Sunday, July 23, 2017
On page 14 of Holmes we learn that Zombies can be poisoned with salt.
On page 14 of Holmes we learn that Zombies can be poisoned with salt. Of course that piece of information is neither reflected in the monster description nor on the equipment list. Does anyone know what the good doctor intended? I now imagine "Holmes-ian zombie hunters" carrying kegs of salt and little shovels for throwing it at their quarry... :-)
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IIRC, at least in pop culture voodoo zombies could be freed from the spell by feeding them salt...so that's probably what the intention was here
ReplyDeletec.f., Kolchak, The Night Stalker.
ReplyDeleteIIRC
That's right. Haitian folklore shown in an episode of Kolchak in mid 70s. It's only in the early printings.
ReplyDeleteThis author of a book about the history of salt notes the connection: smithsonianmag.com - Mark Kurlansky on the Cultural Importance of Salt
ReplyDeleteAnd:
"The only escape for the zombie, according to the legend, was to consume salt – a zombie’s master had to make sure the creature’s food was absolutely bland and dull. If a zombie tasted salt, the scales of death would fall from his eyes and he would return to life, and to freedom. Haitians who don’t get enough to eat naturally equate tasty food with freedom. The liberation theologians’ literacy campaign in Haiti, back in the 1980s, was called Goute Sel, or A Taste of Salt. The idea being that reading and writing would help Haitians escape from political and economic impotence and servitude."
http://amywilentz.com/from-the-newsstands/response-to-i-walked-with-a-zombie/
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cFCaXhhI_q08jRk5O311Cb1AbngZh1JsDRSoYbRsP_uStUxiJupvJAWnedxNYDER8U0tYt4e6-wdkc3iz5X1DbSM3Y5DRWe3hJJF=s0
ReplyDeleteIn the Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode, a book on Haitian legends was consulted, and according to this, one had to fill the dormant zombie's mouth with salt, sew the lips shut and light 5 white candles around its head, thus rendering the zombie lifeless.
ReplyDelete(I don't know what book, and the episode wasn't really specific, which is normal for 70's TV.) ;)
Of course, he found the zombie in a junkyard, stretched out in a Hearse (lol). He managed to climb in and pour the salt in the dormant zombie's mouth, but as soon as he inserted the needle & thread, the zombie woke up and Kolchak ran for his life! He eventually tricked it into running into a hanging cable or hose, thereby hanging itself. Although hanging it wouldn't kill it, it effectively sealed the mouth shut, so Kolchak placed the 5 candles on a hubcap and set it on the ground directly below the hanging zombie. :)
(I just watched this episode last week, and I love the series in all its goofy 70's "horror". ) :D
Robert I think you just spoiled the ending. The Haitian style zombie returns in Witch doctor. I think Dad liked the idea of different types of zombies as well as different types of vampires. Any Captain Kronos fans?
ReplyDeleteI am very sorry that I spoiled the ending for anyone, but, honestly... the show was over in 1975! :0 There are probably as many different types of zombies as there are editions! ;) The players in my game asked if a head shot would kill a zombie, others think that cutting the head off will do the trick, and others assume BtB. I insisted once that they needed to pour salt in the mouth and sew it up. ;)
ReplyDeleteI was just trying to be funny Robert. Take all my comments with a pinch of salt.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, being good delvers, we should all have a good supply of salt, from which to pinch some.
ReplyDeleteI keep mine in a bucket hanging at one end of my 10' pole.
LOL! Button my lip! No worries, Chris! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Evan for the interesting, if depressing article on zombies and salt. Also the cool album cover.
ReplyDelete