Check out our other new & used items>>>>> HERE! An awesomely creepy decoration from the 2018 Halloween season. 5.5 FT CRAWLING ZOMBIE SKELETON YARD/FLOOR PROP. This creepy crawler crawls creepily! The decaying “Halloween Crawling Skeleton” has held onto some of its wispy, bleach blonde hair and comes dressed in black pants and a plaid button down shirt homage to Plaid Shirt Zombie from Dawn Of The Dead? When activated, this horrid, legless skeleton’s eyes glow a nightmarish red and it begins to crawl and gruesomely moan like a zombie. The spooky crawling animation is made possible by a covered up mechanism, in the stomach region, that makes the waist sway side to side. The packaging states the length is 5.5 ft but most of that comes from the long, tattered pants. Though the pants do lay flat, the length does help the eerie factor. So you have a better idea of the overall size it’s head is approximately 5″ x 5″. LED illumination eyes and crawling. Requires 3 “AA” batteries (included). Indoor use only (recommended when operating crawling animation). Packaging may have shelf wear and/or cut corner. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING. ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. Halloween or Hallowe’en (a contraction of Hallows’ Even or Hallows’ Evening), [5] also known as Allhalloween, [6] All Hallows’ Eve, [7] or All Saints’ Eve, [8] is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, [9] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain; that such festivals may have had pagan roots; and that Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church. [12][13][14][15][16] Some believe, however, that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, separate from ancient festivals like Samhain. [17][18][19][20]. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, as well as watching horror films. [21] In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows’ Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, [22][23][24] although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration. [25][26][27] Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows’ Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes… The word appears as the title of Robert Burns’ “Halloween” (1785), a poem traditionally recited by Scots. The word Halloween or Hallowe’en dates to about 1745[32] and is of Christian origin. [33] The word “Hallowe’en” means “Saints’ evening”. [34] It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows’ Eve (the evening before All Hallows’ Day). [35] In Scots, the word “eve” is even, and this is contracted to e’en or een. Over time, (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en evolved into Hallowe’en. Although the phrase “All Hallows’” is found in Old English “All Hallows’ Eve” is itself not seen until 1556. Gaelic and other Celtic influence. An early 20th-century Irish Halloween mask displayed at the Museum of Country Life. [38] Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which comes from the Old Irish for’summer’s end’. Samhain (/swn, san/) was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on 31 October 1 November[40] in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. [41][42] A kindred festival was held at the same time of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany; a name meaning “first day of winter”. For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival began on the evening before 7 November by modern reckoning (the half point between equinox and solstice). [43] Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. Snap-Apple Night, painted by Daniel Maclise in 1833, shows people feasting and playing divination games on Halloween in Ireland. Samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the’darker half’ of the year. [45][46] Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the Aos Sí (Connacht pronunciation /isi/ eess-SHEE, Munster /e:s i:/), the’spirits’ or’fairies’, could more easily come into this world and were particularly active. [47][48] Most scholars see the Aos Sí as degraded versions of ancient gods… Whose power remained active in the people’s minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs. [49] The Aos Sí were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings. [50][51] At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for the Aos Sí. [52][53][54] The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. [55] Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them. [56] The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures throughout the world. [57] In 19th century Ireland, candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin. Throughout Ireland and Britain, the household festivities included rituals and games intended to foretell one’s future, especially regarding death and marriage. [59] Apples and nuts were often used in these divination rituals. They included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others. [60] Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, and were also used for divination. [45] In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them. [44] It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic they mimicked the Sun, helping the “powers of growth” and holding back the decay and darkness of winter. [56][61][62] In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes. [63] In Wales, bonfires were lit to “prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth”. [64] Later, these bonfires served to keep “away the devil”. A traditional Irish Halloween turnip (rutabaga) lantern on display in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland. From at least the 16th century, [66] the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to the custom of souling (see below). Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them. [69] In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the’Muck Olla’; not doing so would bring misfortune. [70] In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked (or blackened) with ashes taken from the sacred bonfire. [66] In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod. [67] In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed. Elsewhere in Europe, mumming and hobby horses were part of other yearly festivals. However, in the Celtic-speaking regions they were “particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers”. [67] From at least the 18th century, “imitating malignant spirits” led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween spread to England in the 20th century. [67] Traditionally, pranksters used hollowed out turnips or mangel wurzels often carved with grotesque faces as lanterns. [67] By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits, [67] or were used to ward off evil spirits. [71][72] They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century, [67] as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of England and became generally known as jack-o’-lanterns. [73] Halloween is the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows’ Day (also known as All Saints’ or Hallowmas) on 1 November and All Souls’ Day on 2 November, thus giving the holiday on 31 October the full name of All Hallows’ Eve (meaning the evening before All Hallows’ Day). [74] Since the time of the early Church, [75] major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows’. [76] These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime. [77] In 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to “St Mary and all martyrs” on 13 May. This was the same date as Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead, and the same date as the commemoration of all saints in Edessa in the time of Ephrem. The feast of All Hallows’, on its current date in the Western Church, may be traced to Pope Gregory III’s (731741) founding of an oratory in St Peter’s for the relics “of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors”. [79][80] In 835, All Hallows’ Day was officially switched to 1 November, the same date as Samhain, at the behest of Pope Gregory IV. [81] Some suggest this was due to Celtic influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea, [81] although it is claimed that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter. [82] They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so, as it is a time of’dying’ in nature. [81][82] It is also suggested that the change was made on the “practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it”, and perhaps because of public health considerations regarding Roman Fever a disease that claimed a number of lives during the sultry summers of the region. On All Hallows’ Eve, Christians in some parts of the world visit cemeteries to pray and place flowers and candles on the graves of their loved ones. [84] The top photograph shows Bangladeshi Christians lighting candles on the headstone of a relative, while the bottom photograph shows Lutheran Christians praying and lighting candles in front of the central crucifix of a graveyard. By the end of the 12th century they had become holy days of obligation across Europe and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for the souls in purgatory. In addition, it was customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls. “[85] “Souling, the custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls, [86] has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating. [87] The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century[88] and was found in parts of England, Flanders, Germany and Austria. [88][89][90] Soul cakes would also be offered for the souls themselves to eat, [57] or the’soulers’ would act as their representatives. [91] As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, Allhallowtide soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating that they were baked as alms. [92] Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593). [93] On the custom of wearing costumes, Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh wrote: It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints’ Day, and All Hallows’ Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities. It is claimed that in the Middle Ages, churches that were too poor to display the relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead. [95][96] Some Christians continue to observe this custom at Halloween today. [97] Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom. [98] While souling, Christians would carry with them “lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips”. [99] It has been suggested that the carved jack-o’-lantern, a popular symbol of Halloween, originally represented the souls of the dead. [100] On Halloween, in medieval Europe, fires served a dual purpose, being lit to guide returning souls to the homes of their families, as well as to deflect demons from haunting sincere Christian folk. [101][102] Households in Austria, England and Ireland often had “candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes”. These were known as “soul lights”. [103][104][105] Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed “that once a year, on Hallowe’en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival” known as the danse macabre, which has often been depicted in church decoration. [106] Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that Christians were moved by the sight of the Infant Jesus playing on his mother’s knee; their hearts were touched by the Pietà; and patron saints reassured them by their presence. But, all the while, the danse macabre urged them not to forget the end of all earthly things. “[107] This danse macabre was enacted at village pageants and at court masques, with people “dressing up as corpses from various strata of society, and may have been the origin of modern-day Halloween costume parties. [99][108][96][109]. Thus, for some Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows’ Eve was redefined; without the doctrine of purgatory, the returning souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are thought to be in actuality evil spirits. As such they are threatening. [74][111] Mark Donnelly, a professor of medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl, with regard to the evil spirits, on Halloween, write that barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled the earth. [112] In the 19th century, in some rural parts of England, families gathered on hills on the night of All Hallows’ Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him in a circle, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. This was known as teen’lay. [114] The rising popularity of Guy Fawkes Night (5 November) from 1605 onward, saw many Halloween traditions appropriated by that holiday instead, and Halloween’s popularity waned in Britain, with the noteworthy exception of Scotland. [115] There and in Ireland, they had been celebrating Samhain and Halloween since at least the early Middle Ages, and the Scottish kirk took a more pragmatic approach to Halloween, seeing it as important to the life cycle and rites of passage of communities and thus ensuring its survival in the country. In France, some Christian families, on the night of All Hallows’ Eve, prayed beside the graves of their loved ones, setting down dishes full of milk for them. [103] On Halloween, in Italy, some families left a large meal out for ghosts of their passed relatives, before they departed for church services. [116] In Spain, on this night, special pastries are baked, known as “bones of the holy” (Spanish: Huesos de Santo) and put them on the graves of the churchyard, a practice that continues to this day. Spread to North America. The annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in Manhattan is the world’s largest Halloween parade. Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott both wrote that Anglican colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland “recognized All Hallow’s Eve in their church calendars”, [118][119] although the Puritans of New England maintained strong opposition to the holiday, along with other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas. [120] Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North America. [121] It was not until mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in North America. [121] Confined to the immigrant communities during the mid-19th century, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and by the first decade of the 20th century it was being celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial and religious backgrounds. [122] In Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside. [123] The yearly New York Halloween Parade, begun in 1974 by puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee of Greenwich Village, is the world’s largest Halloween parade and America’s only major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two million spectators, and a worldwide television audience of over 100 million. At Halloween, yards, public spaces, and some houses may be decorated with traditionally macabre symbols including witches, skeletons, ghosts, cobwebs, and headstones. Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. Jack-o’-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows’ Eve in order to frighten evil spirits. [100][125] There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o’-lantern, [126] which in folklore is said to represent a “soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell”:[127]. On route home after a night’s drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest. In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween, [129][130] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger making it easier to carve than a turnip. [129] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837[131] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century. Decorated house in Weatherly, Pennsylvania. [133][134] Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha in the Christian tradition, serves as “a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life” and is consequently found in memento mori and vanitas compositions;[135] skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme. [136] Traditionally, the back walls of churches are “decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils”, a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum. [137] One of the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks at Halloween; What fearfu’ pranks ensue! “, as well as the supernatural associated with the night, “Bogies” (ghosts), influencing Robert Burns’ “Halloween (1785). [138] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters. [139] Black, orange, and sometimes purple are Halloween’s traditional colors. Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. ” The word “trick” implies a “threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. [87] The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling. [140] John Pymm wrote that many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church. [141] These feast days included All Hallows’ Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday. [142][143] Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, [144] involved masked persons in fancy dress who “paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence”. Girl in a Halloween costume in 1928, Ontario, Canada, the same province where the Scottish Halloween custom of guising is first recorded in North America. [89] In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluwa and is practiced on All Hallow’s Eve among children in rural areas. [21] People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets. [130][148] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported children going “guising” around the neighborhood. American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The Book of Hallowe’en (1919), and references souling in the chapter “Hallowe’en in America”. While the first reference to “guising” in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. [152] The earliest known use in print of the term “trick or treat” appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald Alberta, Canada. An automobile trunk at a trunk-or-treat event at St. John Lutheran Church and Early Learning Center in Darien, Illinois. The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating. [154] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934, [155] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939. A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tailgating), occurs when “children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot”, or sometimes, a school parking lot. [117][157] In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme, [158] such as those of children’s literature, movies, scripture, and job roles. [159] Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it “solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart”. Main article: Halloween costume. Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. [87] Over time, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses. Dressing up in costumes and going “guising” was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century. [130] A Scottish term, the tradition is called “guising” because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children. [148] In Ireland the masks are known as’false faces’. [162] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children, and when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in Canada and the US in the 1920s and 1930s. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name, offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows’ Eve, suggesting that by dressing up as creatures “who at one time caused us to fear and tremble”, people are able to poke fun at Satan “whose kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour”. Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used as memento mori. “Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF” is a fundraising program to support UNICEF, [87] a United Nations Programme that provides humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumble bee in third place. Games and other activities. In this 1904 Halloween greeting card, divination is depicted: the young woman looking into a mirror in a darkened room hopes to catch a glimpse of her future husband. There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one’s future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a “rare few” in rural communities as they were considered to be “deadly serious” practices. [169] In recent centuries, these divination games have been “a common feature of the household festivities” in Ireland and Britain. [59] They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom. [170] Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona. Children bobbing for apples at Hallowe’en. The following activities were a common feature of Halloween in Ireland and Britain during the 17th20th centuries. Some have become more widespread and continue to be popular today. One common game is apple bobbing or dunking (which may be called “dooking” in Scotland)[171] in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use only their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drive the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a sticky face. Another once-popular game involves hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod is spun round and everyone takes turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth. Image from the Book of Hallowe’en (1919) showing several Halloween activities, such as nut roasting. Several of the traditional activities from Ireland and Britain involve foretelling one’s future partner or spouse. An apple would be peeled in one long strip, then the peel tossed over the shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse’s name. [173][174] Two hazelnuts would be roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly it foretells a good match. [175][176] A salty oatmeal bannock would be baked; the person would eat it in three bites and then go to bed in silence without anything to drink. This is said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst. [177] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. [178] However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards[179] from the late 19th century and early 20th century. In Ireland and Scotland, items would be hidden in food usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or colcannon and portions of it served out at random. A person’s future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth. Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year. Telling ghost stories and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday. Humorous tombstones in front of a house in California. File:US Utah Ogden 25th Street Halloween 2019. Humorous display window in Historic 25th Street, Ogden, Utah. Main article: Haunted attraction (simulated). Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides, [181] and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown. The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam. [182][183] The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection. It was during the 1930s, about the same time as trick-or-treating, that Halloween-themed haunted houses first began to appear in America. It was in the late 1950s that haunted houses as a major attraction began to appear, focusing first on California. Sponsored by the Children’s Health Home Junior Auxiliary, the San Mateo Haunted House opened in 1957. The San Bernardino Assistance League Haunted House opened in 1958. Home haunts began appearing across the country during 1962 and 1963. In 1964, the San Manteo Haunted House opened, as well as the Children’s Museum Haunted House in Indianapolis. The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969. [185] Knott’s Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott’s Scary Farm, which opened in 1973. [186] Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by opening one of the first “hell houses” in 1972. The first Halloween haunted house run by a nonprofit organization was produced in 1970 by the Sycamore-Deer Park Jaycees in Clifton, Ohio. It was last produced in 1982. [188] Other Jaycees followed suit with their own versions after the success of the Ohio house. The March of Dimes copyrighted a “Mini haunted house for the March of Dimes” in 1976 and began fundraising through their local chapters by conducting haunted houses soon after. Although they apparently quit supporting this type of event nationally sometime in the 1980s, some March of Dimes haunted houses have persisted until today. On the evening of 11 May 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle (Six Flags Great Adventure) caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished. [190] The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum. [191][192] Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, theme parks entered the business seriously. Six Flags Fright Fest began in 1986 and Universal Studios Florida began Halloween Horror Nights in 1991. Knott’s Scary Farm experienced a surge in attendance in the 1990s as a result of America’s obsession with Halloween as a cultural event. Theme parks have played a major role in globalizing the holiday. Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Japan both participate, while Disney now mounts Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party events at its parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as in the United States. [196] The theme park haunts are by far the largest, both in scale and attendance. Pumpkins for sale during Halloween. On All Hallows’ Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day. Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel apples or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts. At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States. [199] While there is evidence of such incidents, [200] relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children’s Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children’s candy. [202] It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it. [202] It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany. A jack-o’-lantern Halloween cake with a witches hat. List of foods associated with Halloween. Bonfire toffee (Great Britain). Candy apples/toffee apples (Great Britain and Ireland). Candy apples, candy corn, candy pumpkins (North America). Monkey nuts (peanuts in their shells) (Ireland and Scotland). Colcannon (Ireland; see below). Novelty candy shaped like skulls, pumpkins, bats, worms, etc. The Vigil of All Hallows’ is being celebrated at an Episcopal Christian church on Hallowe’en. On Hallowe’en (All Hallows’ Eve), in Poland, believers were once taught to pray out loud as they walk through the forests in order that the souls of the dead might find comfort; in Spain, Christian priests in tiny villages toll their church bells in order to remind their congregants to remember the dead on All Hallows’ Eve. [203] In Ireland, and among immigrants in Canada, a custom includes the Christian practice of abstinence, keeping All Hallows’ Eve as a meat-free day, and serving pancakes or colcannon instead. [204] In Mexico children make an altar to invite the return of the spirits of dead children (angelitos). The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe’en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints’ Day with prayers and fasting. [206] This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints;[207][208] an initiative known as Night of Light seeks to further spread the Vigil of All Hallows throughout Christendom. [209][210] After the service, “suitable festivities and entertainments” often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows’ Day. [211][212] In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows’ Eve to light votive candles there, they “are known as valomeri, or seas of light”. Halloween Scripture Candy with gospel tract. Today, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions associated with All Hallow’s Eve. [214][215] Some of these practices include praying, fasting and attending worship services. O LORD our God, increase, we pray thee, and multiply upon us the gifts of thy grace: that we, who do prevent the glorious festival of all thy Saints, may of thee be enabled joyfully to follow them in all virtuous and godly living. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Collect of the Vigil of All Saints, The Anglican Breviary[216]. Votive candles in the Halloween section of Walmart. Other Protestant Christians also celebrate All Hallows’ Eve as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation, alongside All Hallow’s Eve or independently from it. [217] This is because Martin Luther is said to have nailed his Ninety-five Theses to All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows’ Eve. [218] Often, “Harvest Festivals” or “Reformation Festivals” are held on All Hallows’ Eve, in which children dress up as Bible characters or Reformers. [219] In addition to distributing candy to children who are trick-or-treating on Hallowe’en, many Christians also provide gospel tracts to them. One organization, the American Tract Society, stated that around 3 million gospel tracts are ordered from them alone for Hallowe’en celebrations. [220] Others order Halloween-themed Scripture Candy to pass out to children on this day. Belizean children dressed up as Biblical figures and Christian saints. Some Christians feel concerned about the modern celebration of Halloween because they feel it trivializes or celebrates paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs. [223] Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist in Rome, has said, if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that. “[224] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a “Saint Fest on Halloween. [225] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners’ heritage. [226] Christian minister Sam Portaro wrote that Halloween is about using “humor and ridicule to confront the power of death”. In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween’s Christian connection is acknowledged, and Halloween celebrations are common in many Catholic parochial schools. [228][229] Many fundamentalist and evangelical churches use “Hell houses” and comic-style tracts in order to make use of Halloween’s popularity as an opportunity for evangelism. [230] Others consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its putative origins in the Festival of the Dead celebration. [231] Indeed, even though Eastern Orthodox Christians observe All Hallows’ Day on the First Sunday after Pentecost, The Eastern Orthodox Church recommends the observance of Vespers or a Paraklesis on the Western observance of All Hallows’ Eve, out of the pastoral need to provide an alternative to popular celebrations. Analogous celebrations and perspectives. According to Alfred J. Many Jews observe Yizkor communally four times a year, which is vaguely similar to the observance of Allhallowtide in Christianity, in the sense that prayers are said for both “martyrs and for one’s own family”. [233] Nevertheless, many American Jews celebrate Halloween, disconnected from its Christian origins. [234] Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has said that “There is no religious reason why contemporary Jews should not celebrate Halloween” while Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde has argued against Jews’ observing the holiday. [235] Jews do have the holiday of Purim, where the children dress up in costumes to celebrate. Sheikh Idris Palmer, author of A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, has argued that Muslims should not participate in Halloween, stating that participation in Halloween is worse than participation in Christmas, Easter… It is more sinful than congratulating the Christians for their prostration to the crucifix. [237] Javed Memon, a Muslim writer, has disagreed, saying that his “daughter dressing up like a British telephone booth will not destroy her faith as a Muslim”. Hindus remember the dead during the festival of Pitru Paksha, during which Hindus pay homage to and perform a ceremony “to keep the souls of their ancestors at rest”. It is celebrated in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, usually in mid-September. [240] Other Hindus, such as Soumya Dasgupta, have opposed the celebration on