Rabies, to be perfectly serious. I mean, not all those exact symptoms, but yeah, at least some of them.

>>2

I had always just thought that in a human rabies would make you really sick. I'm going to go look at the symptoms

look up "prions" they basically eat parts of the proteins in your brains and cause them to take new shapes and could potentially create a zombie.

Well, hypnosis or mind control could work. It probably couldn't be done to a ton of people at once, though, so you wouldn't be able to start a zombie epidemic... but one person with enough mental condition and training could be made to act like a zombie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie

Wade Davis, a Canadian ethnobotanist, presented a pharmacological case for zombies in two books, The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988). Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 and, as a result of his investigations, claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being entered into the blood stream (usually via a wound). The first, coup de poudre (French: 'powder strike'), induced a 'death-like' state because of tetrodotoxin (TTX), its key ingredient. Tetrodotoxin is the same lethal toxin found in the Japanese delicacy fugu, or pufferfish. At near-lethal doses (LD50= 5-8µg/kg)[5], it can leave a person in a state of near-death for several days, while the person continues to be conscious. The second powder, composed of dissociatives like datura, put the person in a zombie-like state where they seem to have no will of their own. Davis also popularized the story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice. There remains considerable skepticism about Davis's claims,[6] although there is wide belief among the Haitian people of the existence of the "zombie drug". The Voodoon religion being somewhat secretive in its practices and codes, it can be very difficult for a foreign scientist to validate or invalidate such claims.

Others have discussed the contribution of the victim's own belief system, possibly leading to compliance with the attacker's will, causing psychogenic ("quasi-hysterical") amnesia, catatonia, or other psychological disorders, which are later misinterpreted as a return from the dead. Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing further highlighted the link between social and cultural expectations and compulsion, in the context of schizophrenia and other mental illness, suggesting that schizogenesis may account for some of the psychological aspects of zombification.

Drug reference, but psychological elements, too.

I think elements of the Voodoun, Haitian zombie have been/were mixed with elements of the concepts of ghouls to create the modern view of "zombies" like those in Night of the Living Dead and other creatures in WEstern books and films:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoul

A ghoul is a monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and other uninhabited places. The English word comes from the Arabic name for the creature: الغول ghūl, which literally means "demon".[1] The ghul is a devilish type of jinn believed to be sired by Iblis.[2]

The female form is given as "ghouleh" in Muhawi and Kanaana (see ref below). The plural is "ghilan".

Ghul is also the name for a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena. It lures unwary travellers into the desert wastes to slay and devour them. The creature also preys on young children, robs graves, and eats the dead.[3] Because of the latter habit, the word ghoul is sometimes used to refer to an ordinary human such as a grave robber, or to anyone who delights in the macabre.

http://65.127.124.62/south_asia/4483241.stm.htm

Read this article, it's about actual parasites they found in Cambodia which can kill someone, then re-activate their heart. This is probably the closest thing to real zombies there is

>>8

OP here. I've gotta say, fucking stellar contribution. Thanks.

>>8
too bad it's not true. I remember when they did that same article on the BBC back in 2005, I almost crapped my pants and was ready to fly to asia in a heartbeat.

>>8
Yeah, wishful thinking. Look at the date.

APRIL FOOLS!

anon is correct. It's prions.

Basically they are mutated proteins that attack and "consume" healthy brain and neural tissue. They can also infect healthy proteins in the body, turning them into prions also.

Prions make you insane and create a loss of motor functions which causes a lot of shaking and stumbling, before they eventually kill you. There is no cure for them. They can live in your body for years with no signs before becoming active. They can be passed on through ingestion, saliva, other bodily fluids, and can bond with clay and minerals living dormant in soil for years.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/24/NotDead.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

>>13
Reminds me of an episode of the Twilight Zone. A young man is pronounced dead, but miraculously comes to life at his viewing. The doctor had done several tests such as holding a mirror to his face and saw no breath. He was of course pronounced legally dead. People in the small town talk of him being a devil. Their gossip is fueled by his strange manner and new talents, such as knocking out a man who had previously easily been able to outfight the young man. He denies it all until the last scene. He is confronted by the townspeople while he is with his pre-death girlfriend, whom he had previously convinced of his humanity. He convinces the townsfolk that even if he is a demon, they shouldn't mess with him because he'd simply start a huge thunderstorm, or cause a plague of locusts or the like. The townsfolk are scared and take off, and he, in an amused manner, gets out a cigarette and match. His girl asks "You couldn't really do any of those things, could you?" He replies that he just wanted to scare them into thinking he could. He then holds the lit match to the cigarette and takes a long smoke. The girl then exclaims, "How did you light that match? You didn't strike it on nothin!" He replies that she has to stop imagining things if they're gonna get married. The picture then fades out.

>>5

well, if you really wanted to do it, you could hypnotise everyone in town with a trigger to act like a zombie, then one night(during like a festival where every one would be there) you broadcast the trigger over a pa system and laugh as half the town attacks the other half...

"Prions" cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans, fast deadly dementia, Mad Cow in bovines etc etc...and it appears they are finding viral agents that debunk the prion HYPOTHESIS.(Typical Scientist A vs. Scientist B war over the true cause of the weirder degenerative neurodiseases, so who knows)

Dementia patients don't act like zombies. Memory weirdness, strange behavior, psychosis sure, but most of them are too agitated to act zombie-like. Scared, confused, worried over some rap from 1947 they think is happening.

Your neighborhood crackhead or 102 year old grandmother mebbe. The 28 movies would be closer but it's so fast the infected drop dead too quickly for the decline to display zombieness other than on their death beds.

However there is higher incidence in culture with cannibilism of neural tissue. Happens a lot when humans eat brains. So that's interesting/spooky/cool whatever.

Not trolling on anyone but my vote goes to the "voodoo" neurotoxins long since proven above.

Originaly zombies were just drugged people who would appear dead but eventually come back to their senses partially.
This is done with a plant and its variants, its called "floripondio" in spanish dunno the name in english

In fact, this toxine is still used to mug people, beautiful women drop this toxine in men's drink at bars and then they become so cooperative they will take money out of the bank and give them their house keys if commanded to do so

>>19

What he said is really currently the only way to obtain a "real" zombie. Hopefully in the future things will change that!

Rabies?