Real Life Zombies vs. Cinematic Zombies

Zombies are a classic movie monster. As a general population of earth inhabitants, we really love seem to love them. There are over forty different types of zombie shows and movies in the media right now. Why? Because we know that they’re not real. In comparison to serial killers, we’ve never read about real life zombies attacking someone in the middle of the night. We’ve never seen one getting arrested on the news. Zombies feel safe to us in a sense.
But what if zombies were actually real? According to science, this isn’t a concept that’s quite so far-fetched.

Zombies in the Media

Without even thinking of a specific movie, most people already know what a zombie is. It’s a person who has died and come back to a sort of half life where their skin decomposes about a week’s worth in only minutes. They’re pretty dumb in terms of motor skills and have an insatiable appetite for flesh and/or brains. The person, since they’re classified now as “undead” can no longer recognize a loved one such as a mother, father, or child, and is indiscriminate with whomsoever it consumes. Once a “regular” person is bitten by a zombie, they then turn into a zombie within minutes. This typically creates conflict in those with a relative who is now a zombie as the only way to prevent them from eating everyone is to either blow their brains out or knock their head clean off from their body. Sometimes. In most movies and shows, that’s the most effective way of combating zombies. Other times, not.

Real Life Zombies

There have a few news reports in more recent times of a few folks who have ingested bath salts by way of smoking and then found themselves with an appetite for human flesh. In 2011, they were dubbed the real life zombies, but if we’re sticking to the classic comic and cinema definition, this is not quite the right category for those people to fall into.
However, while there are no real zombie people, there are definitely zombie insects and bacteria walking around. And they’re seriously just about as terrifying as the concept of people having this type of ailment.

The Zombie Fungus

It’s scientific name is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, but for simplicity purposes, we’ll keep referring to it as the zombie fungus. What’s even weirder? It only affects ants. It grows on leaves which is the choice dinner of most ants. But it’s not that simple. What has scientists totally baffled is that the parasitic fungus seems to manipulate these ants into biting it in the specific areas in which it will be able to reproduce. Another oddity about this is that it always seems to happen around the time where the sun is at its mid-point in the sky, which is noon for wherever the ant is at. However, once the ant bites into this fungus, it immediately dies, and fungus stalks begin growing through it and the stalks continue to move the ant just as you would think a zombie ant would walk. This fungus with its ant corpse body then expels spores on the rest of the ants in the surely nearby colony and the cycle begins again and the entire colony is replaced with zombie fungus.

The Loving Mutant Zombie

There’s a group of bacteria called phytoplasma, and they’re kind of like the monster that ended up killing the cat because they petted it too strongly. This special type of bacteria is found in Central America and actually only affects plants. This bacterium is contracted by plant sap eating insects. They go from plant to plant, spreading the bacteria. If the plant the insect has landed on is dying, the bacteria will automatically go to work and take over the plant in what appears to be an attempt to heal it. However, after the initial apparent healing session ends, the bacterium completely takes over the plant, making it have oddly colored green flowers. Sometimes, this bacterium can even morph the green flowers on it into plain old leaves. Meanwhile, the bacterium that’s causing these zombie-like metamorphoses also attracts more insects, thus spreading this at an alarmingly quick rate among forest plant life.

There are many different types of bacteria out there that have this affect. It’s unknown what exactly their function serves, but for now, they’re a real life comparison to the nightmares that the movies are made from. While zombie bacteria may not seem too scary on paper, it has the potential to be. With its’ natural disposition to mutate and morph things, what if it began to mutate itself even further and became something that was actually a scary size?
You truly never know.