The Devil in the Details

Episode 17 - Zombies: Science or Superstition?

May 25, 2022 JD Sword
The Devil in the Details
Episode 17 - Zombies: Science or Superstition?
Show Notes

In 1983, ethnobotanist Wade Davis published The Serpent and the Rainbow- an account of his journeying to Haiti in search of a fabled zombi powder used by Vodou bokors to induce a state of somnambulism. Davis claimed to have obtained samples of the powder, and hypothesized that one of the main ingredients was a deadly neurotoxin known as tetrodotoxin, setting off a firestorm of academic controversy. The Satanic Skeptic examines Davis's claims as well as those of his critics. Is there a scientific basis for zombi folklore, or are they mere superstition?