It wasn't until May 26th, a mere four days ago, that the list of strange events started grabbing peoples attention. It became something that could not be ignored, something mysterious that had to be figured out. Many people are still on a quest for answers in understanding some of the strangest, most horrific events they have seen hit the news in a while.
On May 26th, 2012 in Miami Florida, a 31 year old man by the name of Rudy Eugene walked across MacArthur Causeway. He began stripping his clothes off, and what came next is something straight out of a horror movie. Rudy Eugene found a homeless man, 65 year old Ronald Poppo on the causeway, and began beating him. Eugene then stripped the lower half of Poppo's clothes off and proceeded to kick, punch, pull and tug at Poppo. And then the unthinkable happened, Eugene began ripping and eating Poppo's face. And eating his nose. And gouging out his eyes out. A witness in the case, Larry Vega, told Fox 7 news that Eugene refused to stop eating Poppo when police arrived at the scene, instead growling at them with a piece of Poppo's skin hanging from his mouth. The police officer yelled at Eugene to stop but after continuing the officers were forced to shoot. But one shot wasn't enough and Eugene continued to eat Poppo, forcing authorities to pump several shots into him in order to stop him. Eugene died at the scene, Poppo was taken to Ryder Trama center. He was last listed as critical care.
That is not all that happened. In Hackensack NJ, a 43 year old man by the name of Wayne Carter, stabbed himself in the legs and stomach and then threw pieces of his skin and intestines at police- forcing them to retreat and call a SWAT team in to handle the situation. He is also listed as critical condition. "The scene was a bloody mess," a police official told Cliffview Pilot. "The SWAT team members had to be decontaminated due to the amount of blood."
In a new case coming out of Daytona Beach, Florida officers said that suspect Brandon De Leon was arrested for a disturbance in a local eatery. After being arrest De Leon apparently smashed his head against the plexiglass of the police car saying "I'm going to eat you!" He then growled and grunted like an animal proceeding to try to bite an officers hand, he then had to be placed in a bite mask and leg restraints in order to protect the people around him from hard. Local police in Florida have issued a warning to police to be careful when dealing with the homeless or people who appear to be under the influence of any drugs. -Miami police warn of new drug after grisly attack
And it really doesn't stop there, although I really can't help wanting it to. The following is a breakdown of events that took place over the last couple weeks that have authorities and society baffled.
- 3-08-2012 - Father Bites Off 6-Year-Old Son’s Penis Before Brave Witnesses Can Stop Him
- 3-24-2012 - Man attacks, growls Miami police who try to help him
- 4-03-2012 - Woman's trip to Phoenix Target ends in bite attack
- 4-09-2012 - James Duckett is jailed for bite attack in Golden Lion pub, Selby
- 4-10-2012 - Woman attacked in home in bitten multiple times
- 4-11-2012 - Baby declared dead wakes up in Argentine morgue
- 4-13-2012 - Mao Sugiyama Cooks, Serves Own Genitals At Banquet In Tokyo
- 4-16-2012 - Toronto sees first case of rabies in more than 80 years
- 4-16-2012 - Brazil 'cannibals turned women into pastries' 5+ People
- 4-17-2012 - Man tried to bite another man, was stun gunned
- 4-21-2012 - Bail denied for man accused of snatching, biting toddler
- 4-24-2012 - Driver takes a bite at another woman's chest
- 4-25-2012 - Man recovers from surgery after face-bite attack at party
- 5-02-2012 - Man bites girlfriends lips off
- 5-03-2012 - Man bites off another mans ear in bar fight
- 5-04-2012 - USDA Quarantines 2 Farms Amid Mad Cow Investigation; Offspring Euthanized
- 5-06-2012 - Man kills wife, eats her forearm and dies
- 5-11-2012 - Necrotizing Fasciitis: Georgia Woman Fights Flesh-Eating Bacteria
- 5-11-2012 - Man pronounced dead at crash leaves hospital alive
- 5-11-2012 - Baby boy declared dead by doctors, found to be alive
- 5-11-2012 - $500,000 in stolen pathology equipment may have hazardous materials
- 5-12-2012 - 'Dead' man wakes up at funeral that becomes celebration
- 5-16-2012 - 2 Teachers, Students at Hollywood High School Hospitalized After Breaking Out in Rashes - Second floor evacuated, classroom quarantined after rash break out
- 5-16-2012 - Fight evolves into bizarre naked screwdriver, biting attack
- 5-17-2012 - Second Flesh-Eating Victim Reported
