been enjoying listening to Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey unpack the origins of various words, people, concepts over 4 seasons of the Origin Story podcast. We have always thought about visualising them. The Ayn Rand one was brilliant - as was the Churchill episode.
We thought we'd finally shake off the procrastination and give this one a go. It’s about Zombies. A surprising topic that has various political interpretations.
The origins of zombie folklore are diverse and rich. The Ancient Greeks might have been among the first to be terrified by the undead, as evidenced by graves containing skeletons pinned down by heavy objects to presumably prevent reanimation. In Haitian culture, zombie folklore likely emerged in the 17th century, tied to the experiences of West African slaves on sugar cane plantations. The concept of zombies in this context symbolized the horrific conditions of slavery.
In Voodoo, a religion practiced in Haiti and other regions, zombies are sometimes believed to be people revived by a practitioner known as a bokor. Bokors are said to use various materials, including a “zombie powder” containing tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin found in pufferfish, to create these zombies.
Zombies entered mainstream media with the 1932 film “White Zombie.” However, their popularity surged with George Romero’s 1968 film “Night of the Living Dead,” which spawned a cult following and subsequent films like “Dawn of the Dead” and “Day of the Dead.” The evolution of special effects technology over the years has led to increasingly realistic and gruesome depictions of zombies in media.
