Zombies, Vampires, and the Walking Dead - The Scientific Facts Behind the Fiction

There are certain facts throughout history that have added to the stories of zombies and vampires. There are fact behind the legends, and truth behind the stories of the flesh eating undead.

During the time of the bubonic plague, many stories of the walking dead started to pop up across Europe. There were tales of people who had recently deceased that had come back home with the stains of victim's blood on their shirts. This is one of the roots of both zombie and vampire stories.

The some of the symptoms of the bubonic plague were passing out, falling into a brief comatose state, and internal bleeding. It is easy to see how a combination of these symptoms could create a zombie or vampire story.

Imagine for a moment that you are someone who is living at the time of the plague in Europe. You are walking through the woods with a friend who is obviously not feeling well.

Suddenly, he passes out. You make an attempt to check to see if he is breathing, but cannot feel any breath. You cannot feel any heart beat either.

You then have to make a decision. Should you bury him in a shallow grave here and get help to take the body back to town? Should you attempt to drag the body all the way back to town on your back? The decision you would probably make is to bury the body.

Once you arrive at home, you try to gather a few strong men to go back with you to the site where you buried your friend. What you didn't know is that your friend was actually still alive when you buried him. He has passed into a comatose state causing his heart rate and breathing rate to drop.

When you get to the spot with the men that you brought, you find that the ground has been pushed aside, and that there are footprints leading back towards town. You consider the possibility that your friend is now part of the walking dead.

Once you arrive at home, you see that your friend is walking up to his house. You see that his clothing is tattered, and dirty. You don't think about the fact that you buried him, and that is why his clothing is a mess.