Alaska Zombie Walks

About me:

Zombait.org now online!

Join us! We are group of Fairbanks citizens who put on zombie-themed productions for the benifit of our community! We currently have 4 events planned for 2008, including a Zombie Dance. All proceeds from our productions go towards a local charity. This year, 2008, we are donation to Homeward Bound Animal Rescue, the "No kill" pound. For more information, please go to www.zombait.org

Zombait Productions: Zombait.org

Attracting Zombies since 2001

Most Common Question:

What is a

"Zombie Walk?"

Answer: A zombie walk (also known as a zombie mob, zombie march, zombie horde or zombie lurch) is an organized public gathering of two or more people who dress up in zombie costumes. Usually taking place in an urban centre, the participants make their way around the city streets and through shopping malls in a somewhat orderly fashion and often limping their way towards a local cemetery or other public space.

Promoted primarily through word of mouth and online message boards, zombie walks are an underground activity. During the event participants are encouraged to remain in character as zombies and to communicate only in a manner consistent with zombie behavior. This may include grunting, groaning and slurred, moaning calls for 'brains'. It should be noted that zombie behavior is a hot topic of debate. Purists who draw their definitions from the original Living Dead films will claim that a zombie would never have the ability to call for 'brains' and furthermore that a zombie needs only living (or freshly killed) flesh for its sustenance and not the brain in particular.

An advanced technique to heighten interest and 'realism', some zombie mobs will actually 'eat' victims to create new zombies, in sight of horrified onlookers. The better coordinated zombie mobs will establish a route and an easily recognizable signal, so that participants can plant themselves as 'civilians' (ie not zombies yet) along the route in old tearable clothes, and as the mob shambles along it can continually discover and 'devour' new victims. As the zombies surround the new victim to loudly 'feed', concealing him/her from witnesses' view, they tear clothes and quickly apply greenish makeup and fake blood, to create a new zombie, who then shambles along with the ever-expanding pack to find new victims.

The earliest zombie walk on record was held in the summer of 2001 in Sacramento California. The event, billed as The Zombie Parade was the brain-child of Bryna Lovig who suggested it to the organizers of The Trash Film Orgy as a way to promote their annual midnight film festival. A few dozen folks gathered to be made up as zombies and then paraded around town. They were driven to various parade routes in a white school bus owned by The Gallery Horsecow. The event was a success and has continued annually ever since, with a Zombie Pub Crawl and Zombie Art Walks added.

Another early zombie walk was held in October 2003, in Toronto, Ontario, founded by local horror movie fan Thea Munster, with only six participants. By 2005, zombie mobs had spread to several North American cities and some had gotten quite large. On July 30, 2005 San Francisco was invaded by approximately 200 zombies who terrorized tourists around Union Square, and played dead on the BART train. Another widely documented zombie walk occurred in Vancouver, B.C., on August 27, 2005, with over 400 participants. That walk proceeded through the Pacific Centre Mall, travelled on the SkyTrain (referred to for the event as the "SkyBrain" or the "BrainTrain") and continued 35 blocks to Mountain View Cemetery.

Official Monroeville Mall World Record Attempt PhotoIn the second largest zombie walk to date, 894 participants gathered at the Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh, which served as the set of the classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead, on October 29, 2006. In addition to setting a Guinness World Record, the event was a benefit for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. In 2007, the people of Pittsburgh broke their record with over 1100 zombies at the same mall, during their all weekend zombie festival.

At the 2006 Vancouver Zombiewalk, an incident occurred in which a driver attempted to push his way through the crowd of zombies that was headed down Robson St. This resulted in some minor injuries among the zombies, severe damage to the car, a number of ICBC insurance claims, and coverage on CBC Television.

Zombie walks have become relatively common in large cities, especially in North America, often becoming annual traditions, though some are also spontaneous "flash mob" events.

On October 31, 2006, a young woman in Bloomington, Indiana reported to police that a group of "zombies" attacked her in her Land Rover and covered the vehicle in "purple goo". The zombies in question turned out to be participants in a small Zombie Parade. No one was arrested.

From Wikipedia

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