- 5-18-2012 - Woman bites mans ear, stabs him with seashell
- 5-19-2012 - Unknown Chemical sends 5 from Florida airport to hospital
- 5-21-2012 - Police: Man bites woman's cheek in Westchester
- 5-23-2012 - Tractor-trailer cargo hazmat leak causes I-285 rush hour shutdown
- 5-23-2012 - U.S. Quarantines 6,000 Hogs Fed Tainted Pet Food
- 5-23-2012 - Cops: Man bites off tip of cousin's nose
- 5-23-2012 - Woman mauled to death: autopsy
- 5-24-2012 - Second Broward school reports mystery rash
- 5-24-2012 - Third Victim Flesh-Eating Disease Lands Man in Same Hospital as Aimee Copeland
- 5-25-2012 - Hazmat Called After Kids Exposed To Pesticide On Bus
- 5-25-2012 - Woman attacked, cut, bitten by six women in Annapolis
- 5-25-2012 - 4th Victim Loses Leg to Flesh-Eating Bacteria
- 5-25-2012 - Haitian Declared Dead Wakes Up in Funeral
- 5-25-2012 - American Airlines 'disoriented' passenger detained after flight disruption
- 5-26-2012 - Naked Man Eating Victim’s Face Shot And Killed By Police
- 5-27-2012 - Crazed Florida doctor facing charges for spitting blood on troopers during DUI arrest
- 5-27-2012 - Russian "cannibal" admits to eating hearts & livers of 6+ people
- 5-27-2012 - Contractor bites 2 Lowe's employees, resists arrest
- 5-28-2012 - University of Illinois has hazardous materials accident at the Institute of Genomic Biology
- 5-28-2012 - Woman caught performing sex act on highway tries to bite cops
- 5-28-2012 - Mysterious death of naked man with bites supposedly "dog" related - doesn't add up
- 5-29-2012 - Palm Coast man accused of strangling kitten, biting lips off another
- 5-29-2012 - Police: Hackensack man stabbed himself and threw intestines at officers
- 5-30-2012 - Swedish doctor cuts wife's lips off and ate them
- 5-30-2012 - Chinese cannibal arrested for 20+ murders
- 5-30-2012 - Two Cases of Flesh-Eating Bacteria Treated in Los Angeles at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital & Medical Center
- 5-31-2012 - Manhunt in Canada for man who dismembered/cannibalized/committed sex acts on another man
- 5-31-2012 - Maryland man charged with killing, eating man's brain, heart
- 5-31-2012 - Boy attacks, bites school bus driver multiple times
- 5-31-2012 - Two officers suffer bite wounds and bruises while subduing man at Ipswich hospital
- 6-01-2012 - Staten Island Pizza Shop Owner Bites Mans Ear
- 6-01-2012 - Man punches woman's face in road rage attack, she bites him several times
- 6-01-2012 - 2 Salisbury women arrested after stabbing during fight, tried to bite officers
- 6-02-2012 - Nigeria: How Female Student Was Killed/Eaten By a Cannibal
- 6-02-2012 - Jason Levert Johns Attacks/Bites On Wife In Rockingham County
- 6-02-2012 - FIFTH victim has emergency surgery as flesh-eating bacteria strikes again
- 6-03-2012 - Hazmat Spill in Scarborough Sends 3 to Hospital
- 6-03-2012 - Man bites Lawrence Walmart employee
- 6-04-2012 - Woman charged after punching, biting police officers
- 6-04-2012 - Miami Man behind bars allegedly growls, tries to bite officer
- 6-04-2012 - 2 Workers Taken To Hospital In Hazmat Incident At Naval Research Lab
- 6-04-2012 - Cryptosporidium source sought in Britain
- 6-05-2012 - Firefighters, HazMat team called to Salmon Creek 7-Eleven
- 6-05-2012 - Homicide victim: Homeless man died from ruptured spleen
- 6-05-2012 - Woman arrested for allegedly scratching, biting cops
- 6-05-2012 - Carl Jacquneaux allegedly bites face of victim in Louisiana assault
- 6-06-2012 - Cops: 'Crazed' woman stole wig, bit shop owner, spit flesh at him
- 6-06-2012 - 'Dead' Brazilian boy 'sits up in coffin at his own funeral and asks for WATER before lying back down lifeless'
- 6-07-2012 - Man attacks co-worker with knife, bites his ear
- 6-07-2012 - Huron implement dealer evacuated after suspicious package
- 6-09-2012 - HAZMAT Team Called into Medical Waste Recycling Plant
- 6-11-2012 - Confirmed: Crook Co. Man Has the Plague
- 6-13-2012 - Plague Rare in U.S., Surfacing in More Affluent Areas
- 6-13-2012 - Sacramento pastor dies from 'flesh-eating bacteria' complications
- 6-14-2012 - Woman accused of shoplifting bites Wal-Mart employee trying to block her escape
- 6-14-2012 - Neha Afreen, Reshma Banu's Infant, Murdered & Bitten By Father Because 'It Is A Girl'
- 6-14-2012 - N.Y. mom on possible bath-salt bender dies after Tasing
- 6-14-2012 - Hazmat situation sickens one and shuts down ER
- 6-14-2012 - Naked man allegedly abducts 9-year-old from bedroom
- 6-15-2012 - Woman beats deadly flesh eating bacteria
- 6-15-2012 - Man Battling Flesh-Eating Bacteria Could Go Home Soon
