History Overview
From the release of "Zombieland" in 2009, to the more recent box office hit "World War Z", it is clear that the worlds population has warmed up to the idea of deceased friends and family coming back from the grave craving brains. This however, is not where the term "zombie" originated from. And the history is darker than any zombie movie you have seen before. In 1685, King Louis XIV declared french and by extension his reign over Haiti. Once the French had this control, they would eventually build up a slave trade shipping in African slaves to come work tirelessly on their sugar plantations. The mode of transportation from Africa to Haiti was by train, and many would come to call these the "witch trains". This idea stemming from how the people who were being enslaved and transported would not be the same. They would get on board as normal humans, and get off of the train as mindless slaves that were doomed to work for the French.
"Zombies are everywhere these days—in movies and books; on stage and television. They lurk in the shadows waiting patiently to pounce and feed on brains. Undead and not quite living, where do zombies come from and why are they here?" (Origins.osu.edu)
Zombie History in Haiti
Xidachane had previously been a belief in south and west Africa, and when it was brought to Haiti which is largely known for its religious practices of voodoo and the supernatural, it was widely accepted. One of the main reasons of this being the high mortality rate of the slaves, another being the mental and physical torture that they were put through. Eventually, like anyone would be in their situation they would be broken down through shear lack of sleep and adequate nutrition making them look even more like the myth that was being perpetuated.
While researchers argue that the concept of zombies originated in Africa, zombies also played a significant role in Haitian history, and they spurred the development of beliefs concerning sorcery, death, and zombification. While Haitians are still fearful of “zombification” today, the fear stemmed from zombies having the capability to possess innocent victims to replace slaves who were working on sugar plantations. Once the mythical creature named the “Bokor” entered Haiti, who was thought to be able to magically conjure zombies at any point in time, he became their main concern, and still haunts the Haitian people in contemporary times. In addition to this, in the 1960’s, politicians threatened lower-class Haitians with zombification in order to coerce them in to voting, sustain authority, and minimize protests.