the grounds that Western holidays like Halloween have “begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals”. There is no consistent rule or view on Halloween amongst those who describe themselves as Neopagans or Wiccans. Some Neopagans do not observe Halloween, but instead observe Samhain on 1 November, [242] some neopagans do enjoy Halloween festivities, stating that one can observe both “the solemnity of Samhain in addition to the fun of Halloween”. Some neopagans are opposed to the celebration of Hallowe’en, stating that it “trivializes Samhain”, [243] and “avoid Halloween, because of the interruptions from trick or treaters”. [244] The Manitoban writes that Wiccans don’t officially celebrate Halloween, despite the fact that 31 Oct. Will still have a star beside it in any good Wiccan’s day planner. Starting at sundown, Wiccans celebrate a holiday known as Samhain. Samhain actually comes from old Celtic traditions and is not exclusive to Neopagan religions like Wicca. While the traditions of this holiday originate in Celtic countries, modern day Wiccans don’t try to historically replicate Samhain celebrations. Some traditional Samhain rituals are still practised, but at its core, the period is treated as a time to celebrate darkness and the dead a possible reason why Samhain can be confused with Halloween celebrations. Main article: Geography of Halloween. Halloween display in Kobe, Japan. The traditions and importance of Halloween vary greatly among countries that observe it. [245][246] In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors. [247] Mass transatlantic immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as Ecuador, Chile, [248] Australia, [249] New Zealand, [250] (most) continental Europe, Japan, and other parts of East Asia. [253] In Mexico and Latin America in general, it is referred to as ” Día de Muertos ” which translates in English to “Day of the dead”. Most of the people from Latin America construct altars in their homes to honor their deceased relatives and they decorate them with flowers and candies and other offerings. A zombie (Haitian French: zombi, Haitian Creole: zonbi) is a fictional undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in which a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magic. Modern depictions of the reanimation of the dead do not necessarily involve magic but often invoke science fictional methods such as carriers, radiation, mental diseases, vectors, pathogens, parasites, scientific accidents, etc. The English word “zombie” was first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey, in the form of “zombi”. [3] The Oxford English Dictionary gives the word’s origin as West African and compares it to the Kongo words nzambi (god) and zumbi (fetish). A Kimbundu-to-Portuguese dictionary from 1903 defines the related word nzumbi as soul, [4] while a later KimbunduPortuguese dictionary defines it as being a “spirit that is supposed to wander the earth to torment the living”. One of the first books to expose Western culture to the concept of the voodoo zombie was The Magic Island (1929) by W. This is the sensationalized account of a narrator who encounters voodoo cults in Haiti and their resurrected thralls. Time commented that the book introduced’zombi’ into U. [6] Zombies have a complex literary heritage, with antecedents ranging from Richard Matheson and H. Lovecraft to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein drawing on European folklore of the undead. Victor Halperin directed White Zombie (1932), a horror film starring Bela Lugosi. Here zombies are depicted as mindless, unthinking henchmen under the spell of an evil magician. Zombies, often still using this voodoo-inspired rationale, were initially uncommon in cinema, but their appearances continued sporadically through the 1930s to the 1960s, with films including I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). A new version of the zombie, distinct from that described in Haitian folklore, emerged in popular culture during the latter half of the 20th century. This interpretation of the zombie is drawn largely from George A. [7][8] The word zombie is not used in Night of the Living Dead, but was applied later by fans. [9] The monsters in the film and its sequels, such as Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), as well as many zombie films it inspired, such as The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Zombi 2 (1979), are usually hungry for human flesh, although Return of the Living Dead introduced the popular concept of zombies eating brains. The “zombie apocalypse” concept, in which the civilized world is brought low by a global zombie infestation, has since become a staple of modern popular art. After zombie films such as Dawn of the Dead and Michael Jackson’s music video Thriller (1983), the genre waned for some years. In the Far East during the late 1990s, the Japanese zombie video games Resident Evil and The House of the Dead led to a resurgence of zombies in popular culture. Additionally, The House of the Dead introduced a new type of zombie distinct from Romero’s slow zombies: the fast-running zombie. These games were followed by a wave of low-budget Asian zombie films such as the zombie comedy Bio Zombie (1998) and action film Versus (2000), and then a new wave of Western zombie films in the early 2000s, including films featuring fast-running zombies such as 28 Days Later (2002), the Resident Evil and House of the Dead films, and the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake, while the British film Shaun of the Dead (2004) was in the zombie comedy subgenre. The late 2000s and 2010s saw the humanization and romanticization of the zombie archetype, with the zombies increasingly portrayed as friends and love interests for humans. Notable examples of the latter include movies Warm Bodies and Zombies, novels American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Generation Dead by Daniel Waters, and Bone Song by John Meaney, animated movie Corpse Bride, TV series Pushing Daisies and iZombie, and manga/novel/anime series Sankarea: Undying Love and Is This a Zombie? In this context, zombies are often seen as stand-ins for discriminated groups struggling for equality, and the humanzombie romantic relationship is interpreted as a metaphor for sexual liberation and taboo breaking (given that zombies are subject to wild desires and free from social conventions).. The English word “zombie” is first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey, in the form of “zombi”, actually referring to the Afro-Brazilian rebel leader named Zumbi and the etymology of his name in “nzambi”. [3] The Oxford English Dictionary gives the origin of the word as Central African and compares it to the Kongo words “nzambi” (god) and “zumbi” (fetish). In Haitian folklore, a zombie (Haitian French: zombi, Haitian Creole: zonbi) is an animated corpse raised by magical means, such as witchcraft. The concept has been popularly associated with the religion of voodoo, but it plays no part in that faith’s formal practices. How the creatures in contemporary zombie films came to be called “zombies” is not fully clear. The film Night of the Living Dead made no spoken reference to its undead antagonists as “zombies”, describing them instead as “ghouls” (though ghouls, which derive from Arabic folklore, are demons, not undead). Although George Romero used the term “ghoul” in his original scripts, in later interviews he used the term “zombie”. The word “zombie” is used exclusively by Romero in his script for his sequel Dawn of the Dead (1978), [15] including once in dialog. According to George Romero, film critics were influential in associating the term “zombie” to his creatures, and especially the French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. He eventually accepted this linkage, even though he remained convinced at the time that “zombies” corresponded to the undead slaves of Haitian voodoo as depicted in White Zombie with Bela Lugosi. A depiction of a zombie, at twilight, in a field of sugar cane. Zombies are featured widely in Haitian rural folklore as dead persons physically revived by the act of necromancy of a bokor, a sorcerer or witch. The bokor is opposed by the houngan (priest) and the mambo (priestess) of the formal voodoo religion. A zombie remains under the control of the bokor as a personal slave, having no will of its own. The Haitian tradition also includes an incorporeal type of zombie, the “zombie astral”, which is a part of the human soul. A bokor can capture a zombie astral to enhance his spiritual power. It is believed that God eventually will reclaim the zombie’s soul, so the zombie is a temporary spiritual entity. The two types of zombie reflect soul dualism, a belief of Haitian voodoo. Each type of legendary zombie is therefore missing one half of its soul (the flesh or the spirit). The zombie belief has its roots in traditions brought to Haiti by enslaved Africans and their subsequent experiences in the New World. It was thought that the voodoo deity Baron Samedi would gather them from their grave to bring them to a heavenly afterlife in Africa (“Guinea”), unless they had offended him in some way, in which case they would be forever a slave after death, as a zombie. A zombie could also be saved by feeding them salt. English professor Amy Wilentz has written that the modern concept of Zombies was strongly influenced by Haitian slavery. Slave drivers on the plantations, who were usually slaves themselves and sometimes voodoo priests, used the fear of zombification to discourage slaves from committing suicide. While most scholars have associated the Haitian zombie with African cultures, a connection has also been suggested to the island’s indigenous Taíno people, partly based on an early account of native shamanist practices written by the Hieronymite monk Ramón Pané, a companion of Christopher Columbus. The Haitian zombie phenomenon first attracted widespread international attention during the United States occupation of Haiti (19151934), when a number of case histories of purported “zombies” began to emerge. The first popular book covering the topic was William Seabrook’s The Magic Island (1929). Seabrooke cited Article 246 of the Haitian criminal code, which was passed in 1864, asserting that it was an official recognition of zombies. This passage was later used in promotional materials for the 1932 film White Zombie. Also shall be qualified as attempted murder the employment which may be made by any person of substances which, without causing actual death, produce a lethargic coma more or less prolonged. If, after the administering of such substances, the person has been buried, the act shall be considered murder no matter what result follows. In 1937, while researching folklore in Haiti, Zora Neale Hurston encountered the case of a woman who appeared in a village. A family claimed that she was Felicia Felix-Mentor, a relative, who had died and been buried in 1907 at the age of 29. The woman was examined by a doctor; X-rays indicated that she did not have a leg fracture that Felix-Mentor was known to have had. [26] Hurston pursued rumors that affected persons were given a powerful psychoactive drug, but she was unable to locate individuals willing to offer much information. She wrote: What is more, if science ever gets to the bottom of Vodou in Haiti and Africa, it will be found that some important medical secrets, still unknown to medical science, give it its power, rather than gestures of ceremony. African and related legends. A Central or West African origin for the Haitian zombie has been postulated based on two etymologies in the Kongo language, nzambi (“god”) and zumbi (“fetish”). This root helps form the names of several deities, including the Kongo creator deity Nzambi a Mpungu and the Louisiana serpent deity Li Grand Zombi (a local version of the Haitian Damballa), but it is in fact a generic word for a divine spirit. [28] The common African conception of beings under these names is more similar to the incorporeal “zombie astral”, [17] as in the Kongo Nkisi spirits. A related, but also often incorporeal, undead being is the jumbee of the English-speaking Caribbean, considered to be of the same etymology;[29] in the French West Indies also, local “zombies” are recognized, but these are of a more general spirit nature. The idea of physical zombie-like creatures is present in some South African cultures, where they are called xidachane in Sotho/Tsonga and maduxwane in Venda. In some communities, it is believed that a dead person can be zombified by a small child. [31] It is said that the spell can be broken by a powerful enough sangoma. [32] It is also believed in some areas of South Africa that witches can zombify a person by killing and possessing the victim’s body in order to force it into slave labor. [33] After rail lines were built to transport migrant workers, stories emerged about “witch trains”. These trains appeared ordinary, but were staffed by zombified workers controlled by a witch. The trains would abduct a person boarding at night, and the person would then either be zombified or beaten and thrown from the train a distance away from the original location. Origins of zombie beliefs. Several decades after Hurston’s work, Wade Davis, a Harvard ethnobotanist, presented a pharmacological case for zombies in a 1983 article in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, [34] and later in two popular books: The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988). Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 and, as a result of his investigations, claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being introduced into the blood stream (usually through a wound). The first, French: coup de poudre (“powder strike”), includes tetrodotoxin (TTX), a powerful and frequently fatal neurotoxin found in the flesh of the pufferfish (family Tetraodontidae). The second powder consists of deliriant drugs such as datura. Together these powders were said to induce a deathlike state, in which the will of the victim would be entirely subjected to that of the bokor. Davis also popularized the story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice. The most ethically questioned and least scientifically explored ingredient of the powders is part of a recently buried child’s brain. [35][36][37][verification needed]. The process described by Davis was an initial state of deathlike suspended animation, followed by re-awakening typically after being buried into a psychotic state. The psychosis induced by the drug and psychological trauma was hypothesised by Davis to reinforce culturally learned beliefs and to cause the individual to reconstruct their identity as that of a zombie, since they “knew” that they were dead and had no other role to play in the Haitian society. Societal reinforcement of the belief was hypothesized by Davis to confirm for the zombie individual the zombie state, and such individuals were known to hang around in graveyards, exhibiting attitudes of low affect. Davis’s claim has been criticized, particularly the suggestion that Haitian witch doctors can keep “zombies” in a state of pharmacologically induced trance for many years. [38] Symptoms of TTX poisoning range from numbness and nausea to paralysis particularly of the muscles of the diaphragm unconsciousness, and death, but do not include a stiffened gait or a deathlike trance. According to psychologist Terence Hines, the scientific community dismisses tetrodotoxin as the cause of this state, and Davis’ assessment of the nature of the reports of Haitian zombies is viewed as overly credulous. Laing highlighted the link between social and cultural expectations and compulsion, in the context of schizophrenia and other mental illness, suggesting that schizogenesis may account for some of the psychological aspects of zombification. [40] Particularly, this suggests cases where schizophrenia manifests a state of catatonia. Roland Littlewood, professor of anthropology and psychiatry, published a study supporting a social explanation of the zombie phenomenon in the medical journal The Lancet in 1997. I came to the conclusion that although it is unlikely that there is a single explanation for all cases where zombies are recognised by locals in Haiti, the mistaken identification of a wandering mentally ill stranger by bereaved relatives is the most likely explanation in many cases. People with a chronic schizophrenic illness, brain damage or learning disability are not uncommon in rural Haiti, and they would be particularly likely to be identified as zombies. Evolution of the modern zombie archetype. Pulliam and Fonseca (2014) and Walz (2006) trace the zombie lineage back to ancient Mesopotamia. [44][45] In the Descent of Ishtar, the goddess Ishtar threatens:[46]. If you do not open the gate for me to come in. I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt. I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors. I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living. And the dead shall outnumber the living! She repeats this same threat in a slightly modified form in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Cooke as Frankenstein’s Monster in an 1823 stage production of the novel. