In the classical sense, a zombie is a reanimated corpse. Also, this word refers to an ordinary living person who has completely lost control of himself and his body and obeys someone's orders. The exact origin of the word is controversial. According to one version, this is a distorted "nzambi", which in African languages means "small deity" or "soul of a dead man." On the other hand, it is a modified West African dialectal "jambi", which means "ghost". There is also a theory that the word "zombie" was once called a huge black snake from African beliefs, the eternal enemy of the sun, light and joy.
The term "Zombie" is strongly associated with the magical practice of voodoo, which came to the Caribbean during the French colonial slavery in the early sixteenth century from West Africa.
The general public learned about him only at the beginning of the twentieth century, after the reporter William Seabrook, who lived for many years in Haiti, published his book. It mentions the revived dead, working for the master-sorcerer as free and weak-willed labor.
Interested scientists and doctors have put forward the assumption that the process of zombification does not use real corpses, but only specially trained living people introduced into a borderline coma-like state with the help of some kind of narcotic substances. The sorcerers themselves also mention special potions.
It is believed that in the 1980s, a scientist named Wade Davis came close to solving zombies and found a toxin with which a sorcerer can put a victim into a state of coma, when life processes are so weak and slow that they can be mistaken for deceased. It, combined with oxygen deprivation, damages parts of the brain, resulting in zombie-like behavior.
In Russia, there were also stories about the living dead. They were called ghouls and ghouls, although in behavior they are closer to vampires than to zombies.
In addition to the "living dead", there are "living zombies". These are ordinary people with normal behavior and mental functions, but in a trance and following the commands of the "master". Such a zombie can be under the influence for a short time, after which it returns to normal life.