Zombie Research Society
Off all the differences between Voodoo Zombies of the Afro-Haitian tradition, and Modern Zombies as first realized by George Romero, none is more striking, and more overlooked, than the fact that Voodoo Zombies are not dead (or undead) in the slightest.
Unlike corpses rising from the grave, Voodoo Zombies are created through a mixture of drugs, religious ritual, and cultural belief. After being put into a trance-like 
state that approximates a coma, victims are regularly fed the hallucinogenic drug, Datura, also known as the zombie cucumber. Webster University Professor Emeritus and Haitian scholar, Bob Corbett, had this to add:
“Eating the zombie cucumber keeps them in their zonked-out state, but otherwise they are just like animals in a pen and will do what they are told to do. Mainly they’re used as slave labor.”
Corbett has studied Haiti for decades, and personally traveled there more than 50 times over the past fifteen years to investigate its people and traditions.
He went on to emphasize that Voodoo Zombies have beating hearts, and normal blood flow and body tempurature. They need to sleep and eat regular foods, and are not contagious or aggressive in the slightest. They are 100% alive, and so have almost nothing in common with the undead zombies that represent such a grave threat to the survival of the human race.
Actually Wade Davis, who wrote the book on real zombies, assumed the zombie cumber was the drug of choice. His field work showed it wasn’t used in the zombification process at all. Either way great post.
Didn’t mean to imply that it was used int he zombification process. It is used after the “zombie” is created to keep them in a drugged-out state.
Wade Davis’ book is: The Serpent and the Rainbow – but the experts I spoke with, include Bob Corbett quoted above – acknowledged Davis’ errors, and still came to this conclusion.
Thanks for the thumbs up on the post!
Just to clarify, I was using a figure of speech, didn’t actually mean the Serpent and the Rainbow, was referring to his ethnographies and general expertise.
Voodoo is based on superstition, modern day is based on biological.
Voodoo zombies cannot be dosed with Datura, as one of its more serious side effects is violence.
It is a widely known fact that Datura is used in “potions” to create Voodoo zombies. I am not an expert on the drug, but in all the research I did for this article – and in speaking with 10+ experts on Haitian culture – not once did I hear or read that Datura commonly causes violent behavior. Either way, it is undoubtedly used in the creation and control of voodoo zombies.