Wade Davis: The Voodoo Tradition In Haiti

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In the story Wade Davis travels to Haiti to figure out how people are becoming zombies in Haiti. In the American culture we tend to use zombies as horror figures in horror films and horror tales. While not actually scared of the zombie it’s the idea of being turned into one that scares most of us. Haitians think of zombies in a different perspective due to the voodoo religion practiced in Haiti. In the voodoo religion Haitian zombies are normal people who are undergoing the zombification process due to a potion or spell given to them by a “bokor” or voodoo priest. This shows how each culture has a different view on things, and the beliefs each person holds in a culture. Most people don’t believe in zombies or any other monsters they have to see scientific proof to believe anything is real. This is a huge reason why Davis traveled to Haiti to further investigate on the Haitian zombies, and find out the truth about the zombification process. During his stay in Haiti Davis discovered a drug causing the zombification process, and making zombies real to the Haitians. He also discovered that zombification was being forced by small secret societies in Haiti who would give the drug to people as a punishment. In order for …show more content…
When traced back zombies originate from the voodoo religion. With this being said, how did America come up with this flesh eating, brain hungry beast, with the one desire to consume humans? This American stereotype of zombies came to life on the big screen in 1932 with the film “White Zombie”. After this film zombies continued to appear in American horror films for decades. Over the years zombies have evolved on film going from a slow walking brainless creature into hordes of running brainless creatures. America has stretched the zombie from its roots in the Haitian voodoo religion, and has altered the image into a complete opposite representation of a real
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