Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
Dubious - The Science of Zombies: Voodoo, Pufferfish and Neurotoxins

The Science of Zombies: Voodoo, Pufferfish and Neurotoxins

05/18/23 • 39 min

Dubious

Are zombies real? A Harvard biology PhD named Wade Davis went to Haiti to investigate the stories of voodoo priests turning people into “zombies” with a poison, and it turned out that the poison was tetrodotoxin - and it’s real.


This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/DUBIOUS today to get 10% off your first month of therapy.


Voodoo priests in Haiti make a poison concocted of human remains, snakes, frogs, sea worms, and most importantly... the venom of a puffer fish. The puffer fish venom is sort of the inverse of an anesthetic. Instead of dulling the pain, it dulls your ability to react to it. A person poisoned by the zombie powder is aware and conscious, but unable to move. Their metabolic rate slows to a crawl and they show signs of death, such as bluing of the extremities and lack of response to stimulus. And then when they're presumed dead and buried, the voodoo priest digs them up and tells them when they regain their freedom of movement that he has captured their soul, and they must serve him. This is a form of capital punishment in Haiti; a throwback to the colonial days when the only escape from bondage was death. But what if you can't die? What if you are resurrected and put back into bondage? This is the threat of the zombie poison: a fate worse than death, and it happened to the subject of Wade Davis' study. Clairvius Narcisse was pronounced dead and buried after he was poisoned by the zombie powder for the accused crime of stealing property from his brother after his parents died. The voodoo priest who poisoned him dug him up and sent him to work as a slave on a sugar plantation. If you like our content, please become a patron, you'll get all of our episodes ad-free. 1, 2


Not to be outdone, if you want to risk death from the zombie poison you can also get it by eating a puffer fish in Japan. In mild doses you get high and a little tingly, in extreme cases of eating too much puffer fish in Japan you might wind up like the man who was stuck in the morgue for 7 days, with everyone thinking he was dead. He woke up before being disemboweled and embalmed, thankfully... 3


All of this is still with us because of the late, great Wes Craven's movie about Wade Davis's trip to Haiti to study the zombie powder, called The Serpent and the Rainbow, it's one of the better 1980s horror genre films, check it out if you haven't seen it! The film and book also inspired the Godsmack song "Voodoo" over a decade later. 4, 5, 6


1. Gino Del Guerico. The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead. Harvard Magazine. October 2017. ⇤


2. Lakshmi Gandhi. Zoinks! Tracing The History Of 'Zombie' From Haiti To The CDC. NPR. December 2013. ⇤


3. Patrick D. Hahn. Dead Man Walking. Biology Online. September 2007. ⇤


4. Wade Davis. The Serpent and the Rainbow. Touchstone Publishers. 1997. ⇤


5. Wes Craven, director. The Serpent and the Rainbow. Universal Pictures. 1988. ⇤


6. Sully Erna, writer. Godsmack - Voodoo. Universal Music. 1999. ⇤


plus icon
bookmark

Are zombies real? A Harvard biology PhD named Wade Davis went to Haiti to investigate the stories of voodoo priests turning people into “zombies” with a poison, and it turned out that the poison was tetrodotoxin - and it’s real.


This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/DUBIOUS today to get 10% off your first month of therapy.


Voodoo priests in Haiti make a poison concocted of human remains, snakes, frogs, sea worms, and most importantly... the venom of a puffer fish. The puffer fish venom is sort of the inverse of an anesthetic. Instead of dulling the pain, it dulls your ability to react to it. A person poisoned by the zombie powder is aware and conscious, but unable to move. Their metabolic rate slows to a crawl and they show signs of death, such as bluing of the extremities and lack of response to stimulus. And then when they're presumed dead and buried, the voodoo priest digs them up and tells them when they regain their freedom of movement that he has captured their soul, and they must serve him. This is a form of capital punishment in Haiti; a throwback to the colonial days when the only escape from bondage was death. But what if you can't die? What if you are resurrected and put back into bondage? This is the threat of the zombie poison: a fate worse than death, and it happened to the subject of Wade Davis' study. Clairvius Narcisse was pronounced dead and buried after he was poisoned by the zombie powder for the accused crime of stealing property from his brother after his parents died. The voodoo priest who poisoned him dug him up and sent him to work as a slave on a sugar plantation. If you like our content, please become a patron, you'll get all of our episodes ad-free. 1, 2


Not to be outdone, if you want to risk death from the zombie poison you can also get it by eating a puffer fish in Japan. In mild doses you get high and a little tingly, in extreme cases of eating too much puffer fish in Japan you might wind up like the man who was stuck in the morgue for 7 days, with everyone thinking he was dead. He woke up before being disemboweled and embalmed, thankfully... 3


All of this is still with us because of the late, great Wes Craven's movie about Wade Davis's trip to Haiti to study the zombie powder, called The Serpent and the Rainbow, it's one of the better 1980s horror genre films, check it out if you haven't seen it! The film and book also inspired the Godsmack song "Voodoo" over a decade later. 4, 5, 6


1. Gino Del Guerico. The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead. Harvard Magazine. October 2017. ⇤


2. Lakshmi Gandhi. Zoinks! Tracing The History Of 'Zombie' From Haiti To The CDC. NPR. December 2013. ⇤


3. Patrick D. Hahn. Dead Man Walking. Biology Online. September 2007. ⇤


4. Wade Davis. The Serpent and the Rainbow. Touchstone Publishers. 1997. ⇤


5. Wes Craven, director. The Serpent and the Rainbow. Universal Pictures. 1988. ⇤


6. Sully Erna, writer. Godsmack - Voodoo. Universal Music. 1999. ⇤


Previous Episode

undefined - The Activist Monarch: Is Charles III the New Climate King?

