Claim: An epidemic has resulted in an outbreak of 'zombism.'
Examples:
[Collected via e-mail, May 2005]
There has been a small outbreak of "zombism" in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.
The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a
After death, this parasite is able to restart the heart of its victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believed to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during "resurrection."
Cambodian officials say that the outbreak has been contained and the public has no need to worry.
[Rest of article here.]
[Collected via e-mail, May 2009]
Oh No...ZOMBIE FLU! (if BBC says so, it must be true!)...PLEASE check out the article below & comment ASAP to hopefully assuage my grandchildren's panic.
Origins: Despite its original
code revealed that it was created by modifying a real BBC article about Syrian
troops withdrawing from Lebanon, which is why most of the ancillary links in the spoof page's sidebar referred to Syria and Lebanon even though the 'Zombies' article mentioned neither of those countries.)
The article was just an April Fools' joke, and the picture of the "canine sacrificed by locals to ward off evil spirits" used in the original was a cropped version of an art exhibit photograph created years before the
In April 2009, the fake BBC article motif was dusted off again to create a phony (but official-looking) page reporting an "outbreak of 'zombism' in London" due to a "mutation of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus into new strain: H1Z1." This spoof even cagily referenced the 2005 prank article about Cambodian zombies:
After death, this virus is able to restart the heart of it's [sic] victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believe to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during "resurrection."
Similar to a scare originally found in Cambodia back in 2005, victims of a new strain of the swine flu virus H1N1 have been reported in London.
Last updated: 1 May 2009
 | Sources: |
Stransky, Tanner. "Zombie Swine Flu Hoax Story: Does Twitter Have Panic-Creating Potential?" Entertainment Weekly 1 May 2009.