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, while not a zombie novel per se, prefigures many 20th-century ideas about zombies in that the resurrection of the dead is portrayed as a scientific process rather than a mystical one, and that the resurrected dead are degraded and more violent than their living selves. Frankenstein, published in 1818, has its roots in European folklore, [48] whose tales of vengeful dead also informed the evolution of the modern conception of the vampire. Later notable 19th-century stories about the avenging undead included Ambrose Bierce’s “The Death of Halpin Frayser” and various Gothic Romanticism tales by Edgar Allan Poe. Though their works could not be properly considered zombie fiction, the supernatural tales of Bierce and Poe would prove influential on later writers such as H. Lovecraft, by Lovecraft’s own admission. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the American horror author H. Lovecraft wrote several novellae that explored the undead theme. “Cool Air”, “In the Vault”, and “The Outsider” all deal with the undead, but Lovecraft’s Herbert WestReanimator (1921) “helped define zombies in popular culture”. [50] This series of short stories featured Herbert West, a mad scientist who attempts to revive human corpses with mixed results. Notably, the resurrected dead are uncontrollable, mostly mute, primitive and extremely violent; though they are not referred to as zombies, their portrayal was prescient, anticipating the modern conception of zombies by several decades. [citation needed] Edgar Rice Burroughs similarly depicted animated corpses in the second book of his Venus series, again without ever using the terms “zombie” or “undead”. Avenging zombies would feature prominently in the early 1950s EC Comics, which George A. Romero would later claim as an influence. The comics, including Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror and Weird Science, featured avenging undead in the Gothic tradition quite regularly, including adaptations of Lovecraft’s stories, which included “In the Vault”, “Cool Air” and Herbert WestReanimator. The novel and its 1964 film adaptation, The Last Man on Earth, which concern a lone human survivor waging war against a world of vampires, would by Romero’s own admission greatly influence his 1968 low-budget film Night of the Living Dead, [52][53] a work that would prove to be more influential on the concept of zombies than any literary or cinematic work before it. A popular evolution of the zombie is the “fast zombie” or running zombie. In contrast to Romero’s classic slow zombies, “fast zombies” can run, are more aggressive, and often more intelligent. This type of zombie has origins in 1990s Japanese horror video games. In 1996, Capcom’s survival horror video game Resident Evil featured zombie dogs that run towards the player. Later the same year, Sega’s arcade shooter The House of the Dead introduced running human zombies, who run towards the player. The running human zombies introduced in The House of the Dead video games became the basis for the “fast zombies” that became popular in zombie films during the early 21st century, starting with 28 Days Later (2002), the Resident Evil and House of the Dead films, and the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. Tor Johnson as a zombie with his victim in the cult movie Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). In film and television. See also: Zombie film. Films featuring zombies have been a part of cinema since the 1930s, with White Zombie (directed by Victor Halperin in 1932) being one of the earliest examples. [55] With George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), the zombie trope began to be increasingly linked to consumerism and consumer culture. [56] Today, zombie films are released with such regularity (at least 55 films were released in 2014 alone[57]) that they constitute a separate subgenre of Horror film. Voodoo-related zombie themes have also appeared in espionage or adventure-themed works outside the horror genre. For example, the original “Jonny Quest” series (1964) and the James Bond novel and movie Live and Let Die both feature Caribbean villains who falsely claim the voodoo power of zombification in order to keep others in fear of them. George Romero’s modern zombie archetype in Night of the Living Dead was influenced by several earlier zombie-themed films, including White Zombie, Revolt of the Zombies (1936) and The Plague of the Zombies (1966). Romero and the modern zombie film (19681985). See also: Living Dead. Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction character. Night of the Living Dead, 1968. Undead (influenced by Haitian Zombie), Vampire, Ghoul. A young zombie (Kyra Schon) feeding on human flesh, from Night of the Living Dead (1968). The modern conception of the zombie owes itself almost entirely to George A. Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. [1][60][61] In his films, Romero “bred the zombie with the vampire, and what he got was the hybrid vigour of a ghoulish plague monster”. [62] This entailed an apocalyptic vision of monsters that have come to be known as Romero zombies. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times chided theater owners and parents who allowed children access to the film. “I don’t think the younger kids really knew what hit them”, complained Ebert, They were used to going to movies, sure, and they’d seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else. According to Ebert, the film affected the audience immediately:[63]. The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying. Romero’s reinvention of zombies is notable in terms of its thematics; he used zombies not just for their own sake, but as a vehicle “to criticize real-world social illssuch as government ineptitude, bioengineering, slavery, greed and exploitationwhile indulging our post-apocalyptic fantasies”. [64] Night was the first of six films in Romero’s Living Dead series. Its first sequel, Dawn of the Dead, was released in 1978. Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 was released just months after Dawn of the Dead as an ersatz sequel (Dawn of the Dead was released in several other countries as Zombi or Zombie). [1] Dawn of the Dead was the most commercially successful zombie film for decades, up until the zombie revival of the 2000s. [65] The 1981 film Hell of the Living Dead referenced a mutagenic gas as a source of zombie contagion: an idea also used in Dan O’Bannon’s 1985 film Return of the Living Dead. Return of the Living Dead featured zombies that hungered specifically for brains. Relative decline in the Western world (19851995). Zombie films in the 1980s and 1990s were not as commercially successful as Dawn of the Dead in the late 1970s. [65] The mid-1980s produced few zombie films of note. Perhaps the most notable entry, the Evil Dead series, while highly influential, are not technically zombie films, but films about demonic possession, despite the presence of the undead. After the mid-1980s, the subgenre was mostly relegated to the underground. Notable entries include director Peter Jackson’s ultra-gory film Braindead (1992) released as Dead Alive in the U. Early Asian zombie films (19851995). In 1980s Hong Kong cinema, the Chinese jiangshi, a zombie-like creature dating back to Qing dynasty era jiangshi fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries, were featured in a wave of jiangshi films, popularised by Mr. Hong Kong jiangshi films were popular in the Far East from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Prior to the 1990s, there were not many Japanese films related to what may be considered in the West as a zombie film. [67] Early films such as The Discarnates (1988) feature little gore and no cannibalism, but it is about the dead returning to life looking for love rather than a story of apocalyptic destruction. [67] One of the earliest Japanese zombie films with considerable gore and violence was Battle Girl: The Living Dead in Tokyo Bay (1991). Zombie revival in the Far East (19962001). See also: Japanese horror. According to Kim Newman in the book Nightmare Movies (2011), the “zombie revival began in the Far East” during the late 1990s, largely inspired by two Japanese zombie games released in 1996:[68] Capcom’s Resident Evil, which started the Resident Evil video game series that went on to sell 24 million copies worldwide by 2006, [67] and Sega’s arcade shooter House of the Dead. The success of these two 1996 zombie games inspired a wave of Asian zombie films. [68] From the late 1990s, zombies experienced a renaissance in low-budget Asian cinema, with a sudden spate of dissimilar entries, including Bio Zombie (1998), Wild Zero (1999), Junk (1999), Versus (2000) and Stacy (2001). Most Japanese zombie films emerged in the wake of Resident Evil, such as Versus, Wild Zero, and Junk, all from 2000. [67] The zombie films released after Resident Evil behaved similarly to the zombie films of the 1970s, [69] except that they were influenced by zombie video games, which inspired them to dwell more on the action compared to older Romero films. Worldwide zombie film revival (20012008). The zombie revival, which began in the Far East, eventually went global, following the worldwide success of the Japanese zombie games Resident Evil and The House of the Dead. [68] Resident Evil in particular sparked a revival of the zombie genre in popular culture, leading to a renewed global interest in zombie films during the early 2000s. [71] In addition to being adapted into the Resident Evil and House of the Dead films from 2002 onwards, the original video games themselves also inspired zombie films such as 28 Days Later (2002)[72] and Shaun of the Dead (2004). [73] This led to the revival of zombie films in global popular culture. The turn of the millennium coincided with a decade of box-office successes in which the zombie subgenre experienced a resurgence: the Resident Evil movies (20022016), the British films 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later (2007), [75][76] the Dawn of the Dead remake (2004), [1] and the comedies Shaun of the Dead and Dance of the Dead (2008). The new interest allowed Romero to create the fourth entry in his zombie series: Land of the Dead, released in the summer of 2005. [1] Generally, the zombies in these shows are the slow, lumbering and unintelligent kind, first made popular in Night of the Living Dead. [77] The Resident Evil films, 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake all set box-office records for the zombie genre, reaching levels of commercial success not seen since the original Dawn of the Dead in 1978. Motion pictures created in the 2000s, like 28 Days Later, the House of the Dead and Resident Evil films, and the Dawn of the Dead remake, [54] have featured zombies that are more agile, vicious, intelligent, and stronger than the traditional zombie. [78] These new type of zombie, the fast-running zombie, has origins in video games, with Resident Evil’s running zombie dogs and especially The House of the Dead game’s running human zombies. Continued film success and zombie TV series (20082015). The success of Shaun of the Dead led to more successful zombie comedies during the late 2000s to early 2010s, such as Zombieland (2009) and Cockneys vs Zombies (2012). [79] In 2013, the AMC series The Walking Dead had the highest audience ratings in the United States for any show on broadcast or cable with an average of 5.6 million viewers in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic. [80] The film World War Z became the highest-grossing zombie film, and one of the highest-grossing films of 2013. At the same time, starting from the mid-2000s, a new type of zombie film has been growing in popularity: the one in which zombies are portrayed as humanlike in appearance and behavior, retaining the personality traits they had in life, and becoming friends or even romantic partners for humans rather than a threat for humanity. Notable examples of humanzombie romance include the stop-motion animated movie Corpse Bride, live-action movies Warm Bodies, Camille, Life After Beth, Burying the Ex, and Nina Forever, and TV series Pushing Daisies and Babylon Fields. [10][81] According to zombie scholar Scott Rogers, “what we are seeing in Pushing Daisies, Warm Bodies, and iZombie is in many ways the same transformation [of the zombies] that we have witnessed with vampires since the 1931 Dracula represented Dracula as essentially humana significant departure from the monstrous representation in the 1922 film Nosferatu”. Rogers also notes the accompanying visual transformation of the living dead: while the “traditional” zombies are marked by noticeable disfigurement and decomposition, the “romantic” zombies show little or no such traits. In the late 2010s, zombie films began declining in popularity, with elevated horror films gradually taking their place, such as The Witch (2015), Get Out (2016), A Quiet Place (2018) and Hereditary (2018). [74] An exception is the low-budget Japanese zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead (2017), which became a sleeper hit in Japan, and it made box office history by earning over a thousand times its budget. [82] One Cut of the Dead also received worldwide acclaim, with Rotten Tomatoes stating that it “reanimates the moribund zombie genre with a refreshing blend of formal daring and clever satire”. The “romantic zombie” angle still remains popular, however: the late 2010s saw the release of the TV series American Gods and iZombie, as well as the 2018 Disney Channel Original Movie Zombies (its sequel, Zombies 2, is scheduled for release in 2020). Main article: Zombie apocalypse. Intimately tied to the concept of the modern zombie is the “zombie apocalypse”: the breakdown of society as a result of an initial zombie outbreak that spreads. This archetype has emerged as a prolific subgenre of apocalyptic fiction and has been portrayed in many zombie-related media after Night of the Living Dead. [84] In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread (usually global) rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization. Victims of zombies may become zombies themselves. This causes the outbreak to become an exponentially growing crisis: the spreading phenomenon swamps normal military and law-enforcement organizations, leading to the panicked collapse of civilized society until only isolated pockets of survivors remain, scavenging for food and supplies in a world reduced to a pre-industrial hostile wilderness. Possible causes for zombie behavior in a modern population can be attributed to viruses, bacteria or other phenomena that reduce the mental capacity of humans, causing them to behave in a very primitive and destructive fashion. The usual subtext of the zombie apocalypse is that civilization is inherently vulnerable to the unexpected, and that most individuals, if desperate enough, cannot be relied on to comply with the author’s ethos. The narrative of a zombie apocalypse carries strong connections to the turbulent social landscape of the United States in the 1960s, when Night of the Living Dead provided an indirect commentary on the dangers of conformity, a theme also explored in the novel The Body