For those of you who are unaware, the Twin Cities is home to the WORLD'S LARGEST GATHERING OF ZOMBIES!!!

I can say that now in large, bold, all-caps gusto because we have officially claimed the Guinness World Record this past crawl. That's right friends - I, Taylor, and the city that I hail from are part of a world record! Neat-o huh?!

While I want to go on and on about how awesome the Zombie Pub Crawl (ZPC) is, I have already done that... twice. See my first ever zombie post, "What do we want? BRAINS!!!" for more thoughts and details... and my awesome Fargo zombie costume.

So what more could I possibly have to say? Lots. First and foremost, what made this year special was not only the world record attempt - but the expansion of the zombie hoard into St. Paul. The event was adequately themed: "Zombie Pub Crawl VII: A Terror of Two Cities".

Epic, right!? I want to tip my hat to the crawl's organizers, The Zombie Abe Lincolns, for all of their hard work... and for finally finding an appropriately-sized outdoor location! While nothing can truly keep me from donning the garb of the undead and going out for a night of mayhem, I appreciated very much being able to enjoy the surprisingly warm October weather. Not to mention... it was nice not to have to wait in line to get into a bar, then wait in line to get a drink, then wait in line for the bathroom, then wait in line to get out... then probably wait in line to cross the street and repeat the entire process. Mears Park eliminated all the line-age. Cheers Abes! Enjoy this photo slideshow courtesy of City Pages:





Now, to take a moment to shift off the ZPC and onto the topic of zombies in general, I would like to address the questions that my uncle posed because I think there are a lot of people who share his sentiments. Those are: What's with this zombie thing anyway? Is it a cult?

First and foremost, yes. Probably. It is more than likely a cult, but there is no induction ceremony, and no Koolaid to drink, so it's a relatively safe cult if you don't mind blood, flesh wounds, and brain eating (all faux, of course). Second, the appeal to the "zombie thing" is something that has fascinated me for quite some time.

As an ultra brief history of some not-so-random and interesting zombie facts, here are some things you may or may not know, courtesy of the University of Michigan - I am afterall, still an academic at heart and you will find no Wikipedia here:

• The origin of the concept of zombiism stems from Haitian Voodoo culture

• The word zombie--"zombi" in Haitian--means "spirit of the dead"

• In Haitian culture, a zombi was someone that his/her relatives hated so much, they would hire a Voodoo priest to administer toxins that would mess with their mind and make them appear to be dead in the physical sense. This way, the person would be completely under the priest's control, and in essence, out of the family's hair... talk about your original Jerry Springer moment!

• The first feature-length zombie movie was White Zombie (1932) which largely took its subject matter from the Haitian religion as outlined above • Night of the Living Dead (1968)... well duh, reinvented the idea of the zombie into the modern neither alive nor dead wherewolf/vampire combo we know today

For the purposes of my reflection, let's focus on the zombie post-1968. I will keep it brief. I promise, I'll try.

What fascinates me about the idea of the zombie that so many of my generation seem to have latched onto is this: it is a very interesting answer to the question of "what happens to us after we die?" As organized religion is seeming to be come less and less important, and consumerism is on what feels like a never-ending rise, zombies suggest there is no more heaven or hell, there is only a thoughtless mob whose sole focus is to attain one thing - brains.

If you think about it, the brain is really the only thing which makes us human. It gives us the ability to think, to have senses, to make choices, etc., and without it, we are useless. So why is it then, that zombies (beings with no mental capacity other than the drive for food) crave this particular organism? It doesn't give them any additional powers, throwing out the window the "soul eating" theory that we all learned from Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat. It doesn't provide them with nourishment because, as undead beings, they need no sustenence, nor does it give them pleasure, as they have no taste buds. In essence, it's not used, it's purely consumed.

So maybe that's it? Zombies = consumerism hell? Who knows. Maybe some day I will grow up and go to grad school and write my dissertation on zombies... or maybe I will just speculate on what they mean to me and the culture of my time once every year in early October after downing a few pints. Either way... I will always have a soft spot for them.

Later days, braaaaaaaaaains.