- 6-17-2012 - Man 'shouting incoherently,' dies of unknown causes in Texas
- 6-18-2012 - Commerce Township teen bites dad
- 6-19-2012 - Sickness in NJ courthouse remains mystery
- 6-19-2012 - Details emerge in rabid skunk attack
- 6-19-2012 - Man bites dog: WPD K9 recovers after attack
- 6-19-2012 - Naples man bites nurse, threatens to 'eat faces,' cops say
- 6-20-2012 - White Plains supermarket encounter, with teeth
- 6-21-2012 - Man under the influence gets naked, bites off chunk of man's arm
- 6-21-2012 - Monkey bite victim: 'They jumped me, they just jumped me'
- 6-22-2012 - University of East Anglia student suspended after biting bouncer
- 6-22-2012 - Move over zombies: Man left bloodied and screaming in pain after attack by 'bunch of leprechauns'
- 6-23-2012 - Anthony Giancola, Former Principal, Charged In Stabbing Rampage
a disease that greatly affects the brain turning it's victims into nodding, aggressive zombie like people.
"Sure, I could imagine a scenario where you mix rabies with a flu virus to get airborne transmission, a measles virus to get personality changes, the encephalitis virus to cook your brain with fever"—and thus increase aggression even further—"and throw in the ebola virus to cause you to bleed from your guts. Combine all these things, and you'll [get] something like a zombie virus." - "Zombie Virus" Possible via Rabies-Flu Hybrid - NATGEO
Also in 2010 George Dvorsky posted on the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies a very interesting article that visits not only pop culture zombification techniques but also real life examples of present day zombies- like the malaria virus and it's affect on the mosquitoes it infects or the chemicals making grasshoppers commit suicide. That article can be viewed here: How to Engineer a Zombie Virus
Regardless of what the outcome of these situations are I feel that it is imperative that we as a society stop basing what zombies actually are by examples on television and movies. The "double-tap" and "awakened after death" are simply movie plots- and not reality.
Earlier in April Forbes stated this about Vladimir Putin's Zombie Gun: "The more insidious design–just one among the list proposed by Seryukov–is a weapon that could theoretically render someone pliable or even drive them insane by directly attacking the brain. This is the weapon most appropriately described as a “zombie gun” for obvious reasons. If the weapon can short-circuit the executive function capacity of the brain, then it’s plausible that the target would become silly putty, or possibly revert to a primal state and eat someone else’s brain (too early to tell)." - Are We Ready for the Russian Zombie Gun?
*CalTech researchers reportedly created a 'zombie-like' virus that was effective in mice, and 'perhaps' humans in the summer of 2011. The article for that can be found here: CalTech
And don't forget that half of the population of Earth in infected with toxoplamosa gondii a parasite found commonly in rats and cats. As Technovelgy says: "Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma. Parasites in the body - and the brain. Remember that. Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the gut of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including the brain. Since cats don't want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a "good" parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they? Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic. However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit. If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans? Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii:
- Toxoplasma infection is associated with damage to astrocytes, glial cells which surround and support neurons. Schizophrenia is also associated with damage to astrocytes.
- Pregnant women with high levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia.
- Human cells raised in petri dishes, and infected with Toxoplasma, will respond to drugs like haloperidol; the growth of the parasite stops. Haloperidol is an antipsychotic, used to treat schizophrenia."
The CDC sent an email to the Huffington Post today stating: "CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms)," wrote agency spokesman David Daigle. I find the word chose a bit odd- for instance why not "knows it does not exist" instead of "does not know"? Especially after they openly admitted that they were baffled by the nodding disease in Africa/Uganda. Nodding disease baffles experts , CDC Nodding Syndrome . Of course this is purely speculation as they deny knowing anything about a disease.