Origin of Zombies

[Gregory2012]

You zombie fans may be interested in the origin (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/opinion/a-zombie-is-a-slave-forever.html)of zombies.

Edit: Red Panda noted that zombies preceded Haitian slavery. They were referenced in The Epic of Gilgamesh.

[Red Panda]

The zombie goes way back, to the first known recored text. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, specifically:

Father give me the Bull of Heaven,
So he can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling.
If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,
I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,
I will smash the doorposts, and leave the doors flat down,
and will let the dead go up to eat the living!
And the dead will outnumber the living!

[Gregory2012]

You are right (http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab6.htm), Red Panda. I apologize for misleading anyone.

[thestalkinghead]

while the undead or dead rising has been a story told forever, i think modern (in popular culture) zombies originate from frankenstein mixed with other daemons/supernatural monsters, like walking skeletons and vampires