Snatchers (1954) and associated film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). [85][86] Many also feel that zombies allow people to deal with their own anxieties about the end of the world. [87] One scholar concluded that more than any other monster, zombies are fully and literally apocalyptic… They signal the end of the world as we have known it. [84] While zombie apocalypse scenarios are secular, they follow a religious pattern based on Christian ideas of an end-times war and messiah. Simon Pegg, who starred in and co-wrote the 2004 zombie comedy film Shaun of the Dead, wrote that zombies were the “most potent metaphorical monster”. According to Pegg, whereas vampires represent sex, zombies represent death: Slow and steady in their approach, weak, clumsy, often absurd, the zombie relentlessly closes in, unstoppable, intractable. He expressed his dislike for depictions of fast zombies and argued that zombies should be slow-moving and inept; just as a healthy diet and exercise can delay death, zombies are easy to avoid, but not forever. He also argued that this was essential to making them oddly sympathetic… To create tragic anti-heroes… To be pitied, empathised with, even rooted for. The moment they appear angry or petulant, the second they emit furious velociraptor screeches (as opposed to the correct mournful moans of longing), they cease to possess any ambiguity. They are simply mean. Russo portrays a zombie in Night of the Living Dead. Initial contacts with zombies are extremely dangerous and traumatic, causing shock, panic, disbelief and possibly denial, hampering survivors’ ability to deal with hostile encounters. The response of authorities to the threat is slower than its rate of growth, giving the zombie plague time to expand beyond containment. This results in the collapse of the given society. Zombies take full control, while small groups of the living must fight for their survival. The stories usually follow a single group of survivors, caught up in the sudden rush of the crisis. The narrative generally progresses from the onset of the zombie plague, then initial attempts to seek the aid of authorities, the failure of those authorities, through to the sudden catastrophic collapse of all large-scale organization and the characters’ subsequent attempts to survive on their own. Such stories are often squarely focused on the way their characters react to such an extreme catastrophe, and how their personalities are changed by the stress, often acting on more primal motivations (fear, self-preservation) than they would display in normal life. In print and literature. One of the various zombie panel discussion at the 2012 New York Comic Con, featuring writers who have worked in the genre (left to right): Jonathan Maberry, Daniel Kraus, Stefan Petrucha, Will Hill, Rachel Caine, Chase Novak, and Christopher Krovatin. Also present but not visible in the photo was Barry Lyga. See also: List of zombie novels. In the 1990s, zombie fiction emerged as a distinct literary subgenre, with the publication of Book of the Dead (1990) and its follow-up Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2 (1992), both edited by horror authors John Skipp and Craig Spector. Featuring Romero-inspired stories from the likes of Stephen King, the Book of the Dead compilations are regarded as influential in the horror genre and perhaps the first true “zombie literature”. Max Brooks’s novel World War Z (2006) became a New York Times bestseller. [93] Brooks had previously authored The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), a zombie-themed parody of pop-fiction survival guides. [94] Brooks has said that zombies are so popular because Other monsters may threaten individual humans, but the living dead threaten the entire human race…. Zombies are slate wipers. Seth Grahame-Smith’s mashup novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) combines the full text of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) with a story about a zombie epidemic within the novel’s British Regency period setting. [94] In 2009, Katy Hershbereger of St. Martin’s Press stated: In the world of traditional horror, nothing is more popular right now than zombies… The living dead are here to stay. 2000s and 2010s were marked by a decidedly new type of zombie novel, in which zombies retain their humanity and become friends or even romantic partners for humans; critics largely attribute this trend to the influence of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. [95][96] One of the most prominent examples is Generation Dead by Daniel Waters, featuring undead teenagers struggling for equality with the living and a human protagonist falling in love with their leader. [12] Other novels of this period involving humanzombie romantic relationships include Bone Song by John Meaney, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson, and Amy Plum’s Die for Me series;[96] much earlier examples, dating back to the 1980s, are Dragon on a Pedestal by Piers Anthony and Conan the Defiant by Steve Perry. In anime and manga. In second place was Living Corpse, and in third was Biomega, which he called “the greatest science-fiction virus zombie manga ever”. [99] During the late 2000s and early 2010s, there were several manga and anime series that humanized zombies by presenting them as protagonists or love interests, such as Sankarea: Undying Love and Is This a Zombie? (both debuted in 2009). Z Zed was adapted into a live action film in 2014. Artist Jillian McDonald has made several works of video art involving zombies and exhibited them in her 2006 show “Horror Make-Up”, which debuted on 8 September 2006 at Art Moving Projects, a gallery in, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Artist Karim Charredib has dedicated his work to the zombie figure. In 2007, he made a video installation at Villa Savoye called Them!!! , wherein zombies walked in the villa like tourists. See also: List of zombie video games and Survival horror. The release of two 1996 horror games Capcom’s Resident Evil and Sega’s The House of the Dead sparked an international craze for zombie games. [103][68] In 2013, George A. Romero said that it was the video games Resident Evil and House of the Dead “more than anything else” that popularised zombies in early 21st century popular culture. [104][105] The modern fast-running zombies have origins in these games, with Resident Evil’s running zombie dogs and especially House of the Dead’s running human zombies, which later became a staple of modern zombie films. Zombies went on to become a popular theme for video games, particularly in the survival horror, stealth, first-person shooter and role-playing game genres. Important horror fiction media franchises in this area include Resident Evil, The House of the Dead, Silent Hill, Dead Rising, Dead Island, Left 4 Dead, Dying Light, State of Decay, The Last of Us and the Zombies game modes from the Call of Duty title series. [106] A series of games has also been released based on the widely popular TV show The Walking Dead, first aired in 2010. World of Warcraft, first released in 2004, is an early example of a video game in which an individual zombie-like creature could be chosen as a player character (a previous game in the same series, Warcraft III, allowed a player control over an undead army). PopCap Games’ Plants vs. Zombies, a humorous tower defense game, was an indie hit in 2009, featuring in several best-of lists at the end of that year. DayZ, a zombie-based survival horror mod for ARMA 2, was responsible for over 300,000 unit sales of its parent game within two months of its release. Romero would later opine that he believes that much of the 21st century obsessions with Zombies can be traced more towards video games than films, noting that it was not until the 2009 film Zombieland that a Zombie film was able to gross more the 100 million dollars. Outside of video games, zombies frequently appear in trading card games, such as Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game (which even has a Zombie-Type for its “monsters”), as well as in role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, tabletop games such as Zombies!!! And Dead of Winter: A Cross Roads Game, and tabletop wargames, such as Warhammer Fantasy and 40K. The game Humans vs. Zombies is a zombie-themed live-action game played on college campuses. Writing for Scientific American, Kyle Hill praised the 2013 game The Last of Us for the game’s plausibility, which based its zombie enemies on a fictional strain of the Cordyceps fungus, which has real-world parasitic properties. [112] Despite plausibility, to date there have been no documented cases of humans infected by Cordyceps. [113] Zombie video games have remained popular in the late 2010s, as seen with the commercial success of the Resident Evil 2 remake and Days Gone in 2019. [114] This enduring popularity may be attributed, in part, to the fact that zombie enemies are not expected to exhibit significant levels of intelligence, making them relatively straightforward to program. However, less pragmatic advantages, such as those related to storytelling and representation, are increasingly important. Main article: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse. On 18 May 2011, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a graphic novel Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse providing tips to survive a zombie invasion as a “fun new way of teaching the importance of emergency preparedness”. [116] The CDC goes on to summarize cultural references to a zombie apocalypse. It uses these to underscore the value of laying in water, food, medical supplies, and other necessities in preparation for any and all potential disasters, be they hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, or hordes of zombies. On 17 October 2011, The Weather Channel in the United States published an article “How To Weather the Zombie Apocalypse”, which included a fictional interview with a Director of Research at the CDD, the “Center for Disease Development”. [118] Questions answered include How does the temperature affect zombies’ abilities? Do they run faster in warmer temperatures? Do they freeze if it gets too cold? In 2011, the US government drafted CONPLAN 8888, a training exercise detailing a strategy to defend against a zombie attack. Michael Jackson’s music video Thriller (1983), in which he dances with a troop of zombies, has been preserved as a cultural treasure by the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. [120][121] Many pop-culture media have paid tribute to this video, such as a gathering of 14,000 university students dressed as zombies in Mexico City, [120] and 1500 prisoners in orange jumpsuits recreating the zombie dance in a viral video. The Brooklyn hip hop trio Flatbush Zombies incorporate many tropes from zombie fiction and play on the theme of a zombie apocalypse in their music. They portray themselves as “living dead”, describing their use of psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms as having caused them to experience ego death and rebirth. A Zombie Walk in Pittsburgh. Main articles: Zombie walk and Zombie Squad. The zombie also appears as a metaphor in protest songs, symbolizing mindless adherence to authority, particularly in law enforcement and the armed forces. Well-known examples include Fela Kuti’s 1976 album Zombie and The Cranberries’ 1994 single “Zombie”. Organized zombie walks have been staged, either as performance art or as part of protests that parody political extremism or apathy. [123][124][125][126][127]. A variation of the zombie walk is the zombie run. Here participants do a 5 km run wearing a belt with several flag “lives”. If the chasing zombies capture all of the flags, the runner becomes “infected”. If he or she reaches the finish line, which may involve wide detours, ahead of the zombies, then the participant is a “survivor”. In either case an appropriate participation medal is awarded. In theoretical academic studies. Researchers have used theoretical zombie infections to test epidemiology modeling. One study found that all humans end up turned or dead. This is because the main epidemiological risk of zombies, besides the difficulties of neutralizing them, is that their population just keeps increasing; generations of humans merely “surviving” still have a tendency to feed zombie populations, resulting in gross outnumbering. The researchers explain that their methods of modelling may be applicable to the spread of political views or diseases with dormant infection. [131] Neuroscientists Bradley Voytek and Timothy Verstynen have built a side career in extrapolating how ideas in neuroscience would theoretically apply to zombie brains. Their work has been featured in Forbes, New York Magazine, and other publications. The human skeleton is the internal framework of the human body. It is composed of around 270 bones at birth this total decreases to around 206 bones by adulthood after some bones get fused together. [1] The bone mass in the skeleton reaches maximum density around age 21. The human skeleton can be divided into the axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The axial skeleton is formed by the vertebral column, the rib cage, the skull and other associated bones. The appendicular skeleton, which is attached to the axial skeleton, is formed by the shoulder girdle, the pelvic girdle and the bones of the upper and lower limbs. The human skeleton performs six major functions; support, movement, protection, production of blood cells, storage of minerals, and endocrine regulation. The human skeleton is not as sexually dimorphic as that of many other primate species, but subtle differences between sexes in the morphology of the skull, dentition, long bones, and pelvis exist. In general, female skeletal elements tend to be smaller and less robust than corresponding male elements within a given population. The human female pelvis is also different from that of males in order to facilitate childbirth. [2] Unlike most primates, human males do not have penile bones… Main article: Axial skeleton. The axial skeleton (80 bones) is formed by the vertebral column (3234 bones; the number of the vertebrae differs from human to human as the lower 2 parts, sacral and coccygeal bone may vary in length), a part of the rib cage (12 pairs of ribs and the sternum), and the skull (22 bones and 7 associated bones). The upright posture of humans is maintained by the axial skeleton, which transmits the weight from the head, the trunk, and the upper extremities down to the lower extremities at the hip joints. The bones of the spine are supported by many ligaments. The erector spinae muscles are also supporting and are useful for balance. Main article: Appendicular skeleton. The appendicular skeleton (126 bones) is formed by the pectoral girdles, the upper limbs, the pelvic girdle or pelvis, and the lower limbs. Their functions are to make locomotion possible and to protect the major organs of digestion, excretion and reproduction. A human skeleton on exhibit at the Museum of Osteology, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The skeleton serves six major functions: support, movement, protection, production of blood cells, storage of minerals and endocrine regulation. The skeleton provides the framework which supports the body and maintains its shape. The pelvis, associated ligaments and muscles provide a floor for the pelvic structures. Without the rib cages, costal cartilages, and intercostal muscles, the lungs would collapse. The joints between bones allow movement, some allowing a wider range of movement than others, e. The ball and socket joint allows a greater range of movement than the pivot joint at the neck. Movement is powered by skeletal muscles, which are attached to the skeleton at various sites on bones. Muscles, bones, and joints provide the principal mechanics for movement, all coordinated by the nervous system. It is believed that the reduction of human bone density in prehistoric times reduced the agility and dexterity of human movement. Shifting from hunting to agriculture has caused human bone density to reduce significantly. The skeleton helps to protect our many vital internal organs from being damaged. The