I Walked With A Zombie

Actually, it was more like twelve of them.

Tonight, a little after 9:00, I stepped out onto the sidewalk of downtown Ann Arbor, and right in the middle of a group of zombies shuffling along, being led by a man carrying a cardboard sign which read "Season's Eatings."

Most of the zombies wore white trimmed red Santa Claus hats along with varying degrees of grimy clothes, while a couple wore full Santa Claus suits, and one, with blood encrusted around his mouth wore a rabbit suit. All these pale gray complexioned zombies shuffling along made for a pretty interesting sight, certainly not one you see everyday. Walking amongst them taught me something as well.

What did I learn? After long years of watching many a zombie movie, and coming to the conclusion that out of all of the various horror scenarios, zombies seemed to be the most plausible, and most horrible of them all. The idea that the bodies of people you know would return from the grave, or be so overcome by some psychosis inducing virus, that they'd try to eat the living, seemed pretty horrible. Unfortunately, what I discovered tonight is that in real life, zombies just aren't scary. Maybe it's because none of them tried to take a bite out of me, or because I knew they weren't real, whatever. I did not find the experience creepy in any way, and they were pretty convincing in their Romero inspired shuffling, moans, and glassy-eyed stares. I was actually enjoying the whole thing. I did not feel the impulse to whack any of them over the head with a shovel. I wonder if anyone else did.

UPDATE: You can read more about "Zombie Claus" here...