The cause of the zombie apocalypse?

[WowMutt]

Originally Posted by Kiel555

Sure. It was all explained in the movie Night of the Living Dead (1968). I just saw it on Cable TV today. looks like some probe returning from Venus was emitting high levels of radiation. Apparently, NASA lost contact with the probe when it started its return voyage and the probe was presumed lost.

When NASA reestablished contact with the probe that's when the radiation was detected. NASA self-destructed the probe but a little too late since now the dead are coming back to life and all.

Ok that's reasonable but then the same could be possible for any planet or a meteor or comet that got too close. How about a great underwater earthquake that releases unknown gasses that mix with our air creating a toxic gas? Or how about global warming eating away at the Ozone making solar flares more able to affect our atmosphere and cause some weird poisoning?
Anyone can sit and invent the reason for a fictional monster and really you cant be wrong. Could be something as simple as a kid playing with his Jr scientist lab toy mixes a few chemicals together pours it over a pile of dog poo and POOF!

[Kiel555]

Originally Posted by WowMutt

Ok that's reasonable but then the same could be possible for any planet or a meteor or comet that got too close. How about a great underwater earthquake that releases unknown gasses that mix with our air creating a toxic gas? Or how about global warming eating away at the Ozone making solar flares more able to affect our atmosphere and cause some weird poisoning?
Anyone can sit and invent the reason for a fictional monster and really you cant be wrong. Could be something as simple as a kid playing with his Jr scientist lab toy mixes a few chemicals together pours it over a pile of dog poo and POOF!

Sure but an agency like NASA adds a lot of credibility to this explaination. NASA created the probe and sent it into space on a mission of exploration. Contact was reestablished and the probe was now different in that it is emitting high levels of some type of radiation that NASA is unable to identify. Then NASA self destructs the probe as the best course of action before it reached earth. These are people who know what they are doing and they decided the best course of action was to blow it up...and that all that is said during a time when the dead begin to rise.

Any of the above reasons you provide could be explained by an army of experts in favor and an army of experts opposed to the more earthly explaination.

No one disagrees with NASA and all they are saying is that they never have seen that kind of radiation and rather than let the probe return to earth so they can study this new radiation they blew it up.

[Walnutters]

Terrorists in the middle east developed the virus, or what they called "Their gift from their god" They released a package in the U.S, containing the virus. They knew it would engulf the world, so to prevent becoming zombies themselves, they stuck magic pencils in the sand all around their country borders. They believe to be safe now .

[Zhombre]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOw7_5eE-eI

[Xirsche]

My vote: a huge fart from Larry.

[mooneysuzuki]

It's all a soap opera dream

[kikyouchanx]

"I am legend" had a nice theory. I kind of think something similar would happen.

[nublar93]

Originally Posted by Xirsche

My vote: a huge fart from Larry.

LOL!!! Then I guess Kenny did the right thing. LOL!!

[JabbaDaHuttX7]

Originally Posted by Walnutters

Terrorists in the middle east developed the virus, or what they called "Their gift from their god" They released a package in the U.S, containing the virus. They knew it would engulf the world, so to prevent becoming zombies themselves, they stuck magic pencils in the sand all around their country borders. They believe to be safe now .

Now that's just offensive. Everybody knows Allah already protects every true believer from the infidels.

[RossLGould]

So many people are saying "virus." Why? A virus exist only to replicate, and it can't do that in dead flesh; it needs living cells in order to copy itself.
This is The Walking Dead, not 28 Days Later. There are no "infected." These are zombies of the Romero type which are, in my opinion, the only zombies, ya heard?
My explanation: I think there's just no room left in the hell.

[Master of Aeons]

Yeah, people have been a little over programmed to think virus when they see zombies now. Damn you, Capcom!

[Xarne]

Solanum Virus is the cause of the ZA.
You asked for it? Boom there you go.

[Master of Aeons]

Originally Posted by Xarne

Solanum Virus is the cause of the ZA.
You asked for it? Boom there you go.

Your brain is solanumb.

[Xarne]

Originally Posted by Master of Aeons

Your brain is solanumb.

Okaaaaay, when it all goes down dont say I didnt warn youuu...
/conspiracist voice- It was the Solanum, maaaaaaan. They wouldnt listen to me!

[AsariTears]

My two cents?

The source of the infection was widely believed to be God punishing the people for their sins and treatment of the Earth in general. With monks preaching that God had created this infection many millenia ago as a failsafe in case Humanity lost it's way. After giving up on the Earth and turning his back, he willed his wrath done upon us, forcing us to consume our neighbour's flesh until we were no more.

In reality however, the truth is that the infection came from a Comet that had been travelling the Milky Way galaxy for millions of years. It was the last remnant of it's kind, a fragment of a once thriving planet of the life-force. The key component being a very rare Halogen Gas chemical frozen deep within it's core; Solanine. Once this asteroid reached our Solar System, it began a path directed for our sun, destined to be destroyed forever. Jupiter's atmosphere then intervened, pulling the Asteroid out of it's fated course, changing it's destination for Earth.
Once it reached Earth, the heat from the atmospheric-entry dissolved much of the Asteroid revealing it's inner crust. While the Solanine was still encased within the core, the resulting heat caused the ice in the core to thaw out, leaving the Solanine exposed.

