Beyond Bizarre -- Zombies
Documentary television hosted by Jay Robinson focused on exploring great mysteries around the world, from ghost sightings, alien encounters and everything else in between.
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00:00In the dark and lonely corridors of our minds lie fears so terrifying and gruesome
00:10we often hesitate to even contemplate them.
00:14Chief among these fears is the shadowy belief of life after death.
00:21No, not heaven or hell, but a life after death of servitude and mortal slavery.
00:33Hollywood has painted a graphic picture for us all to see,
00:37and what is illustrated on that canvas is what we have all come to know as...
00:45Zombies.
00:47A living death.
00:50Could there be a link between the presumed dead walking the earth and the cinema version of a zombie?
00:58He's a zombie.
01:00Fleshies, the undead, are unstoppable under the control of an evil sorcerer.
01:09Who has the power to awaken the dead?
01:12And if zombies exist, what evil do they intend?
01:18Today in the Caribbean nation of Haiti, the fear of being turned into a zombie is far greater than one might suppose.
01:28Haitian religious societies are controlled by voodoo priests.
01:33Evil priests are known as Bokor.
01:37They make a zombie of somebody for two reasons.
01:43First of all, they want to punish somebody who did something wrong, something they did not approve.
01:49The second reason is that the Bokor sell people as slaves.
01:58People who are working for them for nothing.
02:02The first step in reanimating the dead requires the creation of a mysterious medicine, the zombie powder.
02:13This process takes place in secluded areas, well away from prying eyes.
02:22The ingredients mirror a witch's brew.
02:27Poisonous seeds and plants, toads, lizards, spiders.
02:35Acutely aware of the danger in handling the ingredients, the Bokor's assistants avoid any direct contact.
02:43Especially with the flesh of the puffer fish, which contains a highly lethal poison.
02:50The active ingredient, however, is the datura plant.
02:55This is the flower of the datura plant, which is a toxic plant.
03:01Which is known as one of the plants which is used currently to make a zombie.
03:09Dried datura is added to the mixture, along with other final ingredients.
03:16Though we know some of these ingredients, the preparation includes secrets outside our realm of knowledge.
03:24The making of zombie powder is a dangerous practice.
03:29And even a slight shift in the wind can cause inhalation and certain death.
03:37Once administered, the powder will reduce the body's metabolism to a death-like state.
03:45The method of administering this powder is not well documented.
03:52It is believed to be inhaled or ingested orally.
04:01After the powder is administered, a victim is laid to rest.
04:07People in Haiti are so concerned about the possibility of a loved one returning as a zombie.
04:16A burial often takes place while keeping the bodies resting place.
04:22A secret from a bokor or zombie maker.
04:35Theravese Narcisse died May 5th, 1962.
04:40He was pronounced dead by an American physician.
04:44But did he die?
04:48This is a guy, a man of 48, that went into hospital because he was spitting blood.
04:53He spent two days in the hospital and he was dead.
04:59A death certificate was issued shortly thereafter.
05:03The body was promptly buried.
05:06Now, 18 years later, we hear about him.
05:10What is amazing is that all the people, without exception, everybody recognized him.
05:16According to Narcisse, he became the property of a bokor until the bokor's death two years later.
05:24But what happened to the other 16 years before he resurfaced?
05:30Fearing that his own brother had played a part in making him a zombie,
05:35Narcisse stayed away from his home village until news of his brother's death.
05:41Though unable to move, Narcisse was conscious during his burial.
05:46Only with family members present is Narcisse willing to recount the horror of his burial,
05:53the weight of the earth upon him.
05:57Coffinmaker spoke to Dr. Munson about his recollections of that night.
06:03One incident in particular stands out in his memory.
06:08When he was putting the nail in the coffin, he remembers that he had made a wound to the body in the face.
06:15And now when you see this person again, you can see the scar from this nail puncture in the face.
06:23So we have a lot of events.
06:26We cannot put them together, so the conclusion is impossible for us.
06:31As impossible as it sounds, the fact remains that Narcisse was interred in this graveyard.
06:39Narcisse sometimes visits his grave.
06:44Visits his grave.
06:46It is a slow and sighted journey he often makes.
06:51And Narcisse considers his good fortune in outliving the bokor who had enslaved him.
07:02For more than 30 years have passed.
07:06Inscription clearly spells out his name.
07:10Narcisse.
07:16This case intrigued local physicians,
07:19prompted the psychiatric hospital in Port-au-Prince to try and create its own zombie hospital.
07:28They try and create its own zombie powder.
07:33They speculate that in combination with the tetrodotoxin from the pufferfish and the other mysterious ingredients,
07:42the possibility of zombification is real.
07:48As proof of this, you can now watch as the heart monitor records an almost death-like state.
07:58This man, Narcisse, a survivor, is a living example of a Hollywood myth.
08:06And though the myth may be considered true, it is also truly beyond bizarre.
08:18For now, this experiment is over.
08:23I hope you have enjoyed the efforts of our strange style of research.
08:30I'm Jay Robinson.
08:32Please join us again for another round of tests.
08:37The results are always remarkable.
08:41Prognosis is always unusual.
08:44And no matter what our laboratory is cooking up,
08:48the final analysis will always be beyond bizarre.