skull protects the brain. The vertebrae protect the spinal cord. The rib cage, spine, and sternum protect the lungs, heart and major blood vessels. The skeleton is the site of haematopoiesis, the development of blood cells that takes place in the bone marrow. In children, haematopoiesis occurs primarily in the marrow of the long bones such as the femur and tibia. In adults, it occurs mainly in the pelvis, cranium, vertebrae, and sternum. The bone matrix can store calcium and is involved in calcium metabolism, and bone marrow can store iron in ferritin and is involved in iron metabolism. However, bones are not entirely made of calcium, but a mixture of chondroitin sulfate and hydroxyapatite, the latter making up 70% of a bone. Hydroxyapatite is in turn composed of 39.8% of calcium, 41.4% of oxygen, 18.5% of phosphorus, and 0.2% of hydrogen by mass. Chondroitin sulfate is a sugar made up primarily of oxygen and carbon. Bone cells release a hormone called osteocalcin, which contributes to the regulation of blood sugar (glucose) and fat deposition. Osteocalcin increases both the insulin secretion and sensitivity, in addition to boosting the number of insulin-producing cells and reducing stores of fat. During construction of the York to Scarborough Railway Bridge in 1901, workmen discovered a large stone coffin, close to the River Ouse. Inside was a skeleton, accompanied by an array of unusual and expensive objects. This chance find represents one of the most significant discoveries ever made from Roman York. Study of the skeleton has revealed that it belonged to a woman. Anatomical differences between human males and females are highly pronounced in some soft tissue areas, but tend to be limited in the skeleton. The human skeleton is not as sexually dimorphic as that of many other primate species, but subtle differences between sexes in the morphology of the skull, dentition, long bones, and pelvis are exhibited across human populations. It is not known whether or to what extent those differences are genetic or environmental. A variety of gross morphological traits of the human skull demonstrate sexual dimorphism, such as the median nuchal line, mastoid processes, supraorbital margin, supraorbital ridge, and the chin. Human inter-sex dental dimorphism centers on the canine teeth, but it is not nearly as pronounced as in the other great apes. Long bones are generally larger in males than in females within a given population. Muscle attachment sites on long bones are often more robust in males than in females, reflecting a difference in overall muscle mass and development between sexes. Sexual dimorphism in the long bones is commonly characterized by morphometric or gross morphological analyses. The human pelvis exhibits greater sexual dimorphism than other bones, specifically in the size and shape of the pelvic cavity, ilia, greater sciatic notches, and the sub-pubic angle. The Phenice method is commonly used to determine the sex of an unidentified human skeleton by anthropologists with 96% to 100% accuracy in some populations. Women’s pelvises are wider in the pelvic inlet and are wider throughout the pelvis to allow for child birth. The sacrum in the women’s pelvis is curved inwards to allow the child to have a “funnel” to assist in the child’s pathway from the uterus to the birth canal. See also: Bone disease. There are many classified skeletal disorders. One of the most common is osteoporosis. Also common is scoliosis, a side-to-side curve in the back or spine, often creating a pronounced “C” or “S” shape when viewed on an x-ray of the spine. This condition is most apparent during adolescence, and is most common with females. Arthritis is a disorder of the joints. It involves inflammation of one or more joints. When affected by arthritis, the joint or joints affected may be painful to move, may move in unusual directions or may be immobile completely. The symptoms of arthritis will vary differently between types of arthritis. The most common form of arthritis, osteoarthritis, can affect both the larger and smaller joints of the human skeleton. The cartilage in the affected joints will degrade, soften and wear away. This decreases the mobility of the joints and decreases the space between bones where cartilage should be. Osteoporosis is a disease of bone where there is reduced bone mineral density, increasing the likelihood of fractures. [11] Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization in women as a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass, relative to the age and sex-matched average, as measured by Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, with the term “established osteoporosis” including the presence of a fragility fracture. [12] Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, when it is called “postmenopausal osteoporosis”, but may develop in men and premenopausal women in the presence of particular hormonal disorders and other chronic diseases or as a result of smoking and medications, specifically glucocorticoids. [11] Osteoporosis usually has no symptoms until a fracture occurs. [11] For this reason, DEXA scans are often done in people with one or more risk factors, who have developed osteoporosis and be at risk of fracture. Osteoporosis treatment includes advice to stop smoking, decrease alcohol consumption, exercise regularly, and have a healthy diet. Calcium supplements may also be advised, as may Vitamin D. When medication is used, it may include bisphosphonates, Strontium ranelate, and osteoporosis may be one factor considered when commencing Hormone replacement therapy. Dawn of the Dead (also known internationally as Zombi or Zombie) is a 1978 independent horror film directed and edited by George A. An international co-production between the United States and Italy, it was written by Romero in collaboration with Italian filmmaker Dario Argento, and produced by Richard P. Rubinstein and financed by Claudio Argento and Alfredo Cuomo. [5] It is the second film in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead series of zombie films, and though it contains no characters or settings from the preceding film Night of the Living Dead (1968), it shows in a larger scale the effects of a zombie apocalypse on society. In the film, a phenomenon of unidentified origin has caused the reanimation of the dead, who prey on human flesh. David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, and Gaylen Ross star as survivors of the outbreak who barricade themselves inside a suburban shopping mall amid mass hysteria. Dawn of the Dead was filmed over approximately four months, from late 1977 to early 1978, in the Pennsylvania cities of Pittsburgh and Monroeville. [6] Its primary filming location was the Monroeville Mall. In addition to four official sequels, the film has spawned numerous parodies and pop culture references and a remake in 2004. In 2008, Dawn of the Dead was chosen by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, along with Night of the Living Dead… The United States is devastated by a mysterious phenomenon that reanimates recently-deceased human beings as flesh-eating zombies. Three weeks into the crisis, it has been reported that millions of people have died and reanimated despite the government’s best efforts; social order is collapsing. Rural communities and the National Guard have been effective in fighting the zombie hordes in open country but urban centers are helpless and overrun. At a television studio in Philadelphia, staff members Stephen Andrews and Francine Parker are planning to steal the station’s traffic helicopter to escape the city. Police SWAT officer Roger DiMarco and his team raid a housing project where the residents are defying the martial law of delivering their dead to National Guardsmen. Some of the armed residents fight back. The raid descends into chaos when Wooley, a brutal and racist trooper, begins firing randomly at the mostly black and Latino residents before being killed himself. Other residents are killed by both the SWAT team and their own reanimated dead. During the raid, Roger meets Peter Washington, part of another SWAT team, and they partner up together. Roger tells Peter that his friend Stephen intends to flee and suggests Peter come with them. They are informed by an elderly priest of a group of zombies in the basement, which they assist in the grim job of destroying. Later that night, Roger and Peter rendezvous with Francine and Stephen and leave Philadelphia in the helicopter. Following some close calls while stopping for fuel, the group comes across a shopping mall, which they make their sanctuary. They devise an operation to block the mall entrances with trucks to keep the undead from penetrating. Peter and Stephen also cover the access to the stairwell. During the operation, Roger has a near-death experience and becomes reckless as a result. He is soon bitten by the zombies. After clearing the interior of zombies, the four enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle with all the goods available to them, furnishing their makeshift apartment with the mall’s many commodities. Roger eventually succumbs to his wounds, reanimates and is killed by Peter. After several months, all emergency broadcast transmissions cease, suggesting that the government has collapsed and a large portion of the population has become zombies. Francine, now showing her pregnancy, presses to leave the mall. Supplies are loaded into the helicopter. Stephen also gives Francine flying lessons. Having seen the helicopter, a nomadic biker gang, arrive to conquer the mall, destroying the barriers and allowing hundreds of zombies back inside. The looting bikers enrage Stephen and he foolishly starts a gun battle with them. Stephen is shot before being bitten by the undead. As some of the bikers are eaten by zombies, the rest retreat with their stolen goods. Now reanimated, Stephen, acting on a remnant of his memories, tears down the wall covering the stairwell and leads the undead to Francine and Peter. Peter kills Stephen while Francine escapes to the roof. Peter locks himself in a room and contemplates suicide but when zombies burst in, he has a change of heart and fights his way up to the roof, where he joins Francine. The two then fly away in the helicopter to an uncertain future, leaving the now-abandoned mall to be overrun by the zombies. David Emge as Stephen “Flyboy” Andrews. Ken Foree as Peter Washington. Scott Reiniger as Roger “Trooper” DeMarco. Gaylen Ross as Francine “Fran” Parker. David Crawford as Dr. David Early as Mr. Richard France as Dr. Howard Smith as TV Commentator. Daniel Dietrich as Mr. Additional cast members include: Joe Pilato as Head Officer at Police Dock, Tom Savini as Blades/Mechanic Zombie shot through glass/Zombie hit by truck, Taso Stavrakis as Sledge/Fountain Zombie/Sailor Zombie/Chestburst Zombie, Rudy Ricci as Biker leader, Fred Baker as Police Commander, Pasquale Buba as Motorcycle raider, Jim Baffico as Wooley, Rod Stouffer as Young Cop on roof and Jese Del Gre as Priest. The history of Dawn of the Dead began in 1974, when George A. Romero was invited by friend Mark Mason of Oxford Development Companywho Romero knew from an acquaintance at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellonto visit the Monroeville Mall, which Mason’s company managed. After showing Romero hidden parts of the mall, during which Romero noted the bliss of the consumers, Mason jokingly suggested that someone would be able to survive in the mall should an emergency ever occur. [9] With this inspiration, Romero began to write the screenplay for the film. Romero and his producer, Richard P. Rubinstein, were unable to procure any domestic investors for the new project. By chance, word of the sequel reached Italian horror director Dario Argento. A fan of Night of the Living Dead and an early critical proponent of the film, Argento was eager to help the horror classic receive a sequel. Argento invited Romero to Rome so he would have a change of scenery while writing the screenplay. The two could also discuss plot developments. [10] Romero was able to secure the availability of the Monroeville Mall as well as additional financing through his connections with the mall’s owners at Oxford Development. [9] Once the casting was completed, principal shooting was scheduled to begin in Pennsylvania on November 13, 1977. Principal photography for Dawn of the Living Dead (its working title at the time) began on November 13, 1977, at the Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Use of an actual, open shopping mall during the Christmas shopping season caused numerous time constraints. As December arrived, the production decided against having the crew remove and replace the Christmas decorationsa task that had proved to be too time consuming. Filming was shut down during the last three weeks of the year to avoid the possible continuity difficulties and lost shooting time. Production would resume on January 3, 1978. During the break in filming, Romero took the opportunity to begin editing his existing footage. The airfield scenes were filmed at the Harold W. Brown Memorial Airfield in Monroeville, [12] an airport located about two miles from the mall that is still in use. [13] The scenes of the group’s hideout at the top of the mall were filmed on a set built at Romero’s then-production company, The Latent Image. [14] The elevator shaft was located there as well, as no such area of the mall actually existed. The gun store was also not located in the mallfor filming, the crew used Firearms Unlimited, a shop that existed in the East Liberty district of Pittsburgh at the time. Principal photography on Dawn of the Dead ended in February 1978, and Romero’s process of editing would begin. By using numerous angles during the filming, Romero allowed himself an array of possibilities during editingchoosing from these many shots to reassemble into a sequence that could dictate any number of responses from the viewer simply by changing an angle or deleting or extending portions of scenes. This amount of superfluous footage is evidenced by the numerous international cuts, which in some cases affects the regional version’s tone and flow. According to the original screenplay, Peter and Francine were to kill themselves, Peter by shooting himself and Fran by sticking her head into the path of the rotating main helicopter blades. The ending credits would run over a shot of the helicopter blades turning until the engine winds down, implying that the two would not have gotten far if they had chosen to escape. [15] During production it was decided to change the ending of the film. Much of the lead-in to the two suicides remains in the film, as Francine leans out of the helicopter upon seeing the zombies approach and Peter puts a gun to his head, ready to shoot himself. An additional scene, showing a zombie having the top of its head cut off by the helicopter blades (thus foreshadowing Francine’s suicide) was included early in the film. Romero has stated that the original ending was scrapped before being shot, although behind the scenes photos show the original version was at least tested. The head appliance made for Fran’s suicide was instead used in the opening SWAT raid, made-up to resemble an African-American male and blown apart by a shotgun blast. Make-up and effects[edit]. An example of the bright hue of the fake blood, gray face make-up, and special effects in Dawn of the Dead. Special effect of an exploding head during the tenement building scene. Tom Savini, who had been offered the chance to provide special effects and make-up for Romero’s first zombie film, Night of the Living Dead, before being drafted into the Vietnam War, made his debut as an effects artist on Dawn of the Dead. [17] Savini had been known for his make-up in horror for some time, prior to Dawn of the Dead, and in his book explaining special effects techniques, Bizarro, explains how his time in Vietnam influenced his craft. [18] He had a crew of eight to assist in applying gray makeup to two to three hundred extras each weekend during the shoot. [19] One of his assistants during production was Joseph Pilato, who played a police captain in the film and would go on to play the lead villain in the film’s sequel, Day of the Dead, Captain