Class 2: Hierakonpolis, Egypt

It is no secret that Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide gets far too much attention and will get many people killed but there are a few things he gets right. And the fact he got this one leads me to believe he might deserve more credit then I give him, or he just got lucky. This interview however gives some very interesting insight on the theories behind the work.

In Egypt a very interesting discovery was made, what archaeologists believe to be in fact proof of zombies in humanity's history. The facts are pretty straight forward:

• High numbers of headless bodies.
• Images of walking dead.
• Higher than normal marks for the beheading of normal humans.
• Scratch marks on the insides of walls where corpses were kept.
• Bite marks on corpses.

Previous cases of dig sites from the area have seen journals or even scientists gone missing after returning from digs. It is not hard for the mind to begin to imagine just why this information and these people were never heard from again.

And looking at the facts paints an all too clear picture. Egypt was known for having interesting styles of execution, some stolen by the Romans later on. These included: cruxifing, forced drinking of poison and most commonly burning. Beheading was the least favored way of execution in Egypt, so why so many headless corpses found at this place?

The beheading stone has images of headless walking men. Of Pharaohs' army marching to meet these headless men. All images tell stories, the story here is not that the men were headless, but that they were dead while walking and to defeat them the soldiers must remove their heads.

Twenty-one of the headless bodies were found with marks on their spines. Marks which indicate extreme force was needed to sever the spine, more so than that of a normal man. And to dismiss the idea that maybe these were burly soldier types, the twenty-one appear to have been both men and women ranging from 16 to 65. Odd to think a young, strong king or soldier would need that much force to sever the neck of a 65 year old women, unless she was something more resistant to death then a human.

Marks were found in the rooms where the bodies were kept, scratch marks. This could be many things. People put in the rooms to die with the corpses would be my first guess. But to leave scratch marks in stone requires a lot of effort and something stronger then finger nails. Now if I were trapped in a room of dead bodies, I won't be too happy but I wouldn't be scratching my figures down to the bones. Why die in even more pain? Or use the energy when I cold be trying to find another way out? But something that doesn't feel pain and wouldn't think to try to find another way out... well that mindless creature would scratch right to the bone.

Egypt was also not a cannibalistic nation, so the bite marks can be assumed to not be for that reason. Even if they were, as Max Brooks points out, all known cannibal tribes kill their victims before hand and use knives and other tools to prepare the meal, not eat right off the bone. Especially while the whole body is intact.

The details breakdown-
Location: Hierakonpolis, Egypt
Time: 3000 B.C.
Infected: 21+
Response: Military.
Media Coverage: Very little.

My suggestion: Looks at the signs. Not everything in this article reads completely true and some of it is tongue in cheek but the simple facts can't be denied. More and more archaeologists are discovering sites like this and beginning to wondering "what if?" Science does not disprove zombies, we simply have not discovered what causes them. And more and more evidence comes out that does point toward their prove. Be willing to stand against the crowd long enough to at least open your mind like these people who search for truths and ask "what if?"

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.