The Asteroid then crashed into an outback town in the USA. Locals had seen the whole event unfold in the winter sky and hurried to the site for inspection.

They gathered around the crater before meteorologists could arrive to survey it. One local, Fred, ventured all the way to the centre of the crater to see if he could claim the "moon rock" for himself.
To his disbelief the enormous fireball he saw tumbling through the sky was reduced to that of a fist-sized rock, steaming in the cool winter's air.

Even in it's appearance it looked totally martian. While ordinary metior-material spotted it's surface, it's core appeared to be purple and green on it's inner layer. while being partially transparent in appearance. He leaned in closer and began to make out a little chamber in the centre, putting on his farming gloves in an attempt to pick up the rock to gain a closer look, as it was obviously too hot to touch. As he grasped the rock he felt a simmering pain pierce through his gloves as he tried to juggle the rock around like a hot potato before submitting and dropping it.

He quickly took off his gloves and checked his hands to find them blistering from the intense heat. As he did this the rock had landed back on the ground and cracked open from the fragile nature of it's temperature, leaking out the solanine gas into the air.

Still rebounding from the shock and mystery of it all, Fred began breathing heavily, inhaling some solanine molecules before they evaporated into the air.

He turned to the other locals standing atop the crater's circumference, trying to seek help for his blistering hands. He tried to speak, but it caused him to cough, then his eyeballs rolled into the back of his head as he passed out.

The meteorologists soon arrived and were astonished to find 30 locals walking aimlessly around the area, almost looking lost. As they approached closer they began to see that some were wounded, while some others were even crawling along the ground. They then got out of the van to ask them if they'd been injured in the blast.

[Xarne]

*Wall of Text Crits you for 1,000,000 points of damage. You die"
You see? I told you it was Solanum- poor Fred

[AsariTears]

Originally Posted by Xarne

*Wall of Text Crits you for 1,000,000 points of damage. You die"
You see? I told you it was Solanum- poor Fred

The idea was that the raw material was Solanine. the -ine coming from it's Halogen properties. Being a reactive nonmetal.

It only became solanum once it mixed with poor Fred's bloodstream. Going from a pure gas to a bacteria of sorts.

[Kiel555]

Originally Posted by AsariTears

The idea was that the raw material was Solanine. the -ine coming from it's Halogen properties. Being a reactive nonmetal.

It only became solanum once it mixed with poor Fred's bloodstream. Going from a pure gas to a bacteria of sorts.

I feel bad for Fred. Bummer.

So, continue on with the part how this Solanum was able to infect the world's population apparently over night. Looks good so far as the cause for the ZA.

[AsariTears]

Originally Posted by Kiel555

I feel bad for Fred. Bummer.

So, continue on with the part how this Solanum was able to infect the world's population apparently over night. Looks good so far as the cause for the ZA.

It spread from Fred.

Once the Solanine entered his bloodstream, via his lungs. The chemical reacted with his blood plasma, mutating into a bacteria that caused an infection in his bloodstream, Solanum. Fred's immune system tried fighting it immediately, but the more his body tried, the stronger the Solanum strain grew. Once the contaminated blood circulated his body and returned to his heart. It caused him to pass out and die.

Sometime later the locals gathered around as one of them attempted to resuscitate Fred. Thinking he had suffered from a heart attack as he was always a bit of a bigger man.
They also knew how life was in an outback town, the paramedics wouldn't arrive for at least a couple of hours, it was up to them to save to him.

The man frantically searched for a pulse. To his dismay, Fred's skin began to fade to a greyish colour, he knew then that this man was gone for good.
Nothing would bring Fred back from the dead.
The man soon found out that staying in such close proximity to a dead man would be the cause of his own death. As Fred's eyes burst open, he snarled and lashed out with his teeth, plunging them into the neck of his would-be lifesaver. An ironic death considering he was just trying to resuscitate Fred.

As the other locals jumped at 'the thing that once was Fred' to pull him off, he threw himself at every arm, torso and leg that he could find. Biting another 3 before the rest overwhelmed him.
The group held him down as one of the bitten, furious but panicky, ran to his pickup. Searching his glove compartment frantically for rifle ammunition. Further frustation boiling over as he realised he didn't have a spare box with him. Luckily he found one shell, grabbed it along with his empty rifle from the tray and returned to shoot Fred square in the head.

[Ja1862]

Originally Posted by Kiel555

Sure. It was all explained in the movie Night of the Living Dead (1968). I just saw it on Cable TV today. looks like some probe returning from Venus was emitting high levels of radiation. Apparently, NASA lost contact with the probe when it started its return voyage and the probe was presumed lost.

When NASA reestablished contact with the probe that's when the radiation was detected. NASA self-destructed the probe but a little too late since now the dead are coming back to life and all.

But that was just a theory, come Dawn of the Dead nobody had any idea about how this all got started.