A Participant in a Zombie Walk in Edmonton, October, 2007.
This article is about the social event. For the dance style, see Melbourne Shuffle.
A zombie walk (also known as a zombie mob, zombie march, zombie horde, zombie lurch, zombie shuffle or zombie pub crawl) is an organized public gathering of people who dress up in zombie costumes. Usually taking place in an urban centre, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping malls in a somewhat orderly fashion and often limping their way towards a local cemetery or other public space (a series of taverns in the case of a zombie pub crawl).
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Customs
Promoted primarily through word of mouth and online message boards, zombie walks are an underground activity. During the event participants are encouraged to remain in character as zombies and to communicate only in a manner consistent with zombie behavior. This may include grunting, groaning and slurred, moaning calls for ‘brains’. It should be noted that zombie behavior is a hot topic of debate. Purists who draw their definitions from the original Living Dead films will claim that a zombie would never have the ability to call for ‘brains’ and furthermore that a zombie needs only living or freshly killed flesh for its sustenance, and not the brain in particular.
An advanced technique to heighten interest and realism, some zombie mobs will “eat” victims to create new zombies, in sight of onlookers. The better coordinated zombie mobs will establish a route and an easily recognizable signal, so that other participants can plant themselves along the route in old, tearable clothes, and as the mob shambles along it can discover and devour new victims. As the zombies surround the new victim to loudly feed, concealing him or her from witnesses’ view, they tear clothes and quickly apply greenish makeup and fake blood, to create a new zombie, who then shambles along with the ever-expanding pack to find new victims.
History
Zombified children participated in Edmonton’s Zombie Walk, October 14, 2007.
The earliest zombie walk on record was held in the summer of 2001 in Sacramento California. The event, billed as The Zombie Parade was the brain-child of Bryna Lovig who suggested it to the organizers of The Trash Film Orgy as a way to promote their annual midnight film festival. A few dozen folks gathered to be made up as zombies and then paraded around town. They were driven to various parade routes in a white school bus owned by The Gallery Horsecow. The event was a success and has continued annually ever since, with a Zombie Pub Crawl and Zombie Art Walks added.
Another early zombie walk was held in October 2003, in Toronto, Ontario. It was organised by local horror movie fan Thea Munster, and had only six participants.
A zombie walk in Brisbane on the 25th May 2008 saw more than 1,500 participants stopping traffic and shoppers in the CBD. Local newspapers failed to mention the event, in a bid to stop it from continuing, after several businesses complained about minor “zombie damage” and zombies scaring their customers away.
Official Monroeville Mall World Record Attempt Photo
In the second largest zombie walk to date, 894 participants gathered at the Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh, which served as the set of the classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead, on October 29, 2006.
At the 2006 Vancouver Zombiewalk, an incident occurred in which a driver attempted to push his way through the crowd of zombies that was headed down Robson St. This resulted in some minor injuries among the zombies, severe damage to the car, a number of ICBC insurance claims, and coverage on CBC Television.
Zombie walks have become relatively common in large cities, especially in North America, often becoming annual traditions, though some are also spontaneous “flash mob” events.
On October 31, 2006, a young woman in Bloomington, Indiana reported to police that a group of “zombies” attacked her in her Land Rover and covered the vehicle in “purple goo”. The zombies in question turned out to be participants in a small, local zombie walk, and no arrests were made.
Charity events
Organizations like Zombie Squad have hosted zombie walks to raise awareness or money for community service events, most commonly blood drives since the infection in zombie movies is traditionally spread by blood contact or a bacteriological infection passed through the saliva.
Both world record walks at the Monroeville Mall have included food drives. On October 26, 2008, the Monroeville organizers are planning World Zombie Day to raise awareness of global hunger. More than 40 cities worldwide have signed up for this day of global zombie walks with food drives for local hunger related charities.
See also
- Flash mob
- Subway party
- SantaCon
- Cacophony Society
References
- ^ 2007 Toronto Zombie Walk
- ^ Zombies in San Francisco
- ^ Zombiewalk Vancouver
- ^ Donaldson, Bob, and Roberts, Larry. A walk with zombies (Online multimedia presentation.) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 30, 2006.
- ^ Zandy Dudiak, Trib Total Media. Guinness certifies record for second annual Zombie WalkJune 12, 2008
- ^ Undead take over city
- ^ Vancouver Zombie Walk 2006 CBC TV Coverage
- ^ SignOnSanDiego.com: Zombies haunt San Diego streets
- ^ ABC News: They came, they saw, they lurched
- ^ heraldtimesonline.com: Woman reports zombie attack
External links
- Zombiewalk.com
- Zombies For Gore
- International Zombie awareness day (IZAD)
- Crawl of the Dead – Zombie Walks & Community Site
- Terror4Fun – UK zombie events
- Zombie Pub Crawl
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