What are origins of zombies in Haiti?

Answer 1

The so called zoombies were made famous by Hollywood with some characteristics that are not the same as the Haiti mythical Zombies. Haiti zombies, one of the Vodou legends, are assumed to be people who have been killed, then ressucitated and enslaved by local voodoo priests. Antropological and Biological researchers have found that the process is somehow different in reality. A Vodou priest may manufacture a powder made mainly with the bladder of blowfish and the flowers of the Datura plant among other less known ingredients. He will then place the powder mixed with some fats in a place where the target will step on it barefooted. Once the target steps on it, the powder, through the fats acting as carriers, will enter the blood of the target producing a cataleptic paralysis that will make the subject appear as dead for days. After the burial, the voodoo priest will take the target from the grave and will give an antidote. However, the length of time under the effects of the powder will produce severe amnesia and the loss of some intellectual capacities, allowing the Voudou priest to enslave the person for his own benefit and making the person appear as "absent minded" in his looks and behavior. These zombies are as mortal and alive as anyone else, the undead of Hollywood exist only on screen.