Henry Rhodes. The makeup for the multitudes of extras in the film was a basic blue or gray tinge to the face of each extra. Some featured zombies, who would be seen close-up or on-screen longer than others, had more time spent on their look. Many of the featured zombies became part of the fanfare, with nicknames based upon their look or activitysuch as Machete Zombie, [20] Sweater Zombie, [20] and Nurse Zombie. [20] “Sweater zombie” Clayton Hill, was described by a crew member as “one of the most convincing zombies of the bunch” citing his skill at maintaining his stiff pose and rolling his eyes back into his head, including heading down the wrong way in an escalator while in character. A cast of Ross’ head that was to be used in the original ending of the film (involving a suicide rather than the escape scene finally used) ended up as an exploding head during the tenement building scene. The head, filled with food scraps, was shot with an actual shotgun to get the head to explode. [17] One of the unintentional standout effects was the bright, fluorescent color of the fake blood that was used in the film. Savini was an early opponent of the blood, produced by 3M, but Romero thought it added to the film, claiming it emphasised the comic book feel of the movie. See also: Dawn of the Dead (soundtracks). The film’s music varies with Romero’s and Argento’s cuts. For Romero’s theatrical version, musical cues and selections were chosen from the De Wolfe Music Library, a compilation of stock music scores and cues. In the montage scene featuring the hunters and National Guard, the song played in the background is “‘Cause I’m a Man” by the Pretty Things; the song was first released on the group’s LP Electric Banana. [23] The music heard playing in a sequence in the mall and over the film’s end credits is an instrumental titled “The Gonk”a polka style tune from the De Wolfe Music Library written by Herbert Chappell, with a chorus of zombie moans added by Romero. For Argento’s international cut, the Italian director used the band Goblin (incorrectly credited as “The Goblins”) extensively. Goblin is a four-piece Italian band that mostly provides contract work for film soundtracks. Argento, who received a credit for original music alongside Goblin, collaborated with the group to get music for his cut of the film. Romero used three of their pieces in his theatrical release version. The Goblin score would later find its way onto a Dawn of the Dead-inspired film, Hell of the Living Dead. Many tracks would also appear in the Tsui Hark film Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind. The version of Dawn released on video in the mid-nineties under the label “Director’s Cut” does not use most of the Goblin tracks, as they had not been completed at the time of that edit. Dawn of the Dead has received a number of re-cuts and re-edits, due mostly to Argento’s rights to edit the film for international foreign language release. Romero controlled the final cut of the film for English-language territories. In addition, the film was edited further by censors or distributors in certain countries. Romero, acting as the editor for his film, completed a hasty 139-minute version of the film (now known as the Extended, or Director’s Cut) for premiere at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. This was later pared down to 127 minutes for the US theatrical release. [25] United Film Distribution Company eventually agreed to release it domestically in the United States. The film was refused classification in Australia twice: in its theatrical release in 1978 and once again in 1979. The cuts presented to the Australian Classification Board were Argento’s cut and Romero’s cut, respectively. [26] It was banned in Queensland until at least 1986. Internationally, Argento controlled the Euro cut for non-English speaking countries. The version he created clocked in at 119 minutes. It included changes such as more music from Goblin than the cuts completed by Romero, removal of some expository scenes, and a faster cutting pace. There are, however, extra lines of dialogue and gore shots that are not in either of Romero’s edits. [27] It actually debuted nearly nine months before the US theatrical cut. [28] In Italy it was released under the full title Zombi: Lalba dei Morti Viventi, followed in March 1979 in France as Zombie: Le Crépuscule des Morts Vivants, in Spain as Zombi: El Regreso de los Muertos Vivientes, in the Netherlands as Zombie: In De Greep van de Zombies, in Germany by Constantin Film as Zombie, and in Denmark as Zombie: Rædslernes Morgen. Despite the various alternative versions of the film available, Dawn of the Dead was successful internationally. Its success in then-West Germany earned it the Golden Screen Award, given to films that have at least three million admissions within 18 months of release. [30] A majority of these versions were released on DVD in the 2004 Special Edition, and have previously been released on VHS. The freelance photographer Richard Burke, working for Pittsburgh Magazine, released in May 2010 the first exclusive Behind-the-Scenes photos from the set. A 119-minute cut for non-English speaking countries premiered in Turin under the title Zombie in Italy on September 1, 1978, in the presence of Dario Argento. A 127-minute cut for English-language speaking countries premiered in the United States in New York City on April 19, 1979. Dawn of the Dead performed well thanks both to commercial advertising and word-of-mouth. Ad campaigns and posters declared the film “the most intensely shocking motion picture experience for all times”. The site’s critical consensus reads: One of the most compelling and entertaining zombie films ever, Dawn of the Dead perfectly blends pure horror and gore with social commentary on material society. “[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it four out of four stars and proclaimed it “one of the best horror films ever made. ” While conceding Dawn of the Dead to be “gruesome, sickening, disgusting, violent, brutal and appalling, ” Ebert said that “nobody ever said art had to be in good taste. “[39] Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastique praised the film, calling it a “broader” version of Night of the Living Dead, [36] and gave particular credit to the acting and themes explored: “the acting performances are uniformly strong; and the script develops its themes more explicitly, with obvious satirical jabs at modern consumer society, as epitomized by the indoor shopping mall where a small band of human survivors take shelter from the zombie plague sweeping the country. ” He went on to say that Dawn of the Dead was a “savage (if tongue-in-cheek) attack on the foibles of modern society”, showcasing explicit gore and horror and turning them into “a form of art. Similar to the preceding Night of the Living Dead, some critical reviewers did not like the gory special effects. Particularly displeased at the large amount of gore and graphic violence was The New York Times critic Janet Maslin, who claimed she walked out after the first 15 minutes due to “a pet peeve about flesh-eating zombies who never stop snacking, “[40] and Gene Shalit of NBC’s Today show dismissed it as Yawn of the Living. ” Others, particularly Variety, attacked the film’s writing, suggesting that the violence and gore detract from any development of the characters, making them “uninteresting, resulting in a loss of impact. Variety wrote: “Dawn pummels the viewer with a series of ever-more-grisly events shootings, knifings, flesh tearings – that make Romero’s special effects man, Tom Savini, the real “star of the filmthe actors are as woodenly uninteresting as the characters they play. “[41] Pauline Kael wrote that, in contrast to the “truly frightening” Night of the Living Dead, “you begin to laugh with relief that you’re not being emotionally challenged or even affected; [Dawn of the Dead is] just a gross-out. “[42] Leslie Halliwell of Halliwell’s Film Guide stated the film was “occasionally laughable, otherwise sickening or boring. The film is often cited as being one of the few sequels that are superior to the original. The film was selected as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time by Empire magazine in 2008. [8] It was also named as one of The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made, a list published by The New York Times. [43] In 2016, James Charisma of Playboy ranked the film #10 on a list of 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals. [44] The 25th anniversary issue of Fangoria named it the best horror film of 1979 (although it was released a year earlier), [45] and Entertainment Weekly ranked it #27 on a list of The Top 50 Cult Films. In 2004, after numerous VHS, Laserdisc and DVD releases of several different versions of the film from various companies, [49] Anchor Bay Entertainment released a definitive Ultimate Edition DVD box set of Dawn of the Dead, following a single-disc U. Theatrical cut released earlier in the year. The set features all three widely available versions of the film, along with different commentary tracks for each version, documentaries and extras. [50] Also re-released with the DVD set was Roy Frumkes’ Document of the Dead, which chronicled the making of Dawn of the Dead and Romero’s career to that point. [49] The Ultimate Edition earned a Saturn Award for Best Classic Film Release. Theatrical cut of Dawn of the Dead was released on Blu-ray by Anchor Bay on October 7, 2007 in the U. It was released on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom by Arrow Video, which includes the theatrical cut and two DVDs with the Cannes and Argento cut. An Australian Blu-ray was released by Umbrella Entertainment. [52] All of these releases are out of print. In November 2016, Koch Media, under their Midnight Factory line, released a six-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray package in the Italian market. This release includes the Argento cut in 4K Ultra HD format, as well as both the original 1.85:1 theatrical framing and 1.33:1 full-frame of the Argento cut, as well as the original theatrical cut and the extended Cannes cut of the film in high definition Blu-ray format. [54][55] Koch also released a four-disc set, omitting the UHD and 1.33:1 discs, and a single Blu-ray of the European cut. Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. [1] They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. Before the term “animatronics” became common, they were usually referred to as “robots”. Since then, robots have become known as more practical programmable machines that do not necessarily resemble living creatures. Robots (or other artificial beings) designed to convincingly resemble humans are known as “androids”. Animatronics is a multi-disciplinary field which integrates puppetry, anatomy and mechatronics. [3][4] Animatronic figures can be implemented using both computer control and human control, including teleoperation. Motion actuators are often used to imitate muscle movements and create realistic motions in limbs. Figures are usually covered with body shells and flexible skins made of hard and soft plastic materials and finished with details like colors, hair and feathers and other components to make the figure more lifelike… Animatronics is a portmanteau of animate and electronics. West Edmonton Mall’s fire-breathing dragon animatronic (1999 – 2014). The term Audio-Animatronics was coined by Walt Disney in 1961 when he started developing animatronics for entertainment and film. Audio-Animatronics does not differentiate between animatronics and androids. Autonomatronics was also defined by Disney Imagineers, to describe a more advanced Audio-Animatronic technology featuring cameras and complex sensors to process information around the character’s environment and respond to that stimulus. The Enchanted Tiki Room. Tyrannosaurus animatronic, the largest one of its kind built to date, used for Jurassic Park. 1939: Sparko, The Robot Dog, pet of Elektro, performs in front of the public but Sparko, unlike many depictions of robots in that time, represented a living animal, thus becoming the very first modern day animatronic character, [7] along with an unnamed horse which was reported to gallop realistically. The animatronic galloping horse was also on display at the 1939 World’s Fair, in a different exhibit than Sparko’s. [8], 1939 New York World’s Fair. 1961: Heinrich Ernst develops the MH-1, a computer-operated mechanical hand. 1961: Walt Disney coins the term “Audio-Animatronics” and his WED Enterprises team begins developing modern animatronic technology. 1963: The first Audio-Animatronics created by Disney, the Enchanted Tiki Birds of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, debut at Disneyland. 1964: In the film Mary Poppins, animatronic birds are the first animatronics to be featured in a motion picture. The first animatronic figure of a person is created by Disney and is Abraham Lincoln, featured at the Illinois State Pavilion of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. 1968: The first animatronic character at a restaurant is created. Goes by the name Golden Mario and was built by Team Built in 1968. Cheese’s (then known as Pizza Time Theatre) opens its doors, as the first restaurant with animatronics as an attraction. 1980: ShowBiz Pizza Place opens with the Rock-afire Explosion. 1982: Ben Franklin is the first animatronic figure to walk up a set of stairs. 1989: The first A-100 animatronic is developed for The Great Movie Ride attraction at the Disney-MGM Studios’ to represent The Wicked Witch of the West. 1993: The largest animatronic figure ever built is the T. Rex for the movie, Jurassic Park. May 11, 1999: Sony releases the AIBO animatronics pet. 2005: Engineered arts produced the first version of their animatronic actor, RoboThespian. Potato Head at the Toy Story exhibit features lips with superior range of movement to any other animatronic figure previously. [12], Disney’s Hollywood Studios. October 31, 2008 July 1, 2009: The Abraham Lincoln animatronic character is upgraded to incorporate autonomatronic technology. [10], The Hall of Presidents. September 28, 2009: Disney develops Otto, the first interactive figure that can hear, see and sense actions in the room. Origins in automata[edit]. Animatronics stand in a very long tradition of mechanical automata, that could be powered by for instance hydraulics, pneumatics or clockwork. Early descriptions are found in Greek mythology and ancient Chinese writings. The oldest extant examples date to the 16th century. See also: List of Disney attractions using Audio-Animatronics and Category:Animatronic attractions. Sparko the Robot Dog from 1940s. The first animatronics characters to be displayed to the public were a dog and a horse. Each were the attraction at two separate spectacles during the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Sparko, The Robot Dog, pet of Elektro the Robot, performs in front of the public at the 1939 New York World’s Fair but Sparko is not like normal robots. Sparko represents a living animal, thus becoming the very first modern day animatronic character, [7] along with an unnamed horse which was reported to gallop realistically. Walt Disney is often credited for popularizing animatronics for entertainment after he bought an animatronic bird while he was vacationing, although it is disputed whether it was in New Orleans[13] or Europe. [14] Disney’s vision for audio-animatronics was primarily focused on patriotic displays rather than amusements. In 1951, two years after Walt Disney discovered animatronics, he commissioned machinist Roger Broggie and sculptor Wathel Rogers to lead a team tasked with creating a 9 tall figure that could move and talk simulating dance routines performed by actor Buddy Ebsen. The project was titled’Project Little Man’ but was never finished. A year later, Walt Disney Imagineering was created. [16] Disney used a supposedly animatronic bird in 1962 for the film Mary Poppins (released in 1964). This was actually controlled fully by bicycle cables. After “Project Little Man”, the Imagineering team at Disney’s first project was a “Chinese Head” which was on display in the lobby of their office. Customers could ask the