Beyond Bizarre -- Zombies

artofkor

Documentary television hosted by Jay Robinson focused on exploring great mysteries around the world, from ghost sightings, alien encounters and everything else in between.

Transcript

00:00In the dark and lonely corridors of our minds lie fears so terrifying and gruesome

00:10we often hesitate to even contemplate them.

00:14Chief among these fears is the shadowy belief of life after death.

00:21No, not heaven or hell, but a life after death of servitude and mortal slavery.

00:33Hollywood has painted a graphic picture for us all to see,

00:37and what is illustrated on that canvas is what we have all come to know as...

00:45Zombies.

00:47A living death.

00:50Could there be a link between the presumed dead walking the earth and the cinema version of a zombie?

00:58He's a zombie.

01:00Fleshies, the undead, are unstoppable under the control of an evil sorcerer.

01:09Who has the power to awaken the dead?

01:12And if zombies exist, what evil do they intend?

01:18Today in the Caribbean nation of Haiti, the fear of being turned into a zombie is far greater than one might suppose.

01:28Haitian religious societies are controlled by voodoo priests.

01:33Evil priests are known as Bokor.

01:37They make a zombie of somebody for two reasons.

01:43First of all, they want to punish somebody who did something wrong, something they did not approve.

01:49The second reason is that the Bokor sell people as slaves.

01:58People who are working for them for nothing.

02:02The first step in reanimating the dead requires the creation of a mysterious medicine, the zombie powder.

02:13This process takes place in secluded areas, well away from prying eyes.

02:22The ingredients mirror a witch's brew.

02:27Poisonous seeds and plants, toads, lizards, spiders.

02:35Acutely aware of the danger in handling the ingredients, the Bokor's assistants avoid any direct contact.

02:43Especially with the flesh of the puffer fish, which contains a highly lethal poison.

02:50The active ingredient, however, is the datura plant.

02:55This is the flower of the datura plant, which is a toxic plant.

03:01Which is known as one of the plants which is used currently to make a zombie.

03:09Dried datura is added to the mixture, along with other final ingredients.

03:16Though we know some of these ingredients, the preparation includes secrets outside our realm of knowledge.

03:24The making of zombie powder is a dangerous practice.

03:29And even a slight shift in the wind can cause inhalation and certain death.

03:37Once administered, the powder will reduce the body's metabolism to a death-like state.

03:45The method of administering this powder is not well documented.

03:52It is believed to be inhaled or ingested orally.

04:01After the powder is administered, a victim is laid to rest.

04:07People in Haiti are so concerned about the possibility of a loved one returning as a zombie.

04:16A burial often takes place while keeping the bodies resting place.

04:22A secret from a bokor or zombie maker.

04:35Theravese Narcisse died May 5th, 1962.

04:40He was pronounced dead by an American physician.

04:44But did he die?

04:48This is a guy, a man of 48, that went into hospital because he was spitting blood.

04:53He spent two days in the hospital and he was dead.

04:59A death certificate was issued shortly thereafter.

05:03The body was promptly buried.

05:06Now, 18 years later, we hear about him.

05:10What is amazing is that all the people, without exception, everybody recognized him.

05:16According to Narcisse, he became the property of a bokor until the bokor's death two years later.

05:24But what happened to the other 16 years before he resurfaced?

05:30Fearing that his own brother had played a part in making him a zombie,

05:35Narcisse stayed away from his home village until news of his brother's death.

05:41Though unable to move, Narcisse was conscious during his burial.

05:46Only with family members present is Narcisse willing to recount the horror of his burial,

05:53the weight of the earth upon him.

05:57Coffinmaker spoke to Dr. Munson about his recollections of that night.

06:03One incident in particular stands out in his memory.

06:08When he was putting the nail in the coffin, he remembers that he had made a wound to the body in the face.

06:15And now when you see this person again, you can see the scar from this nail puncture in the face.

06:23So we have a lot of events.

06:26We cannot put them together, so the conclusion is impossible for us.

06:31As impossible as it sounds, the fact remains that Narcisse was interred in this graveyard.

06:39Narcisse sometimes visits his grave.

06:44Visits his grave.

06:46It is a slow and sighted journey he often makes.

06:51And Narcisse considers his good fortune in outliving the bokor who had enslaved him.

07:02For more than 30 years have passed.

07:06Inscription clearly spells out his name.

07:10Narcisse.

07:16This case intrigued local physicians,

07:19prompted the psychiatric hospital in Port-au-Prince to try and create its own zombie hospital.

07:28They try and create its own zombie powder.

07:33They speculate that in combination with the tetrodotoxin from the pufferfish and the other mysterious ingredients,

07:42the possibility of zombification is real.

07:48As proof of this, you can now watch as the heart monitor records an almost death-like state.

07:58This man, Narcisse, a survivor, is a living example of a Hollywood myth.

08:06And though the myth may be considered true, it is also truly beyond bizarre.

08:18For now, this experiment is over.

08:23I hope you have enjoyed the efforts of our strange style of research.

08:30I'm Jay Robinson.

08:32Please join us again for another round of tests.

08:37The results are always remarkable.

08:41Prognosis is always unusual.

08:44And no matter what our laboratory is cooking up,

08:48the final analysis will always be beyond bizarre.

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