The ethnobotanist Harvard University, Wade Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 to locate cases of two certificates zombies and get a sample of the substance causing the "zombification". First he gave the whereabouts of Clairvius Narcisse, a farmer declared clinically dead and buried in May 1962, and reappeared in 1980 The man said his brother had paid for what turned into zombie after he refused to sell his share of the heritage. When they took him out of the tomb received many spankings that only then lost consciousness. "He was always paralyzed, but lucid. He was taken to a plantation where he worked as a slave to other zombies for two years and was released when the landowner died.

Davis set out to investigate whether the state of "living death" in which the zombies fell or did not occur through a powerful sedative drug. After dodging a risky journey that included pacts with strange and dangerous characters. The scientist said that the zombies were real and crumbled chemical and social foundations of the process in his book "The Serpent and the Rainbow".

The strange thing is that in the rainforests of Haiti there are many varieties of hallucinogenic plants and warm waters around its shores are home to an almost ridiculous creature, pufferfish, which at the slightest danger as inflated ball. Plants, fish zombies What is the relationship between them? The analysis showed that tetrodontoxina pufferfish contains a powerful venom that attacks the nervous system. This substance paralyzes the victim and breathing keeps a low level that allows you to live for hours with little oxygen inside the coffin.

Shortly after the funeral is given to ingest a hallucinogenic paste made from sweet potato, sugar syrup and Datura stramonium, fruit of a plant called "cucumber zombie" which induces a psychotic state characterized by disorientation, acute confusion and the total amnesia. At that time the priest declares Undead and highly intoxicated, the zombie gets a new name and start another life.

The voodoo must provide the right amount of poison to make it. The formula of the toxin, C. Kao raised pharmacologist at the State University of New York, does not explain why in some cases the effect lasted years.

One issue is the substance that science has already investigated, however, have been unable to access the background of the subject: the mysterious rites performed by Houngans, true pillars of voodoo community.

El etnobotnico de la Universidad de Harvard, Wade Davis, viaj a Hait en 1982 para localizar dos casos certificados de zombies y obtener una muestra de la sustancia causante de la zombificacin. Primero dio con el paradero de Clairvius Narcisse, un campesino declarado clnicamente muerto y enterrado en mayo de 1962, y reaparecido en 1980. El hombre dijo que su hermano haba pagado para que lo convirtieran en zombie despus de haberse negado a vender su parte de la herencia. Cuando lo sacaron de la tumba recibi tantos azotes que recin entonces perdi el conocimiento. Siempre estuvo paralizado, pero lcido. Fue llevado a una plantacin donde trabaj como esclavo con otros zombies durante dos aos, y qued libre cuando el dueo del campo muri.

Davis se dedic a investigar si el estado de muerte latente en que caan los zombies se produca o no a travs de una poderosa droga sedante. Tras sortear un arriesgado periplo que incluy pactos con personajes extraos y peligrosos. El cientfico anunci que los zombies eran reales y desmenuz las bases qumicas y sociales del proceso en su libro La serpiente y el arcoiris.

Lo ms curioso de todo es que en las selvas tropicales de Hait existen muchas variedades de plantas alucingenas y las clidas aguas que baan sus costas albergan a una criatura casi ridcula, el pez globo, que ante el menor peligro se infla como pelota. Plantas, peces zombies qu relacin existe entre ellos? El anlisis demostr que el pez globo contiene tetrodontoxina, un potente veneno que ataca al sistema nervioso. Esta sustancia paraliza a la vctima y mantiene la respiracin a un nivel tan bajo que le permite vivir durante horas con el escaso oxgeno que hay dentro del atad.

Poco despus del entierro se le da a ingerir una pasta alucingena elaborada a base de batata, jarabe de azcar y Datura stramonium, fruto de una planta llamada pepino de zombie que induce a un estado psictico caracterizado por la desorientacin, la confusin aguda y la amnesia total. En ese momento el sacerdote lo declara Muerto Viviente y, altamente intoxicado, el zombie recibe un nuevo nombre e inicia otra vida.

Los vudes deben proporcionarle la dosis justa de veneno para que resulte. La frmula de la toxina, plante el farmaclogo C. Kao de la State University of New York, no explica por qu en algunos casos el efecto duraba aos.

Un tema es la sustancia que la ciencia ya ha investigado, sin embargo, no han podido acceder al trasfondo del tema: los misteriosos ritos que realizan los Houngans, verdaderos pilares de la comunidad vud.