head questions and it would reply with words of wisdom. The eyes blinked and its mouth opened and closed. The Walt Disney Production company started using animatronics in 1955 for Disneyland’s ride, the Jungle Cruise, [17] and later for its attraction Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room which featured animatronic Enchanted Tiki Birds. The first fully completed human audio-animatronic figure was Abraham Lincoln, created by Walt Disney in 1964 for the 1964 World’s Fair in the New York. In 1965, Disney upgraded the figure and coined it as the Lincoln Mark II, which appeared at the Opera House at Disneyland Resort in California. [15] For three months, the original Lincoln performed in New York, while the Lincoln Mark II played 5 performances per hour at Disneyland. Body language and facial motions were matched to perfection with the recorded speech. Actor Royal Dano voiced the animatronics version of Abraham Lincoln. Lucky the Dinosaur is an approximately 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) green Segnosaurus which pulls a flower-covered cart and is led by “Chandler the Dinosaur Handler”. Lucky is notable in that he was the first free-roving audio-animatronic figure ever created by Disney’s Imagineers. [18] The flower cart he pulls conceals the computer and power source. The Muppet Mobile Lab is a free-roving, audio-animatronic entertainment attraction designed by Walt Disney Imagineering. Two Muppet characters, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant, Beaker, pilot the vehicle through the park, interacting with guests and deploying special effects such as foggers, flashing lights, moving signs, confetti cannons and spray jets. It is currently deployed at Hong Kong Disneyland in Hong Kong. A Laffing Sal is one of the several automated characters that were used to attract carnival and amusement park patrons to funhouses and dark rides throughout the United States. [20] Its movements were accompanied by a raucous laugh that sometimes frightened small children and annoyed adults. Film and television[edit]. The film industry has been a driving force revolutionizing the technology used to develop animatronics. Animatronics are used in situations where a creature does not exist, the action is too risky or costly to use real actors or animals, or the action could never be obtained with a living person or animal. Its main advantage over CGI and stop motion is that the simulated creature has a physical presence moving in front of the camera in real time. The technology behind animatronics has become more advanced and sophisticated over the years, making the puppets even more lifelike. Animatronics were first introduced by Disney in the 1964 film Mary Poppins which featured an animatronic bird. Since then, animatronics have been used extensively in such movies as Jaws, and E. The Extra-Terrestrial, which relied heavily on animatronics. Directors such as Steven Spielberg and Jim Henson have been pioneers in using animatronics in the film industry; a film co-directed by the latter, The Dark Crystal, was promoted as the first to feature no human characters, and showcased groundbreaking puppets designed by Brian Froud and created by Henson’s then recently-established Creature Shop in London. The 1993 film Jurassic Park used a combination of computer-generated imagery in conjunction with life-sized animatronic dinosaurs built by Stan Winston and his team. Winston’s animatronic T. Rex stood almost 20 feet (6.1 m), [24] 40 feet (12 m) in length[25] and even the largest animatronics weighing 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg) were able to perfectly recreate the appearance and natural movement on screen of a full-sized Tyrannosaurus rex. Jack Horner called it “the closest I’ve ever been to a live dinosaur”. [25] Critics referred to Spielberg’s dinosaurs as breathtakingly and terrifyingly realistic. The 1999 BBC miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs was produced using a combination of about 80% CGI and 20% animatronic models. [29] The quality of computer imagery of the day was good, but animatronics were still better at distance shots, as well as closeups of the dinosaurs. [29] Animatronics for the series were designed by British animatronics firm Crawley Creatures. [29] The show was followed up in 2007 with a live adaptation of the series, Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular. Geoff Peterson is an animatronic human skeleton that serves as the sidekick on the late-night talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Often referred to as a “robot skeleton”, Peterson is a radio-controlled animatronic robot puppet designed and built by Grant Imahara of MythBusters. The British advertisement campaign for Cadbury Schweppes titled Gorilla featured an actor inside a gorilla suit with an animatronically animated face. The Slowskys was an advertising campaign for Comcast Cable’s Xfinity broadband Internet service. The ad features two animatronic turtles, and it won the gold Effie Award in 2007. Some examples of animatronic toys include Teddy Ruxpin, Big Mouth Billy Bass, FurReal, Kota the triceratops, Pleo, WowWee Alive Chimpanzee, Microsoft Actimates, and Furby. Well-known brands include Cuddle Barn, Gemmy Industries, and Dan Dee. An animatronics character is built around an internal supporting frame, usually made of steel. Attached to these “bones” are the “muscles” which can be manufactured using elastic netting composed of styrene beads. [32] The frame provides the support for the electronics and mechanical components, as well as providing the shape for the outer skin. The “skin” of the figure is most often made of foam rubber, silicone or urethane poured into moulds and allowed to cure. To provide further strength a piece of fabric is cut to size and embedded in the foam rubber after it is poured into the mould. Once the mould has fully cured, each piece is separated and attached to the exterior of the figure providing the appearance and texture similar to that of “skin”. An animatronics character is typically designed to be as realistic as possible and thus, is built similarly to how it would be in real life. The framework of the figure is like the “skeleton”. Joints, motors, and actuators act as the “muscles”. Connecting all the electrical components together are wires, such as the “nervous system” of a real animal or person. Frame or skeleton[edit]. Steel, aluminum, plastic, and wood are all commonly used in building animatronics but each has its best purpose. The relative strength, as well as the weight of the material itself, should be considered when determining the most appropriate material to use. The cost of the material may also be a concern. Exterior or skin[edit]. Several materials are commonly used in the fabrication of an animatronics figure’s exterior. Dependent on the particular circumstances, the best material will be used to produce the most lifelike form. For example, “eyes” and “teeth” are commonly made completely out of acrylic. White latex is commonly used as a general material because it has a high level of elasticity. It is also pre-vulcanized, making it easy and fast to apply. [37] Latex is produced in several grades. Grade 74 is a popular form of latex that dries rapidly and can be applied very thick, making it ideal for developing molds. Foam latex is a lightweight, soft form of latex which is used in masks and facial prosthetics to change a person’s outward appearance, and in animatronics to create a realistic “skin”. [38] The Wizard of Oz was one of the first films to make extensive use of foam latex prosthetics in the 1930s. Disney has a research team devoted to improving and developing better methods of creating more lifelike animatronics exteriors with silicone. RTV silicone (room temperature vulcanization silicone) is used primarily as a molding material as it is very easy to use but is relatively expensive. Few other materials stick to it, making molds easy to separate. Bubbles are removed from silicone by pouring the liquid material in a thin stream or processing in a vacuum chamber prior to use. Fumed silica is used as a bulking agent for thicker coatings of the material. Polyurethane rubber is a more cost effective material to use in place of silicone. Polyurethane comes in various levels of hardness which are measured on the Shore scale. Rigid polyurethane foam is used in prototyping because it can be milled and shaped in high density. Flexible polyurethane foam is often used in the actual building of the final animatronic figure because it is flexible and bonds well with latex. As a commonplace construction and home decorating material, plaster is widely available. Its rigidity limits its use in moulds, and plaster moulds are unsuitable when undercuts are present. This may make plaster far more difficult to use than softer materials like latex or silicone. Pneumatic actuators can be used for small animatronics but are not powerful enough for large designs and must be supplemented with hydraulics. To create more realistic movement in large figures, an analog system is generally used to give the figures a full range of fluid motion rather than simple two position movements. Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of various fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Flannel may be brushed to create extra softness or remain unbrushed. Brushing is a mechanical process wherein a fine metal brush rubs the fabric to raise fine fibres from the loosely spun yarns to form a nap on one or both sides. If the flannel is not napped, it gains its softness through the loosely spun yarn in its woven form. Flannel is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, bed sheets, and sleepwear. The term “flannel shirt” is often mistakenly used to refer to any shirt with a plaid or tartan pattern casually. However, it is actually just a form of fabric and there can be flannel shirts that are not plaid… The origin of the word is uncertain, but a Welsh origin has been suggested as fabric similar to flannel can be traced back to Wales, where it was well known as early as the 16th century. The French term flanelle was used in the late 17th century, and the German Flanell was used in the early 18th century. Flannel has been made since the 17th century, gradually replacing the older Welsh plains, some of which were finished as “cottons” or friezes, which was the local textile product. In the 19th century, flannel was made particularly in towns such as Newtown, Montgomeryshire, [2] Hay on Wye, [3] and Llanidloes. [4] The expansion of its production is closely associated with the spread of carding mills, which prepared the wool for spinning, this being the first aspect of the production of woollen cloth to be mechanised (apart from fulling). The marketing of these Welsh woollen clothes was largely controlled by the Drapers Company of Shrewsbury. At one time Welsh, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Irish flannels differed slightly in character due largely to the grade of raw wool used in the several localities, some being softer and finer than others. While nowadays, the colour of flannel is determined by dyes, originally this was achieved through mixing white, blue, brown and black wools in varying proportions. Lighter shades were achieved by bleaching with sulphur dioxide. Originally it was made of fine, short staple wool, but by the 20th century mixtures of silk and cotton had become common. It was at this time that flannel trousers became popular in sports, especially cricket, in which it was used extensively until the late 1970s. The use of flannel plaid shirts was at peak in the 1990s with popular grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam using them as one of the trademarks of their shaggy look. However, few of the mass-produced plaid shirts available at the time were actually made out of flannel. The association between flannel and plaid has led to the use of flannel as a synonym for plaid. Flannelette typically refers to a napped cotton fabric imitating the texture of flannel. The weft is generally coarser than the warp. The flannel-like appearance is created by creating a nap from the weft; scratching it and raising it up. Flannelette can either have long or short nap, and can be napped on one or two sides. It comes in many colours, both solid and patterned. Baby flannel is a lightweight fabric used for childrenswear. Cotton flannel or Canton flannel is a cotton fabric napped on one side or two sides. Ceylon flannel was a name for a wool and cotton mixture. Diaper flannel is a stout cotton fabric napped on both sides, and used for making cloth diapers. Vegetable flannel, invented by Léopold Lairitz in Germany in the 1800s, uses fibres from the Scots pine rather than wool. Flannel, flannelette, and cotton flannel can be woven in either a twill weave or plain weave. The weave is often hidden by napping on one or both sides. After weaving, it is napped once, then bleached, dyed, or otherwise treated, and then napped a second time. [citation needed] (wikipedia. Org). The item “CRAWLING ZOMBIE SKELETON animated prop Halloween decoration plaid shirt creepy” is in sale since Tuesday, April 16, 2019. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Holiday & Seasonal\Halloween\Current (1991-Now)\Yard Décor”. The seller is “sidewaysstairsco” and is located in Santa Ana, California. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, China, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South africa, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Dominican republic, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, El salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Antigua and barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Montserrat, Turks and caicos islands, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Brunei darussalam, Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, French guiana, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Macao, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Oman, Peru, Pakistan, Paraguay, Reunion, Viet nam, Uruguay, Russian federation.
- Theme: Halloween, Skeleton
- Handmade: No
- Country/Region of Manufacture: China
- Occasion: Halloween
- Brand: Unbranded
NEW & NEVER USED. 9 FT TALL, 7.3 WIDE This product self-inflates in seconds and is easy to set up and store. Easy to set up and store. For indoor and outdoor use. Stakes and tethers are included. FOR INDOOR & OUTDOOR USE. The item “HALLOWEEN 9 FT HAUNTED HOUSE WITCH ARCH ARCHWAY INFLATABLE AIRBLOWN DECORATION” is in sale since Thursday, August 6, 2020. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Holiday & Seasonal\Halloween\Current (1991-Now)\Yard Décor”. The seller is “holidaytimes” and is located in EVANSVILLE, IN. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, Sweden, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Croatia, Brazil, Costa rica, Dominican republic, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, El salvador, Honduras, Jamaica, Antigua and barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Montserrat, Turks and caicos islands, Bermuda, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Jersey, Cayman islands, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Luxembourg, Monaco, Martinique, Maldives, Nicaragua, Russian federation.
You won’t have to worry about any unwanted ghosts showing up at your home this Halloween once you have this officially licensed Sandworm Inflatable protecting your home! This inflatable decoration is sure to have trick-or-treaters watching their step when they approach your home and looks just as menacing as it does in the movie. Beetlejuice might not be a fan of Sandworms, but with this Sandworm on display in front of your home you’ll have some of the best looking Halloween décor in the neighborhood! Adaptor Type: DC 12V. Cord Length: 10 ft. Dimensions: 107″ H x 98″ W x 55 D. Weight: 4.09 lbs. The item “8.9 Ft Sandworm Inflatable Halloween Decoration Beetlejuice Yard Decor” is in sale since Wednesday, September 9, 2020. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Holiday & Seasonal\Halloween\Current (1991-Now)\Yard Décor”. The seller is “bowe.just” and is located in Multiple. This item can be shipped to United States.