The Activist Monarch: Is Charles III the New Climate King?

In 1970, King Charles III warned about the negative effects of plastic on the environment and the dangers of climate change, but was mocked for his views. He built an eco-town and supported “organic” farming long before the word became fashionable.


This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/DUBIOUS today to get 10% off your first month of therapy.


The UK has a new monarch: King Charles III’s coronation was watched by millions across the globe. Camilla became Queen Consort and William, the heir to the throne, became Duke of Windsor. Prince George is second in line to the throne. If you like our content, but want to listen to our episodes AD-FREE, please become a patron.


Whether you’re a monarchist or not, you have to admit that Elizabeth Regina II – Lilibet et as Prince Phillip used to call her - was a magnificent monarch and Uk’s longest reigning monarch. 1, 2


When her father George VI died in February 1952, Elizabeth—then 25 years old—became queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka), as well as Head of the Commonwealth. During her reign, she had 15 Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss.


King Charles III has a passion for gardening, plants and green spaces and was way ahead of his time with his care for the environment, a worry he expressed in his 1970 speech in which he warns about plastic, pollution and the dangers of climate change. He also loves sustainable architecture and built an eco-town called Pundbury on the outskirts of Dorchester, in Dorset. He enjoys organic farming and products, which he has been growing since before the word “organic” became fashionable. 3, 4, 5


1. Anneta Konstantindes. American tourists once met the Queen and had no idea who she was — so she played a joke on them. Business Insider India. June 2022. ⇤


2. British Royal Films Youtube channel. Queen Elizabeth cracks a joke!. Youtube. March 2009. ⇤


3. The Royal Family Youtube channel. The Prince of Wales reflects on 50 years since his first speech on the environment. Youtube. February 2020. ⇤


4. Royal Institue of British Architects Facebook page. Next month marks 30 years since Prince Charles’s (in)famous ‘Carbuncle’ speech.... Facebook. April 2014. ⇤


5. A speech by HRH The Prince of Wales at the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), Royal Gala Evening at Hampton Court Palace. Prince of Wales Official Website. May 1984. ⇤


Next Episode

undefined - Re-run: Ivana Trump's Unusual Staircase Death and Her Golf Course Burial

Re-run: Ivana Trump's Unusual Staircase Death and Her Golf Course Burial

Trump’s first wife was found at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious and unresponsive in her Manhattan home on July 14, 2022. She was cremated and laid to rest at Donald Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club in a “pauper’s grave”, not far from the 1st hole.


This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/DUBIOUS today to get 10% off your first month of therapy.


Mother of Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric, Ivana Trump was 73 years old. An employee found her and called 911 at 1:40 pm. The autopsy was conducted in less than 24 hours and her death was ruled “an accident”, the official cause of death being “blunt force trauma to her torso”. If you like our content, please become a patron to get our episodes ad-free.


She deserves to be remembered not only as Trump’s first wife. She was a New York socialite, model and author but she was also an athlete who made the Czech skiing Olympics team. Ivana Trump was her own person: a mother, an author, fashion designer and New York socialite.


In the first half we focus on Ivana’s life before she met Donald Trump, as there are some tragic aspects like the death of the man she loved, George Staidl, a playwright and lyricist who died in a car crash, and her fourth husband, Italian actor Rossano Rubicondi who passed away at 49 with melanoma (a type of skin cancer). 1


Ivana Maria Zelnickova was an educated woman with a master’s degree in Physical Education and she was a fighter: she fled from communism in her native country (then Czechoslovakia, part of the USSR) and built a new life for herself, starting off in Canada and then immigrating here, to the United States.


In the second half we discuss the details of her death and the timing. Ivana passed away on July 14. Donald Trump and his three adult children were going be deposed the next day, separately, as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into the Trump Organization. The depositions were postponed.


We also discuss her golf course burial in an austere grave and the attempt by Donal Trump to designate the area as a cemetery to get a tax break. A cemetery in New Jersey avoids property, income, and sales tax, the holy tax trinity. 2, 3


Donald Trump is also selling an “eternal membership” for the Bedminster National Golf Club: people play to play and when they pass, they can be buried close to Ivana if they pay extra. 4


Ivana also loved dogs. Funeral guests and others, in lieu of flowers, were asked to donate to Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Florida and to “help save the lives of dogs that are in desperate need.” The charity was picked by her ex-husband and children, and this seems to be another of Trump’s schemes where the money is not really going where they say it’s going.


Ivana’s own dog, Tiger, is now living with her assistant.


Episode #DubiMeter = 9


1. Kanishka Singh and Daniel Trotta. Ivana Trump, First Wife of Donald Trump Who Helped Build his Empire, Dies at 73. Reuters. July 2022. ⇤


2. Hamish Mitchell Twitter account. Tweet: Pics of Ivana Trump's Grave. Twitter. July 2022. ⇤


3. Edward Helmore. Will Ivana Help Donald Trump with Tax Breaks from Beyond the Grave?. The Guardian. July 2022. ⇤


4. Sinéad Baker and Tom Porter. Trump's PAC Asked Fans to Donate Money While Announcing His Ex-wife Ivana's Death. Business Insider. July 2022. ⇤


Episode Comments

Generate a badge

Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode

Select type & size
Open dropdown icon
share badge image

<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/dubious-199552/the-science-of-zombies-voodoo-pufferfish-and-neurotoxins-30071081"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to the science of zombies: voodoo, pufferfish and neurotoxins on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>

Copy