Tetrodotoxin = Zombie Powder

[MixMasterNut]

Tetrodotoxin

Source: http://callofdutyzombies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1270&start=60

Tetrodotoxin, also known as "tetrodox" and frequently abbreviated as TTX, sometimes colloquially referred to as "zombie powder" by those who practice Vodou, is a potent neurotoxin with no known antidote.

Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, the name of the order that includes the pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish or mola, and triggerfish, several species of which carry the toxin.

Tetrodotoxin is roughly 10 times more poisonous than potassium cyanide

[Tetrodotoxin] is not always fatal; but at near-lethal doses, it can leave a person in a state of near-death for several days, while the person remains conscious. For this reason, tetrodotoxin has been alleged an ingredient in Haitian Vodou and the closest approximation of zombieism, an idea popularized by Harvard-trained ethnobotanist Wade Davis in a 1983 paper, and in his 1985 book, The Serpent and the Rainbow. This idea was dismissed by the scientific community in the 1980s, as the descriptions of voodoo zombies do not match the symptoms displayed by victims of tetrodotoxin poisoning, and the alleged incidents of zombies created in this manner could not be substantiated

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrodotoxin

Wade Davis's research on Haitian voodou zombies can be found in this book.

Some History on Haitian Voodoo Zombies

The closest thing we've known to real-world zombies, is the voodoo zombies from Haiti. In Haiti, zombies are created by witchdoctors called bokors, who delve into the realms of both light and dark magic. During the process of turning a victim into a zombie, the bokor is believed to collect a piece of the zombie's soul. The bokor will first create the "zombie powder" and brew it into a potion. Davis had discovered all zombie powders contain a common ingredient, pufferfish extracts (which are said to contain tetrodotoxin). The bokor will then serve the zombie powder brew to the intended victim. Once the brew takes hold, the victim will by all accounts appear to be dead. In Haiti, because of the hot climate and inability to preserve dead corpses, those who are pronounced dead are buried very quickly. Shortly there-after, the bokor will show up at the grave site, and dig up the body from the grave. If all goes according to plan, the victim will recover from the effects of the tetrodotoxin sometime while in the casket, or shortly after being ungraved. So in a sense, the dead victim then "reanimates". Because of the nature of the neurotoxin, the amount of time the victim would have been technically pronounced "dead", and the shortage of oxygen available within a buried casket, the surviving victim is subject to suffer from severe brain damage. This in addition to hypnotic drugs (Datura) provided by the bokor, ensures that the zombie will do the bokor's bidding.

Conspiracy

The dismisal of Wade Davis's discoveries of tetrodotoxin's use in zombieism by the "Scientific Community" is controversial at best. One of the first reasons cited for dismissing Davis's claims, is the Scientific Community questioned his ethics for gathering samples from dead corpses. The Scientific Community also dismissed some of Davis's findings when they couldn't reporoduce his results, in thier own laboratories, using low dosages of tetrodotoxin. Davis had already admitted that some of his samples may be damaged/compromised between the time of his field studies, and his reported samples. Davis also claimed that cultural beliefs were part of the process, which can't be duplicated in a test lab.

Resource: http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/zombie1.htm

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We Craven's horror adaptation of Wade Davis's research.

[killallzombies]

nice find

[way2g00d]

Good stuff man.

[MixMasterNut]

I'm adding this video here because it has a very good historical discussion about ancient zombies, including Haitian voodoo zombies

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